Wood burning stoves

macvisual

macvisual

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Peter
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Hi all, it's that time of year again were the wood burners are getting fired up due to autumn and lower temps now kicking in. Are there any folk here that are into wood burners..? If so, what do youse have installed..? Just curious...

We've two log burners installed, a Burley Brampton (8Kw) in our dining room, and a Dunsley Highlander 5 (5Kw) fitted in our lounge. We are going to replace the Dunsley Highlander 5 stove within the next few months to a Burley Hollywell (5Kw) for our lounge as we love what the Burley range of stoves kick out heat wise, along with the way the door glass keeps clean and the fireball effect, simply wonderful.
The Burley stove range can take a direct feed (via the rear of the stove) of outside air for improved efficiency and economy etc...

Over the past 2/3 years I've been collection/sourcing all my own supply of wood from here/there/everywhere, I cut and store my logs within three (large self made) separate log sheds, I'm really well into it. recently bought both a Scheppach log splitter and electric circular log saw for convenience.......my trusty chainsaw and splitting axe are collecting dust out in the garage. Last year I bought a set of chimney brushes and carry out my own sweeping/cleaning of flues for each wood burner.
I'm sorted for the next two years with dried logs ready to go, now collection/sourcing fresh wet wood for the winter of 2018, nice to be ahead of the game.

Yes, I'm obsessed by it........superb! :)

Regards;
Peter
 
Remember not to turn the rods as you put them up the chimney, you are deffinatly my sort of person. I collect dead gorse as I have a few fields, Hawthorn and Sloe will burn hot, Apple smells lovely but never burn Elderberry. A wood burning stove, perfect for a winters evening.
 
Put a Charnwood Island 2 in this house a few years ago, put a Morso Squirrel in the previous house (although I mostly ran that on anthracite for 24/7 burning as the main heat source). The Island 2 was picked for the large flat top as much as the big windows and multi-fuel grate, got to love a woodburner for slowcooking on. Couldn't see a way get the soapstone cooker-top version of the Island 2 inside the fireplace, the clearances were just a bit tight to be sure the lid would have lifted to the splashback position. MiL has a proper woodburning cooker that gets used for special occasions.

I tend to burn whatever I can get, my neighbours a handyman and there's seems to be a ready supply of off-cuts and removed floorboards, joists, etc as well as log wood. The wood stores are currently full, some fully seasoned ready for this year and some fresher logs drying for next year.
 
Stovax Stockton 6 here, used to boost the background heat from the (oil fired) Rayburn.
 
I fitted an ebay special a couple of years ago, does the job. It's backup to oil fired central heating so it's function is more to decorate the inglenook, but it does kick out plenty of heat for the room on it's own in the event of a power cut. Only thing is with it being so small, you're constantly having to feed it!
 
Charnwood C-seven here. Loving my stove, I got it with a multi fuel grate but to be honest only burn wood and I've been thinking of removing the grate to give a little more space.
 
macvisual said:
Cheers...

What's the benefits of not turning the sweeping rods when cleaning the chimney upwards Shirleyr ?
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If you turn it instead of up and down, there is a chance you'll up screw a rod and then you'll know the reason why, I think you already knew that. :p
I've cleaned my own chimney before, £40 now for a sweep. As the saying goes been there, done it and got the badge:D now a use a male sweep.
 
We have a Firestorm10 multifuel, a little bit of coal or coke really gets it burning hot.
 
Been quite tempted to get a woodburner insert to replace the open gas fire that we have at the moment but realised that we only lit the gas fire once last year and that was more for the visual aspect than the heat it puts out! We reckon it would cost about 2 grand to get an insert fitted (along with a flue liner [not necessary but apparently worth the cost]) and that's several years of gas bills (and we'd still need the boiler for hot water.)
 
We have a small Bernard Davis multi fuel stove that I bought 2nd hand, I think it's only a 3 KW output, but it's enough for the living room. I bought one of the small stove fans this week and although it's only had a couple of uses, it does seem to distribute the heat more evenly. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AY8Z480/?tag=ho01f-21
 
I quite fancy a pyroclassic. it's on the bottom of rather a large list of priorities though.
 
Here's a grab shot of our (fabulous) Burley Brampton 8kw wood burner, installed about a year now, a serious heat monster, you can push it to 12kw if need be, amazing heat it kicks out and very efficient, we love it..!



Burley Brampton 8kw by Macvisual Photography, on Flickr
 
Shirleyr said:
If you turn it instead of up and down, there is a chance you'll up screw a rod and then you'll know the reason why, I think you already knew that. :p
I've cleaned my own chimney before, £40 now for a sweep. As the saying goes been there, done it and got the badge:D now a use a male sweep.
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I like to give it a slight clockwise turn as I sweep as it tightens the rods :)
Although after 5years of doing it myself we actually got a pro in this year to do it, and in contrast to yours she was a woman :)
 
macvisual said:
Here's a grab shot of our (fabulous) Burley Brampton 8kw wood burner, installed about a year now, a serious heat monster, you can push it to 12kw if need be, amazing heat it kicks out and very efficient, we love it..!

Burley Brampton 8kw by Macvisual Photography, on Flickr
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That's a lovely looking burner @macvisual, it's a flippin huge burner and hearth!

Now tell me about the Ecofan - I've heard such mixed reports I've no idea if it's worth getting one or not.
 
TopBanana said:
it's a flippin huge burner and hearth!
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You'd be amazed what's hiding in some houses.. we took out a 12" wide gas flame effect unit, knocked out the in-fill around it and discovered a 3'3" wide hearth.

I've always used a professional sweep, gives you that piece of paper in case the insurance company ever asked for it. I also use Stovax Protector flue cleaner (http://amzn.to/2dlj1xt) every couple of weeks, because we do tend to burn some crap from time to time - the sweep just rolls his eyes when he sees a stack of treated floorboards in the log basket. But there's never been any problem with hard deposits or creosote/tar in the flue. Very little soot at all.
 
TopBanana said:
That's a lovely looking burner @macvisual, it's a flippin huge burner and hearth!

Now tell me about the Ecofan - I've heard such mixed reports I've no idea if it's worth getting one or not.
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Tim, those Eco fans probably do help a little ok, they're handy to keep the hot air moving from in/around the top of the stove.

Some folk are lead to believe that these we fans distribute the air from the stove all around the house but that's utter tosh, if you stand back a few metres you'll probably not feel it working too much. I wouldn't pay more than £45/£50 for one to be honest. But yes, they do help. We got ours from the bay a few years ago.
 
Here's ours that I put in before last winter, a Mendip Churchill stove, only small but throws out soooo much heat, love it [emoji851]

IMG_1475513541.878222.jpg
 
And my favourite accessory, a few quid from Amazon [emoji106]

IMG_1475513627.945790.jpg

And there we were all thinking we were only camera geeks! [emoji38]
 
Very nice Gregg, a smart/clean looking stove ok, neat...! Is that Mendip wood-burner a 5kw output..?

Do you buy in your dry logs or collect/source all your own (like me) ?

:)
 
Here's mine in action!

I've been using a log burner since moving to Norfolk fifteen years back. One of the very few things about winter I look forward to.

The frogs quite like it as well:):)

Frogs by the fire by steve.palmer24, on Flickr
 
zendog said:
Here's mine in action!

I've been using a log burner since moving to Norfolk fifteen years back. One of the very few things about winter I look forward to.

The frogs quite like it as well:):)

Frogs by the fire by steve.palmer24, on Flickr
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Steve, that stoves a beauty, love the size of your fireplace, very wide, excellent. What's the output of that log burner ? Lush looking.

Love it!!!
 
I'd like something similar to the Esse 700 Vista SE. Electronic ignition isn't quite as `caveman` as lighting paper/kindling/firelighters etc but it would do for me. :cool:
 
Here are my two burners - although I could only find them in the background of pictures of my daughter :LOL:
I think the first one is about 5kW and the smaller one more like 2-3kW (in a room half the size so it warms it really well). I've recently learnt that I've had the flue thermostat much too low on the flue so was probably burning too cool most of the time. Luckily the chimney isn't lined and is a decent size so it's not a huge problem.

11666393234_f4bf2ddfb6_n.jpg
 
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TopBanana said:
I've recently learnt that I've had the flue thermostat much too low on the flue so was probably burning too cool most of the time.
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Yep, if your little-un needs a dressing gown on,..............it's not warm enough! :LOL:
 
macvisual said:
Very nice Gregg, a smart/clean looking stove ok, neat...! Is that Mendip wood-burner a 5kw output..?

Do you buy in your dry logs or collect/source all your own (like me) ?

:)
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Thanks Pete, yes it's the 5kw, it throws out more than enough heat for our house, and I buy my logs in as we've not much space for storage. I throw a bit of coal in it aswell. Roll on winter [emoji106]
 
We have ran into a slight glitch with wanting to change our current Dunsley Highlander 5kw wood burner which has a 5" flue, the stove we fancy replacing it with (Burley Hollywell) has a 6" flue, this would mean replacing the complete flue which seems a lot of hassle to be honest.

So, any advice please on a wood-stove with a 5" flue with rear/top exit with an output of around 7kw would be appreciated. Our living room is approx. 18' width x 17' depth x 11' ceiling height with a bay window.
 
Can the new stove not be fitted with a reducer to match the existing flue? Might reduce output a bit but should still give you the aesthetic upgrade!
 
Nod said:
Can the new stove not be fitted with a reducer to match the existing flue? Might reduce output a bit but should still give you the aesthetic upgrade!
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I don't believe you can fit/install a stove which has a 6" flue size into a 5" flue with a reducer, I'm led to believe that's not allowed apparently.
 
We have a Villager Chelsea, although we have gas heating I am tight and only have it on for 45 minutes in the morning until the burner is roaring back up again.
We have had it for about 15 years has been fitted in 2 houses and it has been abused but still in pretty good shape.
We go through about 16 c/mtrs of logs a season if it's cold, which it hasn't been for a few years.
 
To help dissipate heat from in/around a wood-stove I fancy trying something like this; a battery powered (quiet) fan which sits on the floor behind a wood-burner and helps move/push the air out from in/around the stove to help distribute warm air into the room.

Has anyone any thoughts on this method at all or would like to comment please...?

Regards;
Peter
 
macvisual said:
To help dissipate heat from in/around a wood-stove I fancy trying something like this; a battery powered (quiet) fan which sits on the floor behind a wood-burner and helps move/push the air out from in/around the stove to help distribute warm air into the room.

Has anyone any thoughts on this method at all or would like to comment please...?

Regards;
Peter
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When it gets really cold in our house we roar the fire up and put a quite large electric fan by the side of the fire and aim it towards the door and from there it warms the rest of the house up.
Works very well for us and the fan only uses 35 watts so costs virtually nothing to run.
 
We've got a 15kw chinese job in our new extension / kitchen. Looks great, has incredible draw and heats the room very nicely, and it was cheap as chips :)

Although, we're currently having an argument with building control about signing it off, as they don't seem to know what they're doing and are insisting we hire a HETAS engineer to do a spillage test. But HETAS engineers can just sign stoves off against Building Regs, something which building control should be able to do themselves. And I don't really want to pay someone a couple of hundred quid to hold a joss stick in front of the stove, which is all a spillage test appears to be.
 
macvisual said:
To help dissipate heat from in/around a wood-stove I fancy trying something like this; a battery powered (quiet) fan which sits on the floor behind a wood-burner and helps move/push the air out from in/around the stove to help distribute warm air into the room.

Has anyone any thoughts on this method at all or would like to comment please...?

Regards;
Peter
Click to expand...

What about an EcoFan?
 
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