Dumb question about wood burners

[Jaynebxl]

We are (hopefully) moving soon to a house with a wood burner. Actually it is called a multi fuel stove in the EA particulars. Does anyone know what you can actually use in this then? Presumably wood and coal. Any tips about these things? We have absolutely no experience of them.

I think you can burn coal and wood in that. Wood needs to be untreated and seasoned, and hardwood burns most cleanly.
Get a sweep round to sweep your chimney before you use the stove.
Did the owners get it installed by someone hetas qualified (if so they'll have a certificate to prove it)? If not, get it checked over before use.
Keep a carbon monoxide monitor in the room where the stove it.
And enjoy - i love my wood burner.

I agree with all that, especially the chimney sweep bit. they can tell you if its safe, ours wasn't safe for years, we were lucky, but our house insurance would have been invalid if anything bad happened. get it hetas approved.

If you burn coal you can't burn it on the floor of the burner, you need the extra shelf thingy in . Wood you can burn straight in the ash tray or floor of the stove.

If you know the make and model of stove, google it and check what it can burn. Some multi-fuel stoves burn a wider range of fuels than others...there are lots of coal-type products.

Go to a good local stove shop and chat to them.
You need to source good quality seasoned hardwood or smokeless coal that is suitable for a multifual.
Prices vary considerably region to region.
Ask the EA if there is a HETAS cert or ring local council to ensure it is registered with Building Control. If not you need to get it properly checked out with a HETAS engineer. A blocked or leaking flue can KILL. AS said above make sure you get a sweep and CO2 detector before using.

chimney sweeps aren't as expensive as I had imagined, so just bite the bullet and look in the yellow pages. there are quite a lot around now after being a bit in decline 5 years ago.

Thanks everyone. I've emailed the EA to ask about the HETAS thing and also about when the chimney was last swept / if there's proof about this. I remember when we bought this house there was an invoice for the last sweep here.

Heard back today that there's definitely a HETAS cert and something to show it was swept not long ago so that's good. Didn't ask about the extra shelf thingy / riddling grate though!