I've always had a plain open fire in the living room of my terraced house and we light it in winter (we have central heating too) and it's OK. I've just bought a new fire surround and the installer said I should look at replacing the fire with a stove as the efficiency of old-fashioned fires is awful and also bad for the environment.
I've been recommended the Stovax Stockton Milner which fits over the standard firebricks and doesn't need a separate flue pipe so it would be cheaper to put in as no bashing the chimney about, but they all look like costing around £800-£1000 which was not in my budget for redecorating at all!
Has anyone else got one of these stoves? And if so, do you find it better than the open fire? I can't find any reviews for it, perhaps it is new?
Thanks.