Multi fuel stoves and wood burners.

[Flat Foot]

I took out a 60s style surround and reopened up our original fireplace so we could get a multifuel stove installed. Beyond worth it. But the filthiest work I'd ever done... Until I took down the lime plaster and lath from the hallway, that was

Here's what I did, didn't have access to the pics last night. Took out the surround, opened up and repointed the old fireplace and also took up the manky carpet to give us the old floorboards back. It improved the feel of the living room a ridiculous amount.

 

[GeorgieV]

Here is what I did back in 2017:

 

[Sandimas]

Just love wood burners, best decision we ever made about 15 years ago. We've got a 5kW one and it's more than enough to heat a 27ft long room in an old poorly-insulated house. People often buy them too big then have to keep all the doors open as they get too hot.

Get a magnetic temperature gauge to put on top. We usually open the vents to get it up to 400 degrees then turn everything down to let it tickover, by this time logs seem to melt when you put them in. Be careful leaving the vents open too long, ours got to over 500 degrees with the flue glowing red when we accidentally did this.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks to everyone who has answered lots of good info given.

Does anyone use on of these and are they worth buying?

How it works -

Starting -

 

[Flat Foot]

We have one, it at least works as a placebo if nothing else! Always wondered if I should have two, one for each side of the flue....

 

[Graz]

I love our wood burner, one of the best things we had done.

Luckily we already had a chimney / fireplace though it had been bricked up. When we had our extension done what was the fireplace in the dining room became part of our open plan living / kitchen / dining room. We got the builders to open it up, fit a new lintel and hearth. Once funds allowed we had the woodburner put in with a flexible stainless steel chimney liner.

The heat it chucks out is phenomenal given the amount of fuel you put on. Once it's going and the vents are dialled down, a few logs last well over an hour. When it's on the central heating isn't, only downside is that whilst some of the heat creeps upstairs you do end up with a cooler bedroom but we don't mind that. I have considered getting a zoneable heating controller so we could heat upstairs if we wanted to.

I think the fans are good as the do help to move some of the heat away from the burner itself and around the room.

 

[Tanglefoot]

I picked up a salvaged no2 Rayburn about twenty years ago and took out fireplace with back boiler in the kitchen, then fitted it with closed loop to immersion tank and radiators.
With no gas in the village it's been a lifesaver during winter power cuts and when the secondary electric boiler is out of action - still waiting for electrician to come and replace faulty element at the moment.

Have to be prepared for a bit of dust though, time spent clearing the grate periodically and getting rid of the ash but more than worth it. Always on the lookout for logs with my chainsaw.
My dogs love it too !

Edit. Stainless steel flue liner is expensive but essential especially if you're burning logs

 

[Guzzie]

For C_Ts benefit,
Am I right that you had yours installed in a preexisting chimney but with a new liner installed for the multi fuel stove?
Also that there are newish rules/regulations about permitted types of stove and installation specs?

hi

Our inset stove was installed in a pre-existing chimney about 4 to 5 years ago. Three people arrived and fitted a SS liner. They simply removed the old fire bricks to create the right size opening and attached the stove to the liner and finally fitted the surround. The stove meets 2022 regulations and the surround provides the necessary distance for combustible material. G

 

[Chippy_Tea]

@Guzzie

Don't you lose a lot of heat output withe the sides and top of the stove not being exposed?

 

[Guzzie]

@Guzzie

Don't you lose a lot of heat output withe the sides and top of the stove not being exposed?

There is still the radiant heat directed into the room. Later on in the evening the chimney bricks act as a storage radiator so the room is warm long after the fire has gone out.

The only issue I have is not being able to have a fan on top of the stove to help circulate the heat. I wish I had fitted the rear fan ducting to the stove so that I could have heated another room. There is more than enough heat output to do this. G

 

[Leon103]

Thanks to everyone who has answered lots of good info given.

Does anyone use on of these and are they worth buying?

How it works -

Starting -

We have a stupidly big stove, 13kw way to big, even for a big room. I tried one of those and found it better without, without the heat finds its own way out if the room, into the hall and up to the kids bedrooms. With it the heat was just blown around the room.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

We have a stupidly big stove, 13kw way to big, even for a big room.

Thanks, I used a calculator on a stove suppliers site and our maximum is 5kw so that's what we will get.

 

[Cwrw666]

If you don't have a flue pipe all the way up inside your chimney you can eventually get creosote soaking through the mortar, usually in the bedroom. It's a fire hazard plus it stinks.
We fitted a woodstove when we lived in Hampshire and didn't line the chimney - absolutely fine for a year or so then creosote started leaking. Cured it by removing a yard high section of brickwork in the bedroom and feed ing pipes down to the stove then up to the top of the chimney. Had to do this because the chimney had a kink in it so you couldn't just feed the pipes down from the top or up from the bottom. Hard job but it cured the problem.
In our current place the chimney had already been lined - with 8" ceramic drainage pipes. Must have been a job to do!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you don't have a flue pipe all the way up inside your chimney you can eventually get creosote soaking through the mortar, usually in the bedroom.

Thanks, looks like i am going to have to break the habit of a lifetime and not be a tight git.

 

[gavp1979]

We had one fitted at the start of last year and absolutely love it. It has been a lifesaver since lockdown when I started working at home, I have the fire on through the day when I am in the house by myself and then just put the heating on before the kids finish school

 

[Chippy_Tea]

We had one fitted at the start of last year and absolutely love it. It has been a lifesaver since lockdown when I started working at home, I have the fire on through the day when I am in the house by myself and then just put the heating on before the kids finish school

We are rarely in the house at the same time so the coal fire is the main source of heat and like you the CH is only turned on when we were all at home, we will use the stove in the same way.

 

[Donegal john]

We have a stupidly big stove, 13kw way to big, even for a big room. I tried one of those and found it better without, without the heat finds its own way out if the room, into the hall and up to the kids bedrooms. With it the heat was just blown around the room.

I fitted a 21kw boiler stove in place of a small 5kw dry stove we had in and the heat output to the room is roughly the same up until the water in the radiators are hot on the return pipe then the room heats up a hell of a lot more than I like (5 women in the house love it )
16kw goes to the water and 5kw to the room.
rhe beast can take a full 25kg bag of coal in 1 go !! I use ovoids (duck eggs) and it never goes out from Oct to feb. Don’t use the oil heating at all.
indtalled myself so only cost was the stove and copper pipe / fittings.

 

[Nicks90]

No matter how good your chimney is, fit a double walled stainless steel flu liner.
Not only does it absolutely protect you from a leaking chimney gassing you, or creasote staining, but the smaller diameter means a faster quicker draw up the chimney which brings your stove up to temp quicker. Means it gets to efficency much much faster. Plus as the volume of the 'chimney' is smaller, the temperature of the smoke going up stays high. When the smoke cools on the chimney walls, it causes creasote build up. Being narrow and hot, it reaches the open air before dropping to that creasote forming temp. Also means it's much less hassle getting you flu cleaned. Had ours in the kitchen for 5 years and each time we get it swept he says it didn't need it.
In our old house we didn't have a liner and it was forever sooty.

As for the fans, they are ace and make a real difference.

 

[Gingerbrews]

We have one in our home in the city and one in our place in the middle of nowhere.
Especially in the out of the way place, the heat chases away the dampness and cheers it up with a "real" fire.
Best investment ever, and with a chain saw and axe (almost) free fuel

 

[Cwrw666]

As to chimney sweeping - I've got a cheap set of brushes and do it myself. Takes about 20 minutes.

We have 2 woodburners. Burn mostly wood but also some housecoal for instant heat on startup. Both chimneys have ceramic liners. One we have to sweep 2 or sometimes 3 times a year otherwise it blocks up and we gas ourselves. The other one I've swept twice in 26 years and both times it didn't really need it. I've no idea why.