I HATE the wood burning stove. Any alternatives please.

[Jerico]

Sell Overseas Property

Ground source heat pump?

Registering as a gas station, so you can have gas central heating.

Diesel fuel oil central heating.

Extra jumpers.

Compressed wood pellet heating (ask Leedarkwood).

Electrically heated socks.

Maybe a better wood burning stove and connections to the chimney.



Jerico

[B52]

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Same here, Cameo and Tiarnan. After complete renovation and one winter with the new Prity stove, the paintwork looks disgusting and even the grout in the wall tiles is discoloured. It was bad enough painting the place with the house empty but now, with it full of furniture?

As SimonTrace alludes to, though, this shouldn’t happen. We’ve never had that much of a problem with wood stoves before.

The aircon route sounds appealing except for the hideous boxes outside the house. And, every room? What about the second floor? Also, we can live without air-conditioning, it is the heat that we need.

Jerico’s “... oil central heating” is an alternative, I guess, but then there is a large ugly tank to place somewhere, I assume. Also, can you plumb it into an existing central heating as a supplementary heat source or do we have to replace the stove?

[SimonTrace]

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Also, can you plumb it into an existing central heating as a supplementary heat source or do we have to replace the stove?

Short answer is yes. But I would want to make sure of the fitters credentials / experience before letting someone start the install/conversion.

[richi]

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I realise we are probably exposing ourselves to ridicule here ...but nothing ventured!
We have had wood burning stoves in boats for years and then decided to install one in our house when our gas central heat ing packed up- we also had a gas fire in the sitting room.. We had always noticed a draft in under the doors of the house (which required more heat to counetract it!) and when we installed the stove the draft was still there. We figured it was the heat going up the chimney which was drawing air in from the outside of the house to fill the vacuam?
I thought -ok this has to be, as we have to vent the carbon monoxide out through the chimney along witht the heat ? Then we thought t---this is crazy we are creating heat which has to be vented to the outside because of the poison accompanying it?
In a moment of madness we sealed up the chimney and put in a radiant electric fire 98 euro from argus 2 bars. No drafts coming in,-heat retained and the room is cozier than it ever was....!
It certainly was a revelation -but its only for one room. We dont heat the rest of the house at all,-the bedroom above gets the rising heat from the sitting room so thats ok-but the kitchen waits on cooking and a plug in electric stove. Bills have dropped by half to my amazement. Somebody explain, are we all just creating heat and venting it up the chimney ? -Or is it just our newly discovered miserly approach to room heating?
In short I am begining to think that chimneys are an enormous mistake when it comes to heat retention so any systemk which avoids them has to be quids better? Richi

[SimonTrace]

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There should be no draughts from a properly sealed stove. With the door shut (with a proper firerope seal) the flue should exit the stove(again this should be sealed where it exits the stove) and enter an existing chimney or carry on outside with a rigid flue. Most stoves I have seen where there are major draughts are either that the door to the stove is left open (lit and not lit) or when the flue goes up the chimney there is no register plate in place. This has a huge effect on both draw and draughts. With a register plate there is nowhere for air to get in. With the air vents shut on my stove my chimney is airtight.

[richi]

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Ok.. willing to concede our stove might not have been entirely sealed, but where does a stove draw in its oxygen (as air ) to burn from? If it cant draw it from the room/house -creating a draft does it draw it down the chimney at the same time as it is expelling fumes (sounds hard to square!)--we are genuinely puzzled here....? Richi

[walkage]

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We have had for the last 3 years a wood burning stove that serves all the radiators in the house and yes after a few months we get black marks up the chimney area..but a coat of paint sorts it out - as to the quality of paint .. it's not Bulgarian - it's what you pay!!
Also check that your door will close correctly..

[SimonTrace]

Sell Overseas Property

We have had for the last 3 years a wood burning stove that serves all the radiators in the house and yes after a few months we get black marks up the chimney area..but a coat of paint sorts it out - as to the quality of paint .. it's not Bulgarian - it's what you pay!!
Also check that your door will close correctly..

Airbricks. The amount required should be properly calculated to supply enough air.

A stove that is not properly sealed(everywhere!) will not run at it's most efficient, and as you say will 'leak' heat up a chimney that is not sealed. And I agree with you, this counter productive.

You should also calculate the KW/BTU rating of your stove to ensure that it is man enough for the job. An online calculator can be found here > http://www.stovesandfires.com/stove_siz ... lation.asp . I live in a 150yr old cottage in a valley in Wales. The house has 3ft thick stone walls with no cavity, and our little £300 stove keeps us toasty in our lounge (3 airbricks).

What I will say is that unless your house is open plan you will not heat the entire house with a standalone stove in one room, unless of course you have a back boiler fitted to it and it supplies your central heating. Over specifiying a stove trying to heat the whole house from one stove will result in the room its fitted in being unbearably hot and the rest of the house 'aired' at best.

[SimonTrace]

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and yes after a few months we get black marks up the chimney area..

From fumes leaking through a poorly sealed chimney or heat/smoke escaping from open doors on your stove? If it's the former you should fit a flexible liner, which will not only be better for your health, but also give you a more efficient burn.
http://www.fluesupplies.com/index.php?cPath=22

[B52]

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Thanks for the link ST. We were considering getting something like that installed because that is what we have invariably been used to, both in the UK and N. America. I guess the only problem is finding someone in BG who knows what they are doing and who can install it properly.

We also had black marks but they didn't occur until after we had removed the stovepipe to clean it (and, boy, did it need cleaning after only three months of use) and I suspect that it didn't seal properly after reinstallation. The decor was already in a disgusting state though, including yellowed light switches, filthy drapes as well as the darkened grout and discoloured paintwork, throughout the house.