Wood burners

[MetManMark]

All
I appreciate that there are probably dedicated forums for this question but I thought I would post here as a bunch of informed types

Our house is Georgian with relatively large rooms and I realise that it is probably more in keeping with an open fire. However, we really like wood burners so are tempted to go for this option.

1) Does anyone have photos of a wood burner in their house so we can see what it might aim for in terms of fireplace & mantelpiece etc as we have a big gaping hole at the moment. All the brochures that we have seen tend to be for fireplaces in modern homes.

2) What woodburner would people recommend. We have a friend who swears by his Burley - apparently it is the most efficient burner on the market at the moment. While I like the fact that it has a vent that goes directly into the back of the burner thereby reducing draught in the room itself, its looks are not really in keeping with a period property. We are after something efficient, good quality and in keeping.

Thanks in advance
Mark

 

[Zebra]

Why certainly. I posted one here http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12555&start=45 on another thread. The mantelpiece is modern still, one of these days I shall take to it with a large hammer.

 

[agbagb]

Well mines on here. There's also other info there about woodburning stoves.

Have you seen the inset stoves (try a google search) they might be better in a smaller Georgian proportioned fireplace.

 

[Herbs]

We installed a Hunter Herald 8 in one of our fireplaces and they do an inglenook version which will be going in our other one once the chimney is repaired. I'll try and find a picture for you tomorrow

 

[Penners]

Having had several woodburners in various houses, I would say that they generally obey the same physical law that most other products demonstrate: you get what you pay for. There are plenty of good makes, and any of them should suit you. I can't say I've ever had a bad woodburner.

My personal preference is for flat-topped models, rather than tapered tops. You can boil a kettle on a flat top - particularly useful if you have a power cut!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I have a Villager AL which looks like this (although this is not my fireplace I should add!! :shock:

It has a back boiler, is multi-fuel and kicks out "upto" 14kw.

Penners is right - a flat top is great (and my model combines both a canopy and a hot plate, as the flue exits at the rear). We aren't silly enough to boil a kettle on ours - we make mulled wine in huge pans that stay on there all day in the winter and just keep getting topped up! 8)

I love the look of my chimney but really must fit a register plate. Most of my 14kw is heating the chimney void :roll:

 

[Penners]

Most of my 14kw is heating the chimney void

Aha - that explains the mild Welsh climate.

 

[Jellyfire]

We recently had a Charnwood Island 1 fitted into our main sitting room. Its quite a large room with an open staircase which lets lots of heat out. Its only 6kw, but still heats the room (and the upstairs room) pretty quickly and effectively. They're far from the cheapest, but its a pleasure to use, one pull handle controls all the venting, the glass stays clean really well, the build quality is superb....and you can boil a kettle on it! have had a villager before which did a good job, but Id definitely recommend the charnwoods if you are willing to spend a bit more

 

[skier-hughes]

here's our fire, 40Kw, does central heating as well using tubes attop and a water jacket on sides and back, on the picture taken just after install you can see the air feed pipe and the insulated flue liner going up massive chimney!
Then there are a couple with the oak framing in place, with air vents top and bottom to encourage air flow round the fire itself within the cladding.
We had to put this in, as when we took out the old fireplace I found the chimney had been reduced in size 3 times and the only thing holding up the bricks used was the plasterboard filling in the chimney.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I found the chimney had been reduced in size 3 times and the only thing holding up the bricks used was the plasterboard filling in the chimney.

I've just removed the dry-lining and plasterboard from what was the office above the open porch (pics later, honest!). It has a triple stone mullioned window in the front wall, in a recess about 24 inches deep. The mullions are probably 6 inches deep leaving about 18 inches deep of stone not supported by the mullions but the wooden lintels. As I stripped off the polythene tanking, what was the wooden lintel quite literally fell onto the sill below in a big pile of dust. Actually most of it was probably finer than dust! :shock:

I would worry what was keeping the rest of the stone above it up, but I figure that it has been like that for between 2 and 4 decades and the purlins look pretty solid so the roof should be ok for another week or two whilst I work out how to get a new lintel up there. 8)

 

[skier-hughes]

I found that nothing was supporting the bricks when one fell on my head!!!!!!!!