Woodburner...

[Stere]

Like those massive thermal store stoves they have in russia etc and beds on top

 

[difflock]

10 hours ago, john87 said:

 

Let me put it like this.. i will DEFINITELY be investigating them Rumford things. Where would i get a drawing?? They sound just perfect for what i want..

 

Brilliant idea you had, the pipes in the floor to let the air in too!!

 

One like in the photograph in your link i could easily build myself..

 

The victorians used to have cast iron firebacks, what if i made a rumford shaped one from stainless plate all TIG welded together [i am a properly qualified welder as it happens] and built it in to the existing fireplace That would reflect the heat back in big time..

 

Thanks for the brilliant idea!!!!

 

john..

Put a couple of doors on the front of the Rumford fireplace as well while you are at it  .  .  . 

[Stere]

 

[trigger_andy]

1 hour ago, Billhook said:

#i think the 20% figure would definitely be my parents old house and fireplace but I would put my Rumford much nearer a wood stove.

I thought 20% was about bang on considering an average open fire is 15%. 

[Canal Navvy]

2 hours ago, Billhook said:

Whilst you are correct for most situations, all I can say is that there is a world of difference between the old farmhouse, uncontrolled wide chimney system and the Rumford in my living room here.  

Basically the room is sealed, airtight with gas filled double glazing.  The chimney is in the middle of the house and the brickwork warms the first floor as well.  The air that feeds the fire comes in from the outside and has two grills either side that can be adjusted, the flue above the fire has an iron plate which can be completely shut.

The result is that the fire can be controlled and the large area of brick at the back of the fire which is shallow pushes the heat out into the room.  In this way my Rumford is acting more like a wood stove

The result is that when I put exactly the same amount of wood in the Rumford as I put in the Aarrow, I find that they need to be topped up at the same time  I admit that both have not got a secondary burn as in the very latest wood stoves, all am saying is that there is a world of difference between some open fires, just as there is between some wood stoves

Are you really saying that wood stoves do not pollute the air?

Vindico | Your Wood Burning Stove And Air Pollution

WWW.THINKAIR.CO.UK

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How much does your fashionable wood burning stove contribute to air particle pollution? The result of that ‘homely...

 

It would be fascinating to know how much lower the air pressure is in your house than atmospheric pressure outside 😉

[Billhook]

51 minutes ago, Canal Navvy said:

It would be fascinating to know how much lower the air pressure is in your house than atmospheric pressure outside 😉

Depends on my wife!

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I suspect you will find that an open fire will give more direct heat but less total energy so they might be nice to sit in front of but relatively ineffective at heating the room.  However, I'm more than happy with the radiated heat from a stove and would never go back to an open fire.  If a stove is over sized though you may have to run it cool to prevent it over heating the house.  In that case you will get relatively little direct (radiated) heat and just have a nice warm room.  Not sure there is a right sized stove but our stove is undersized so we run it more or less flat out all the time and rely on the central heating when it gets properly cold outside.

I'm sure though the right answer is not an open fire.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

However, I'm more than happy with the radiated heat from a stove

I have been impressed at how much radiated heat I get through the glass of my stove, my previous Jotul had a solid iron door.

[peds]

We have an open fire to heat our old, poorly renovated, uninsulated cottage. I resent the speed at which it chews through firewood, and as soon as it's out, the room is cold again. We are renting, hopefully only here for another year or so whilst we build our house. I am weighing up the cost and hassle of converting the fireplace to a stove, which we'd bring with us to the new house anyway, compared to the time, energy, and timber it would take to chop 5 times as much firewood to keep the place from freezing.

 

Open fireplaces look great and are fun to play with, but they suck at heating anything further than a few metres away, and eat much more wood to do a bad job of it.

Edited December 13, 2021 by peds

[fcharlton]

Surprised that no one has mentioned the Tortoise firebox. It works by convection of air and is very efficient. However it is open at the front and there is the magic of seeing, hearing and smelling the wood burn which you dont get when the fire is sealed in a box with glass doors. Its like the difference between swimming in a river or the sea and swimming in an indoor swimming pool. Do some more research. There are efficient open fires.