Wood burner New Build

[spottymoo]

We'd really love a wood burner but the only place it could is on an internal wall. We don't have the space in the bedroom above for the pipe to go through their.
Is it possible to have a bend in the flue so all the pipes stay in room and go out on to the garden wall and up?

I'm obviously going to seek professional advise but wondered if anyone knew it was possible so I don't look like a complete idiot asking someone.

Yes, definitely possible. Lots of the brochures show similar sounding configurations.

Would you use one in a new build though? Friends /family with newbuild houses find them so well heated and insulated that they never use them. We're in a freezing old house and rely on ours as the main source of heat.

Our house is well insulated, 22 yrs old, we have a burner. they are time-consuming, though, don't think otherwise.

Our house is well insulated but I really feel the cold. I understand their time consuming but if it means I'm not so cold then it'll be worth it

I don't find it to be time consuming at all. 5 mins max per day - empty ash, clean glass, restock coal bucket and log supply every couple of days.

5 minutes per day? Mine needs feeding every 45 minutes or so. It is especially small, though.

And getting it started takes about 10 minutes. That's after the 3 minutes or so of removing excess ash & cleaning the glass if I want to enjoy seeing the fire. I don't use firelighters or similar, though, seems to defeat the eco-purpose of it.

I've seen loads with a bend in the flue.
Yeolde Try the eco firelighters made condensed cardboard and wood shavings I think, they're pretty good. We get ours from aldi and home bargains.

Our wood burner is in the lounge which was built as an extension, and it has an exterior chimney breast all the way up the outside of the house. So the stove itself is in a recess. Could you do that? It's just really boxing in an external flue, I suppose!
I find it takes 5/10 minutes to get going, but about an hour before it really starts belting heat out.

not to mention the time taken to stack and store wood (you probably have to buy logs unless you are very lucky) and then bring it into the house ready to put on the fire.

I think you'd need to check building regs first and consider how ugly it might look depending on length and location.
Have a look at this www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/installing-a-twin-wall-flue-chimney/

Other than that have you considered a gas fire that looks like a stove?

I never think that the fire is time consuming... until spring.

And then realise I have been a slave to it all winter.

But it is our main heat source in a draughty old farmhouse and not just an additional added extra in a lovely, insulated modern house ...that can be left unlit if time/energy is short.

I do know it is time consuming in summer.

40° heat and a mountain of wood to shift and stack while the mosquitoes eat us alive. Bastard mosquitoes. Bastard sun. Bastard wood.

That's when I want to move to the Canaries and never need heating again. An eternal Spring sound fabulous. In theory. When covered in sawdust and splinters and bites and sweat.

We couldn't have an external chimney as the wall it would go on is the neighbouring wall.

We have a election fire at the moment a 2kw one and I don't find it keeps the room warm would a gas give more heat?

The time doesn't bother me if it means I'm warm.

I don't mind the work, I quite enjoy the whole process of choosing logs, building the fire, tending it and the cleaning and maintenance.

In your shoes Spotty I'd take a floor plan to some local fire specialists and ask for recommendations, both gas, log burners and multi fuel stoves. That should give you a good idea of the regulations, amount of work, cost and practicalities of the kind of thing you would like.

As a rule of thumb regardless of the fuel burnt, a cast iron body for the stove will store a little residual heat and continue to give it out at low levels.

We've had both a multi fuel (will burn wood or coal) stove and a mains gas one that looked like a stove. There was no chimney when we had the gas fired one, or a decent supply of wood for that matter, so it was a good option. On the whole I prefer a wood burner but I'm not sure what I'd choose given your requirements. Get some expert advice is my honest recommendation.