Woodburner

[MrsFlorrick]

We have got an existing fire place. It's working and a open style. However it doesn't give off much heat when lit and the room is big. Plus the faff of clean up etc.

Wanting a woodburner. And have had a HEYAS engineer out to quote for installation.

Looking at various woodburners. And I quite like this one by Ekol www.fluesystems.com/shop/Ekol_Clarity_12.html

I wonder whether anyone rates this brand or are they rubbish?

Other suggestions welcome. Must be DEFRA and 8kw - 12kW

This is mine.

There is also the advantage that you can keep a few sacks of smokeless fuel handy in case, e.g. difficult to go out in thick snow, or you run out of wood, or are too lazy ill to go out.

Don't think you'll have this problem with one so big - but if you plan on chopping your own wood get one that takes a reasonable length log - I was getting one that only took 9inch logs - after a few days of clearing the garden (cutting and storing it to season) I changed my order to a bigger one that took 12 inch logs - really makes a huge difference to the time it takes...
Also there are horror stories out there of people having to pay a premium to get specially cut to size logs, or having to try and cut an inch off bought ones...
Also I was told one door is better than two - easier to load.
I got a Charnwood C-series - because I liked the look better for my modernish house...the stove man (fantastic guy - loves his job, loves stoves, more excited than me when we lit it mine for the first time!) said it was a good stove - told me a Dovre was a slightly better because it doesn't have fire bricks - it has iron or steel plates (?) which last longer...apparently....but I didn't like the look. (I could have gone that looks like a 70s tv etc -but he said you were buying for the look rather than performance - a waste of money if you wanted it for serious heating!)
Also if you have a 8kW pretty sure you will have to have vents (think it is above 5 or maybe 6kW ) - permanently open air bricks letting fresh air into the room ...worth checking out - might be better with a smaller stove rather than having holes letting cold air in from outside 24/7....

vents:

It is possible (and very posh) to have a duct under the floor leading outside, and a brass grill in the floor in front of the fire. No draughts, but good ventilation.

I have a Clearview pioneer multi fuel stove and it's great. Just bought a fan to go on the top to distribute the heat efficiently.

We already have permanently open vents (two) in the lounge. The lounge is wood panelled and they were needed because of the open fire place.

Pigletjohn. I've seen the posh brass plates floor ones before.

Given we already have two permanent vents, I think we will stick with those.

It's all very exciting. Head is spinning after spending evening googling wood burners.

Just butting in with very little useful information because our woodstove isn't available in the UK, but out of curiosity I converted the BTU rating of ours to get kW output. It's about 10kW and it heats the whole main (open plan) and upper floor of our 3 bed log home adequately at -30 to -40C, so I think you could safety go lower than 8kW for the space that you describe

Holy crap they're expensive in the UK, aren't they? Ours is not a premium brand (Century - the cheapo line of Vermont Castings) but it's 77% efficient and has done us fine for the last 6yrs of harsh Canadian winters, for the grand total of $599 (about £350!)

We had a Morso Squirrel in our last house, it's fairly small but put out loads of heat. Our living room was big although not as big as yours, but would still get too hot in there. Loved it and wish we could get one in this house but we don't have a chimney and would cost thousands to have a steel one put on outside the wall

viva You can get woodstoves that have long enough burn times to get 8-10hrs out of them overnight, but they're far too big for most people's homes. Ours takes 18" logs easily and claims an 8hr burn time, but I guess that's with hardwoods that we don't have access to... We burn pine, fir, birch... We only get about 6hrs but a log home is pretty well insulating, so it's not unbearably cold in the morning (8hrs later). We're probably talking about 10C indoors at -35C outside. Would love a bigger stove but (a) it'd probably end up in the basement and we'd have to have it too dampened down most of the time, increasing the risk of chimney fires. We can't get coal so multifuel isn't an option.

-35 blimey!

Where are you? Canada, Norway?

if you are going to have a wood burner it's worth installing an external air duct to it too, and sealing up those permanent vents. you won't believe the difference. cold air from outside will go straight into the wood burner without having to burn the warm air inside.

We have a Euroheat harmony which I have a love/hate relationship with. We picked it because we have a tiny cottage but an enormous inglenook fireplace so needed something with enough size to not look lost in the fireplace but not too huge to overheat the room. It is multifuel although we only ever burn logs (we are farmers so they are free from the farm). The stairs go out of the room it is in and you can feel the heat travelling all the way up them.

Sometimes when there is low pressure it can be hard work to get it going, but I think this is more to do with the top of the chimney. Otherwise, it will usually keep in quite happily overnight. I love the heat that comes from it, so different from central heating.

owainsmum have you actually had a quote? I didn't have a flue/chimney - was going to have an external one (actually even thought about having a brick one built - that really would be £Ks - 10+k)) but was told an external one is a waste of heat - an internal one heats upstairs too and really doesn't take up much space - about a foot by foot box -ours runs through the corner of a built in wardrobe -then into the attic.
I know things are relatively cheap here but it was nowhere near as much as I was expecting - our multifuel stove isn't the cheapest, online price is about £1.5k - the whole install inc stone slab hearth etc was only £3.5k ... ('only' because I was expecting the quote to be almost double that)

Ladyflip, put a door at the bottom of the stairs.

If you go onto www.nacs.org.uk its the nationat register of chimney sweeps it tells you who is HETAS registered etc.

Ladyflip. You can get special anti down draft cowls for wood burners. That should sort out your issue I think.

Still awaiting final price for install so I can choose the burner. Exciting.

MrsFlorrick don't be fooled by those Ekol stoves; they will be made in China. They are only 'designed and developed' in Devon

Charnwood Cove 1 here too. It is possibly my favourite item in the house. Other side of £1000 I imagine, but worth every single penny. It seriously packs a punch in terms of heat output, but our room is relatively small compared to yours. Been going strong for 8 years, and now it's winter, it's going every day. It needs emptying regularly when we are using every day.

Viva We're in Canada, in the Rockies

LazyDog. Bet its beautiful, just not sure I'd like -35.

Wow! Lazydog. -35 though. You're brave. I'm from a chilly part of Europe but I've not experienced temps much below -20 and that's cold enough for me. London winters are balmy by comparison

Bet you've got snow already.

Am I being a div about this wood burner thing.

Do all of them have ash pans or just some.

On some websites it seems to list them and obv some have pictures where you can see the ash pan. So don't all of them have one? Argh more refining to do.

Mine doesn't have one - (I have an ash hoover attachment) ...but apparently wood burns 'better' on a bed of ash ...(I used to hoover mine out after every use but then discovered you shouldn't)
I have the multistove bit too (have never used it yet) -but that does seem to have an ash pan/drawer thing but you must access it through the main door...

I would definitely get one that says it has an ash pan. Makes cleaning them out a darn sight easier. You just brush the ash down into the pan and then remove the pan. Takes about 30 seconds.