What size of woodburner?

[Bayliss]

If you are sawing your own wood the most important metric is the length of log that will fit in.

Not sure I understand that observation. If you're sawing your own wood, don't you simply saw the correct length of log for the stove that you have?

The OP was looking for advice about choosing a stove. Others discussed the theoretical output of stoves and sizes of rooms. My point is that, in the circumstance where you are sawing your own logs rather than buying ready cut up wood, the length of log the stove can take is a very important factor in choosing a new stove. My stove can take logs 50cm long, for which I feel grateful when sawing. If your stove only took short logs you would have to do more work. Of course in your position, Penners, it is all irrelevant because your man would just do it for you.

Its a very good point, one I certainly hadn't considered.

 

[Penners]

My sister ...taught herself to plaster and done all the work herself. She's better at plumbing than me...Standing on ladder at the top of the chimney with a rope on a December afternoon, no worries. Standing in the fireplace supporting the weight of the whole liner, insulation and pipe while I fit the hanger on - yes of course!

Do me a favour, please Zebra, and ask your sister whether she'll marry me. I could do something about the present Mrs P.

Well done - the woodburner looks great! Just one question: when you say "We lined the chimney, with rockwool sleeves for insulation" I presume the rockwool sleeves are wrapped around the outside of a liner? Not just 'naked' in the chimney?

I'm sure it's a really stupid question, but there's no harm in making absolutely sure.

 

[MdB]

Its a very good point, one I certainly hadn't considered.

For a while now I have been carefully collecting, cutting up and storing any spare tree, caravan, bit of house that were suitable for burning, ready for the time that we had a stove. We now have the stove and I've discovered that quite a lot of the wood I've cut up just that little bit too long

 

[Zebra]

Do me a favour, please Zebra, and ask your sister whether she'll marry me.

Will do.

Just one question: when you say "We lined the chimney, with rockwool sleeves for insulation" I presume the rockwool sleeves are wrapped around the outside of a liner? Not just 'naked' in the chimney?

Yes, we wrapped them around the liner and taped them on with aluminium tape as it went up from the fireplace. I was going to use loose vermiculate insulation but it turned out that with such a big chimney it would've taken bags and bags of the stuff. What I shall do however, is pour some loose fill vermiculate insulation on top of the register plate once I've mortared it to the inside of the chimney - this will be just to insulate the chimney from the house, and hopefully stop some of the heat going up the chimney. It's such a large register plate area (2m x 50cm) that it seems a good idea, can't hurt at least. But the plan is to take a brick out of the chimney in the bedroom (less drastic than it sounds, I've had to replace plenty of spongy bricks from there already) and pour it in...

For a while now I have been carefully collecting, cutting up and storing any spare tree, caravan, bit of house that were suitable for burning, ready for the time that we had a stove.

I've been saving lots of bits of plank, board, etc - not treated timber but general waste wood - and now I find that they're so thin and dry they burn really fast, and I've nearly used them all up already!

 

[Penners]

Do me a favour, please Zebra, and ask your sister whether she'll marry me.

Will do.

Oh, flippin' 'eck! Now I'm in trouble!

 

[Zebra]

I wouldn't worry too greatly. Without wishing to upset you, how can I put this? She might not accept...

 

[Flyfisher]

What I shall do however, is pour some loose fill vermiculate insulation on top of the register plate once I've mortared it to the inside of the chimney - this will be just to insulate the chimney from the house, and hopefully stop some of the heat going up the chimney. It's such a large register plate area (2m x 50cm) that it seems a good idea, can't hurt at least.

I've wondered about whether to do a similar thing when we install our stove as we also have a huge inglenook and chimney. My feeling is not to do so until we've had the stove running for at least one winter because it might be beneficial to allow a bit of heat to leak to the room upstairs via the chimney stack.

I don't think theres a right or wrong answer though, just a mix of personal preference and seeing how the house 'works'.

 

[Bayliss]

What I shall do however, is pour some loose fill vermiculate insulation on top of the register plate once I've mortared it to the inside of the chimney - this will be just to insulate the chimney from the house, and hopefully stop some of the heat going up the chimney. It's such a large register plate area (2m x 50cm) that it seems a good idea, can't hurt at least.

I've wondered about whether to do a similar thing when we install our stove as we also have a huge inglenook and chimney. My feeling is not to do so until we've had the stove running for at least one winter because it might be beneficial to allow a bit of heat to leak to the room upstairs via the chimney stack.

I don't think theres a right or wrong answer though, just a mix of personal preference and seeing how the house 'works'.

I wouldn't run a stove without a liner fitted top to bottom of the chimney, and the liner insulated of course. The reason being that the vast heat generated by the stove could very easily have an adverse effect upon the brickwork/stonework/lime mortar joints within your flue. Its possible for hot gas to escape through damaged flue making for a dodgy situation. I'm no Health and Safety bone head, I hope, but safety first when it comes down to flue gases.

 

[vicky whitworth]

If Mrs P goes missing now, Penners, you'll have some questions to answer. What have you done :shock: Poor Mrs P. Swopped for a Zebra's sister. Stripes are so 'out', you know

 

[Flyfisher]

I wouldn't run a stove without a liner fitted top to bottom of the chimney, and the liner insulated of course. The reason being that the vast heat generated by the stove could very easily have an adverse effect upon the brickwork/stonework/lime mortar joints within your flue. Its possible for hot gas to escape through damaged flue making for a dodgy situation. I'm no Health and Safety bone head, I hope, but safety first when it comes down to flue gases.

I entirely agree. I should clarify my previous post by explaining that I was only wondering about adding vermiculite to insulate the register plate.

 

[Zebra]

My feeling is not to do so until we've had the stove running for at least one winter because it might be beneficial to allow a bit of heat to leak to the room upstairs via the chimney stack.

Do you think it will though? Is your chimney on an external wall or is it enclosed within the house? If it's external, as mine is, I wouldn't have imagined that any heat that has leaked to the chimney will leak back in again. But if it's internal, perhaps it might do. I know what you mean though, you've got to see what works for your house.

 

[Flyfisher]

I agree that's also an important consideration. The chimney I have in mind is internal but on a gable wall, so three sides of it are inside the house. I've no idea if significant heat will find its way to the upstairs room or entirely leak away, hence my instinct to give it at least one winter. I suspect you're probably right if your stack is external on three sides but figuring out how they behave is half the fun of old houses

 

[Penners]

What I shall do however, is pour some loose fill vermiculate insulation on top of the register plate once I've mortared it to the inside of the chimney - this will be just to insulate the chimney from the house, and hopefully stop some of the heat going up the chimney. It's such a large register plate area (2m x 50cm) that it seems a good idea, can't hurt at least.

I've wondered about whether to do a similar thing when we install our stove as we also have a huge inglenook and chimney. My feeling is not to do so until we've had the stove running for at least one winter because it might be beneficial to allow a bit of heat to leak to the room upstairs via the chimney stack.

I find it difficult to imagine that heat leaking up the chimney (or indeed through the wall of the flue liner) would have much chance of making the jump into an upstairs room from that huge chimney (assuming it's the one I'm thinking of). The air would have to stay pretty hot as it convected upwards, and then permeate through the substantial brickwork of the chimney stack.

I can't help feeling that your better bet for upstairs warming would be to fit a register plate right away and fill the chimney void with vermiculite (or wrap the flue liner in an insulation jacket). This would maximise the heat delivery into the downstairs room, perhaps giving a better chance that some of it would permeate up through the ceiling.

It would also reduce the risk of flue liner corrosion.

 

[Zebra]

Penners, we're talking about in addition to insulating the liner - whether or not to pour a bit of vermiculite on top of the register plate to keep heat down in the room as it's such a big register plate, but definately as well as insulating the liner, for the reasons you say....

 

[Penners]

OK, Zebra. I still feel that heat 'leakage' into the upstairs room probably stands more chance of filtering up through the ceiling than it does of doing so through the chimney walls.

 

[Zebra]

Me too. That's why I'm going to insulate the register plate. I'm hoping that by keeping heat down in the room and not letting it into the chimney, I'll get more in the house and going up the stairs. I agree there's little chance of it coming back in through the upstairs walls.
By the way, my sister said yes, but she wants a pre-nuptual agreement covering all power tools, and she's not wearing a big white dress.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm probably not making myself very clear but I agree that a register plate and an insulated flue is a given. The issue is whether to add vermiculite above the register plate to minimise heat loss into the chimney void or live with any heat loss in the hope that the stack brickwork acts as a sort of storage heater and help to take the chill off the upstairs room.

But Penners makes a good point about maximising the heat to the downstairs room and limiting any heat leakage through the ceiling, which would then be entirely within the house rather than some unknown portion escaping through the outside wall of the chimney. I think I'm persuaded.

Good news about the wedding though - is that a PPUK first? :lol:

 

[Zebra]

Oh dammit! Just now I thought to myself, "I'll do it now!!" Leaped up to get a hammer and a small bolster to get a brick out. Knocked all the mortar out from round it, almost got it out, suddently realised I haven't mortared the register plate to the fireplace yet, and that if I pour the vermiculite in now, it'll all leak out round the edges.
And I was going to wait til Spring to mortar the register plate to the fireplace, in lime mortar, because if I do it while the fire is lit, it'll just crack. So now I have a hole in my chimney.
Why can't I just sit in front of the fire with a glass of wine?! :roll:

 

[skier-hughes]

Why can't I just sit in front of the fire with a glass of wine?! :roll:

You need some lessons from me......... and maybe a few dozen others round here :lol:

 

[AMc]

A word of caution about burning "any old wood offcuts". I stuck a few bits of skirting and architrave into our new one shortly after fitting it. It went up a treat but clearly being a bit sappy it then dribbled a great smudge of tar from the plate in the flue for sweeping. Not happy at all.
In general seasoned logs are a much better bet or at least a mix of offcuts and real wood.

My local wood source has gone from £90 two years ago to £130 a load this year. He's now buying in logs rather than moving on the waste from his landscape gardening business so it looks like I'll have to do some shopping next year. And don't ever buy bags of logs from the DIY centres, petrol stations etc. unless you enjoy the sensation of watching your £££ smoulder weakly while you try desperately to get the soggy mess to light properly. Spent a few miserable evenings doing that before we found a real wood supply!


Finally if you've fitted a woodburner I would strongly suggest you fit a powered carbon monoxide alarm (not a passive indicator) on the off chance some freak combination of wind and wood and wine leaves you slumbering while the fumes build up.