Anyone Using A Chiminea or Solo Stove

[Witterings]

Trying to find out how "smoke covered" you get with a chiminea or if you don't get much compared to a fire pit, I ..... but even more so the Mrs don't mind the smell of being covered in smoke at the time but then you go to bed, get up and shower the next day / clean clothes, when you go to bed again that night it stinks from where you've laid in it the night before and it takes days for the smell to go.

 

Also if anyone happens to have a Solo Stove are they reasonable warm for sitting outside or does most of the heat just go straight up, they look great and "relatively" smokeless in comparison (although expensive) but if they don't give much heat to the surrounding area are pretty pointless .... apart from ambiance.

[daltontrees]

My chiminea really rips, once it's going, and smokes way less than the fire pit. A bit like a stove, it just burns so much hotter than an open fire. But like a fire pit, until it gets going the smoke will follow you around the garden no matter where you sit. And unlike a fire, you have to be sitting right in front of the window to see the flames and get any good heat.

[Mark Bolam]

This is exactly my experience, it’s only a great ‘heater’ if there’s about two of you and you really like each other!

 

Love mine though, had it for years.

It will be getting fired up again very shortly.

[Mark Bolam]

[Mark Bolam]

Obviously not tonight, like.

[Woodworks]

A mate of mine has got a solo stove. Amazingly clean burning and gives off plenty of heat 

[Witterings]

Hmmmm ... one of those things you just wish you'd had a friend that has both.

 

Sounds like it doesn't matter what it is they all seem to have a period that until they're hot you'll get followed by smoke as the Solo's aren't any different for that.

 

Be nice to win the lottery and buy one of each and try them all 😄

[Paddy1000111]

The chiminea once she's up to temp and burning is a beast. Starts getting a flow of air through too like a draught furnace and you get almost no smoke. You only really get smoke from a fire that's not up to temp (or bad fuel etc obviously) and the chiminea works a treat. I lost my old photos when I changed phones but I had a photo of my friends chiminea that he had running like a jet engine with flames about 3-4ft out the top and not a whiff of smoke. Hottest it's ever been was burning diseased bee hive parts covered in wax, couldn't stand within 4ft of it and it was howling 😂

Edited March 20, 2021 by Paddy1000111

[djbobbins]

I’ve had a cast iron chiminea for 17 years (I know why how long, it was a wedding present).

I’d say the amount of smoke depends on what I burn and how well I manage the fire - try to burn greenery or anything damp (damp cardboard) and there’s clouds of smoke. Dry wood or putting something on top of hot bed of embers means flames and little smoke. I’ve also had it running with a cone of flame out of the top of the chimney in the past...

What I do found has helped a bit is that the original (90cm or so) chimney rotted out, but I luckily found some 5” flue when Countrywide Stores was shutting - I have put 2 x 60cm lengths on the stove and although the extra height makes the chiminea look a bit like Brunel in his daft [emoji145] hat, but it lifts the smoke that bit further away from chest / head height.

[neiln]

so how did you find the solo worked then?