wood burning stoves?

[pete32]

Hi everyone,

I am now in the proccess of looking for a log burner for my inglenook, the inglenook is quite large but is situated in a small room so the KW output is a problem I have been told. I do have 2 doors and the stairs in the same room though so air flow would pass to a certain extent into these areas. I have looked at a hunter inglenook but this is 6-7KW and I have been informed I would be incinerated in the room with this output. The room is only 12ft x 12ft if anyone has any input it would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Pete

 

[Anita]

We were in the same situation and opted for a "wham" stove. We chose Mozart, a tall contemporary looking stove because of our inglenook being particularly large - but the Vivaldi has exactly the same heat output - but is a less tall version.

I must admit that the wham stoves are not cheap - but we are really impressed with ours, and it is a much admired, and we think extremely handsome addition to our inglenook! My O/H was extremely sceptical about the stove (he thought that it looked like an oil drum, and then was even less keen when he found out the price) but even he is enthralled with it. Cat adores toasting in front of it and even gives up his "mad half hour" to bask in the warmth when the stove is lit!!

The secret of a lower heat output seems to be a smaller firebox. However the stove has a huge plain glass window in the door and wham say that it's average heat output is 4.5kw - even though it's specification is 2-6kw. It is extremely efficient and quite controllable (although to some extend that depends on the type wood that is used).

I'm not sure where you are located - but we bought ours from a supplier in Kendal, Cumbria, but they can also be purchased at http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/Hwam-wood-burning-designer-stoves.html.

However, given the outlay - we decided to purchase locally, for guarantee purposes (hopefully won't be necessary).

 

[piper]

We have a Morso squirrel, and we love it. The latest cleanburn model is very efficient, and they are quite small. Traditional design though. If you want something more modern, Stoves Online seem to have everything available. We have just bought a Saey insert stove from them, and I am very impressed indeed with their extremely helpful service. I had a lot of queries about installing it, flue lining etc. and their phone advice was excellent - plans sent by email and very clear instructions.

 

[Lindyboo]

We had a Dunsley Highlander 5 (multifuel) installed in April and are impressed with it. It sits in our ‘inglenook’ – in quotes because it’s a large aperture that once housed an old kitchen range. This heats our room (approx 192 sq ft) up to about 78F in cold weather, but we find that it will heat two adjoining rooms comfortably when we leave the doors open. Dunsley do a smaller stove (number 3). Here’s a link to their site http://www.dunsleyheat.co.uk/. We got ours from a local supplier and it was fitted by a bod they recommended. Total cost, which included fitting a plate at the top of the chimney, flue pipe and taking away rubbish etc was around £1000.

There’s an even smaller logburner which we’re considering for our snug, an Acorn, by Aarow http://www.stovesareus.co.uk/catalog/aarrow-m-25.html?gclid=CMD_9b_pzZMCFRSN1QodtRIDlQ – they’re having a sale at present

 

[Micky]

Hi - we had a Yeoman Exe wood burning stove installed in our living room last summer and it was the best thing we ever did! We were advised we could not have anything higher than 5kw output for our room without them knocking a ventilation hole through the front wall (17th c & conservation area so this wasn't an option we would have gone for) but output from our stove is plenty, like you we have 2 doors off the room, 1 of which is stairs so when things get too sauna like we just open the doors and heat the rest of the house. The Exe has double doors which does mean you can get a larger log in there but I guess it's personal preference where style is concerned and I know there is some debate about whether cast iron is best. I personally would not have one installed without a liner, ours was perlite insulated but I know there are schools of thought which say you don't need one in certain circumstances. Whichever you choose I am sure you won't regret it....wheel barrelling a ton of logs across the garden and stacking them in the dark on a November evening might be another matter however - oh and our installer knocked what I liked to call a small serving hatch through into next doors living room but thats a whole other story...he did put it all right again! Also they did not put a cowl on top when they originally installed the stove and when we had all the rain last summer it peeed down the chimney and across the hearth....the cowl has sorted this out but did cost us more for them to come back and fit it!

 

[shelli]

Hi Pete

Stovesonline have a really useful tool - where you take a photo of your space - ie your inglenook, put on your computer and you can set the various types of stove into the photo on screen to see what it will look like.
we needed 2 woodburners - a more formal one for the lounge and a rustic style for the inglenook in dining room - we got a georgian register grate from the period house store http://www.periodhousestore.co.uk/index.html and then after looking at every single high canopy stove on the internet(!) we decided on a VIllager B high canopy stove - we were going to buy from stoves are us or stovesonline but then found a guy on ebay called the stoveman whose price was £135.00 cheaper than stoves online with free delivery - he's worth a look heres the site link http://stores.ebay.co.uk/THE-STOVE-CENTRE
Delivery was fast and stove is good quality

NB ; be wary of using the price match that stoves are us offer - I tried, only to be told that they wont match ebay - (even though stoveman is an actual retailer who has an ebay shop as well

I think Pipers morso squirrel will be too small for an inglenook - my mum has one in hers and I always think it looks a bit swamped by the space - they pack a punch though - even though only 4/5 KW output in her 14 x 14 lounge it gets toasty very quickly as they're really efficient
you can get a physically larger stove that is small output - Hunter do a herald 4 and 6 - which would be plenty hot - are you getting a wraparound backboiler too ?

Shelli

 

[Jon Maine]

Try giving Gary at Harridge stoves a call. 01749 347272. I have found him very honest and straight forward. He runs a bussiness based upon high turnover low profit per item and all I can say is give him a call.

 

[Me!]

If you want a large stove to fill the space, but not all the heat that it produces, then get one with a back boiler and connect it to a few radiators in other rooms to use the heat in other places.

 

[Penners]

We were in the same situation and opted for a "wham" stove.

I think I saw one of those at the Club Tropicana, didn't I?

Have a look at http://www.windysmithy.co.uk/html/woodburners.htm, who does some lovely, hand-made stoves, starting at a very small size (2.5kW).

I suggest that you resist the temptation to put in a large woodburner and then run it at "tick-over". If you do that, your flue never gets really hot, which means that combustion products can condense and form acids. These can destroy your flue in a relatively short time.

Much better to install a small woodburner and run it at its optimum temperature.

 

[Nemesis]

Do you want a closed stove, or would an open one be useful here?

 

[Penners]

Bearing in mind that a closed stove can be opened, but an open stove can't be closed.

 

[pete32]

Thanks everyone for your input very interesting, I think I will look into the Yeoman exe as this looks a good size with only a 5KW output and also in my budget range. I will try the visualisation tool on the internet though that sounds like a good idea. Once again thanks for your input it has hepled me move forward with this project.

Cheers Pete.

 

[Nemesis]

We close our open stove - not as efficient, but it's more efficient than an open fire, with a similar effect.

If you want a budget stove, look at Machine Mart.

 

[Penners]

this looks a good size with only a 5KW output and also in my budget range.

Are you sure that you need 5kW for a 12ft x 12ft room? It still sounds a bit over-specified to me. Ours is a 6.5kW and it gets a room twice that size pretty toasty.

 

[Jon Maine]

Give Gary a ring, he has a rule of thumb formula for sizing a burner to a room. You can try him on price too.

If you oversize you will give yourself problems. Best get it right.

 

[Jon Maine]

Found this online calculator, looks like you are almost double what you need unless you are going to leave doors open and heat more of the house

http://www.woodburnerwarehouse.co.uk/what_stove_output_do_i_need.phtml

 

[Ushy M]

Pete, I know you looked at one of the Hunter Stoves, but have you considered the Hunter Herald 5? (5KW output). It has the advantage of being wide but shallow, so it visually fills the space quite well, doesn't chuck out too much heat, and is wide enough to put decent-sized logs on. This is the one I think we're going to go for.

 

[Penners]

have you considered the Hunter Herald 5? (5KW output).

Sorry to sound like a cracked record, but I'm still concerned that 5kW is over-specified for Pete's room size. See my comments on the previous page.

 

[Ian Bond]

I agree Penners - but perhaps but perhaps the ceiling's 30' high

 

[Ian Bond]

I agree Penners - but perhaps but perhaps the ceiling's 30' high

Oops - now I'm like a cracked record.