Recommend me a budget woodburner!

[EvelynWardrobe]

I'm looking for something plain as it's for a modern house, I don't want anything too twirly and olde worlde.

5kw will be big enough according to the calculators.

You have gas and want a wood burner?
I would sell the children for gas after 30 years of stoves.
And mine is a beast of a multi fuel with back boiler.
You need a constant supply of seasoned logs for a wood burner, which are expensive and need somewhere dry to store them.

I have gas central heating and a wood burner

the burner reaches the parts of the house that the heating does not
and with a one log per half hour burn rate is a cracking laundry drier when the rest of the house does not need the heating on

seasoned logs
pah
leftovers from the local staircase builders work a treat !!!

I wouldn't get rid of the gas central heating, I just need something to put in the fireplace and gas fires are fugly.

Any more thoughts on the environmental side, if it's DEFRA approved is that enough?

IMO all wood burning stoves are polluting, tho some may be less polluting than others. Just like diesel cars.

"The rules about wood-burning stoves were set up in the 70s by Defra but the science of the effects of inhaling wood smoke has moved on since then. Public incinerators are reputed to operate at 800C to more effectively break down these pollutants. The effluent from a wood-burning stove is not dissimilar to cigarette smoke which is now banned in public places, therefore they too should be banned in areas which have smoke-control orders operating."

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/25/wood-stoves-rose-tinted-specs

Why not get a gas fire?

Please choose the cleanest burning stove you can get. And use properly seasoned wood. To reduce the pollution effects.

We have had a Jotul for 11 years now and it's extremely good.

Can anyone recommend a non fugly gas or electric fire/stove?

Seasoned wood just means not freshly cut down.
Wood from a timber yard or joiner will be seasoned and I'm happy to chuck any old rubbish on. I use solid fuel as well as it's far more economic and stays in longer.
If you use unseasoned wood it gives off sap and can cause chimney fires.
I do love a good log pile though

Fex it takes a year to season wood properly - longer for some species.

Wood piles can be beautiful
static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/wood-pile-art-1.jpg

Now, this seasoning thing. That's basically stacking it into a pile outdoors with something over the top to keep the rain off but the air should circulate, is that right? We've also got some space in the utility room.

Yes That's right Evelyn

It just means leaving it for a year or two before you burn it if it's from a freshly cut down tree.
Someone gave me a chopped up Eucalyptus tree which is piled up down the garden.
If you are buying logs then most places will sell seasoned stuff. You can burn any old wood really, it doesn't have to be pretty, but avoid varnished / treated. You do need quite a lot of logs to feed a stove.
I like this website for wood and stove advice.

Woods are very different when burned,and require different lengths of time to season. Ash can be burned green (though it is better seasoned) but a sappy wood like apple may require 2 years to be ready. Eucalyptus is extremely sappy and may need at least a couple of years, maybe more. You can buy a moisture meter which will tell you whether wood is ready to burn by giving you a % water content.

Here is a gas stove that looks like a woodburner.
You can get modern looking ones too.
Your neighbours will thank you for not smoking them out.

dovre.co.uk/stoves-fires/280-gas-stoves/

Hhm, not sure about the plastic logs or plastic coal, reckon I'd have to see one in action.

Surely it's not a given that I'd smoke my neighbours out? The DEFRA stoves talk about being clean burning.

@EvelynWardrobe we’ve had our multifuel burner for a week now and I know we were the last to buy one in the street. You can’t see the smoke but I can smell it when my neighbour has hers on. It smells lovely!

You can also buy seasoned logs to be delivered but make sure you get them to stack them nicely!

PhDPepper you've seen the whole other thread about log-stacking haven't you?

Not normally part of the service!

@GrumpyOldBag I have yes! 😂 I have a log man who will stack them but that’s just because he wants to take photos of the pretty stacked logs for his Facebook page...

There's a thread about log stacking?
I love stacking logs.

Here you go Fex:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3052243-to-have-expected-logs-to-be-stacked

Saltfire too.

And multifuel. We'd never get the same output with wood alone (and I speak from experience on that, honestly). We use a galvanised bucket of smokeless coal. 10 lumps at the start of the burn makes the fire catch quicker, and burn way hotter all night. The bucket is in the utility room and isn't a bother.

We empty the burner tray of ash once every 4/5 burns. We light it most nights. I wouldn't be without it.

Can anyone give me any idea on how to get temperature regulation on the stove? Is it the air vents at the top you move to get heat into the room?

With the vents open at the top it burns so viciously it’s insane!

We had the Charnwood fitted this week. Not yet had it on, but it looks lovely!!

The guy said not to put too big a burner in a the fireplace as it needs room around it.

Ooh, looks lovely! I really like the bricks around it and the shallow hearth.