Woodburner installed - thanks everyone for advice
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A bit of smear on the glass is inevitable, I find. It's worse with slightly damp wood or that other no-no - a slow-burning wood fire. I ony get it when lighting my stove and I minimise it by leaving the door slightly ajar when lighting. It still needs a wipe over every now and then.
Yes. but the handbook will have been translated.
As I say, though, read around the web. I'll be surprised if anyone who knows anything about it contradicts the advice about wood.
My Little Wenlock - one of the last ones made in England before the vandals at Aga shut down the historic Coalbrookdale foundry and shunted production to Ireland - would only really successfully have burned wood had I removed the drop-in rotating grate section, for just this reason.
I may have the handbook somewhere and I seem to recall this is what they advised.
Once tried storing logs to the side they do start to scorch and stink when the stove gets up to heat.
Try downloading a hand book instructions for your stove if you dont have one it will help with the fine tuning.
Watch for the embers jumping out on the carpet when fuelling up ! at times I could do with 24" hearth in front let alone the 12" ! I keep a rug down to help keep the carpet clean, at least a new rug is cheaper than a whole new carpet.
Enjoy your new stove !
Brian
The surround I believe - and thanks for reinforcing this - is not suited for solid fuel. The installer came yesterday and, remembering I had an unused fire surround in my coal hole from a year ago which the developer had just left me, saying I could keep, I improptu said to the installer if he could throw it in too. So he did it for £60. Only problem is it is not fully symmetrical on either side as there is a wooden addition to the right of the firebreast to cover the exposed piping. I would take this off, but it would mean having to replaster behind the pipes and paint. Interestingly I did find some ancient wall paper when I took this off, maybe from the 40s or 50s so felt a bit nostalgic. Also noticed about 4 pipes going into where the stove is now, which I expect was for an old solid fuel CH system and was tempted to get this rigged up - but want to get some experience with stoves generally before I do this.
My surround may warp - but I got it for free, and if I notice the initial signs of warping I'm simply going to move it to the other side of the room, and fix it against the wall there and maybe put a table of chairs or my computer in front of it, with a painting behind. For the time being I'll be interested to see if it restricts direct heat flow towards the TV. If the TV starts getting too hot I'll have it down and jack a painting up there.
Also the stove I got is a Stanley Oisin. These are Chinese. I figure if they make the ipad it can't be all that bad. Also check the reviews on this site, http://www.whatstove.co.uk/ , they are quite fascinating. The problems encountered with the Stanleys are in many ways less than those with other stove makes. The first stove I wanted, maybe about a week ago was a Franco Belge Savoy Mk2, but it was £780, there arn't any stocked in NI, and it would take 3 weeks to transport one in from the cheapest site. Also, reading that site, multiple people complained that the firebars at the front were too low, and this swung it for me.
The Stanley has reasonable reviews and I'm happy with what I have assuming it works. It's cheap, if it lasts 5 years I'd be happy; I've read reviews (see this Irish page http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055394080&page=40 ) where people have been burning these thing since the early 90s. The listed issues with them appear exactly similar to those listed for a Hunter / Stovax / Villager. The Franco Belge would have been nice as the viewing window is out of this world but the design fault some people complained of made it a no go for me, particularly as a novice to stove burning (although I still remember how to make fires as I used to do it all the time as a kid).
Does this mean I can burn ordinary housecoal and is it advisable for the alleged amounts of soot I'll be getting?
I have no problem with cheap jobs, (I rewired my house myself for example) but I always, always follow the regs. In the case of me doing the rewire, I did 6 months of study prior to undertaking the rewire. I already have an electrical/avionics engineering degree. They (regs) are not there to be a pain, they are there through hard won experience and house fire investigations. What am I saying? Make SURE that your stove complies with Part J. If it doesnt, whoever installed it has broken the law. there is nothing illegal about someone without HETAS installing the stove, AS LONG AS THEY FOLLOW THE REGS!
My personal take on it is, as long as they follow the regs and do a good job, I am happy. I am not interested in the council, they are more than welcome to inspect any of the work undertaken, but I wont be paying them for the priveledge.