want to look at the beautiful wood burner that I think dh has just agreed to, plus what do I need to know/think about?

[ditavonteesed]

Very excited. the red one it is locally made and will look gorgeous.

One tip. Make sure it draws well. Ours is a sod to light. We get a bit smoky till it gets hot and draws by itself. Apparently our flue is not high enough.

I'm always one to jump on a woodburner thread - I love mine!

As others have said, get a multi-fuel rather than a wood only burner and prepare to waste spend hours in front of it enjoying the cosiness

I spent about £50 per month on logs and light mine every evening. Mine (a Morso) is easy enough to light and once going looks after itself.

One thing I would say - will a red stove date at all? I did think of going down the colour stove route but decided trad black would wear much better. I paid £900 for my stove so will not be able to replace it ever often!

Yorkshire, MiniMom... But I have an open fire at the mo rather than a burner, which as other people have pointed out is much less efficient. :(

Apparently if you blast a hot hair dryer up the chimney before you light it, it helps the draw and stops it being smoky when you first light it. ( getting one ourselves soon)

I love my wood burner too. We chop a lot of our own wood too but I do buy some in just in case we run out.

Multi fuel is great and it's not much work at all really. Knock out the ash and if it's cold put it straight in the bin. Takes a couple of minutes to chuck some coal or smokeless fuel in, which looks like coal. Scrunch a good load of newspaper in, few bits of kindling, light, chuck a couple of logs on and sit back and enjoy. Throw another log on every hour or so and that's it really.

I would highly recommend Clearview glass though. We didn't have it and I wish we had, the glass gets very black. It does burn off eventually or you can scrub it off but Clearview saves you the bother. Apparently you can change the glass, think we might do that.

Multi fuel is definitely worth it.

A woodburner isn't hard work unless you are using it as the only heat source.

I had to rely on just the woodburners for heat when the kids were babies.
We now live somewhere with heating and I've had a few years break from the relentlessness of it.
Now I have recovered (!) I would like to install a woodburner just for 'fun' as nothing beats it on the cosy factor.

You need to think about a good fire guard if you have DC's.
Also fire cleaning out kit - ideally a metal bucket,scruffy handbrush,coal shovel, coal tongs and a poker.A proper coal scuttle is good and a nice log basket.
You need to keep the logs away from the fire (it's a fire hazard to keep them too close)

I used to have a Raeburn... It was our only source of heating, hot water and heat for cooking ... It was faulty and an obsolete model... Every time you opened its door to feed it coal, it bellowed black soot out all over the kitchen, coating everything (including any clean washing up) with a fine layer of black coal-dust. :(

I was soooooo relieved when they made our area smoke-free and gave grants for central heating and normal cookers!

I'd like a stove again, but as an 'extra', not what I rely on.

Everyone burning coal, can I be a nag and remind you that it is not exactly great for the environment. And your neighbours. Lots of people burn coal in our village and it stinks in winter. Please try to find a local wood supplier. Try going to a green/eco shop and asking around. It isn't difficult to use wood so long as it is completely dry.

Sleepless I'm so glad you said that, I actually didn't realise and I am keen on buying my Clearview Pioneer which isn't multifuel!

Here are all the smoke control rules: smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/ They're not exactly easy to follow, but you can search by specific stove/manufacturer's name.

I used to keep a few bags of smokeless fuel for mine. You do need a multufuel and preferably a "smoke eater" with secondary combustion.

They have an air inlet above the flame.

It's not just the smoke issue, coal takes millions of years to form, trees take decades to grow. Burning fossil fields is releasing millions of years worth of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a couple of hundred years.

We're getting a Charnwood, they're as good as Clearview but more stylish in my opinion

Link George?

PigletJohn why definitely a multifuel stove? I need to be convinced here

Sorry on phone, but if you google charnwood sure it'll find it. They're British made and very high quality.

We were advised to go for multi fuel too, more options and coal does give off more heat. Also easier to find if you run out of wood.

Twooter - we were told to heat the flue with a hairdryer by the folks we bought the house off. We gave that up very quickly as it used to shoot ash out all over the living room, even if we had cleaned it out beforehand.

multifuel because:

wood contains very little heat for its bulk, especially if softwood. Unless you are lucky enough to get dry, sawn hardwood logs, you will be constantly fetching more wood to keep it going. Eventually the novelty will wear off. It is unfair to assume someone else will want to do it.

You can put a modest amount of smokeless fuel on and it will last a long time and burn hotter. It's much easier.

Not so much wildlife will walk around your room without a log basket.

If you have a multifuel, you have the option to put coal or smokeless on if you want. With a woodburner, no choice.

Also consider having one that can heat the hot-water cylinder if you have one.

Also,get a CO alarm if you haven't already got one.

I wouldn't heat the water with it personally, pain in the ass.

How can i tell if I have just a log burner or a multi fuel?

I think it's just logs. That's all we have used but we didn't install it and there is no make or model to find out.

Ask your sweep if he knows what make it is?

He came recently and didn't know the make or model. I didn't ask him about what fuel I can burn.

He won't be back for a year.

Not sure then, sorry! Maybe call HETAS for advice?

maybe post a photo, someone might recognise it or be able to tell. Especially photo the air intakes and any controls. Does it have double glass in the door?

Presumably it has no markings on the cast iron anywhere?

How old do you think it is?

Does it have a slide-out plate underneath? Ours does, with all kinds of information on it. Also, afaik, a multifuel burner will have a grate for the ash to fall through (and maybe a seperate ash can for emptying?), a woodburner just has a flat bed of ash.