Conversion to multi fuel

[Cath11]

Hello everyone, I am new here and would really appreciate some help.  I bought a Dovre 250cb in 2015. At the time there were 3 choices, a Woodburner. A Woodburner with riddler and ash pan and multifuel. I went for the one with riddler and ash pan.  I have done a lot of searching and from what I have found my stove and the multi fuel appear to be identical in every way except the multi fuel has a different grate, throat plate and firebricks. Sizes etc are the same. I rang Stovax to see if I could change them over and then effectively I would have a multifuel stove but they have said that as my instruction book doesn’t mention a conversion kit, and as they don’t sell conversion kits then it can’t be done. Does anyone know if this is correct and what will happen if I go ahead and just change these items? I have a thermostat on the flue pipe and keep the temperature in check anyway but with the way gas and electric have gone up I would like to use smokeless coal too now so that I can keep the fire in overnight. Any help and advise would be appreciated. Thank you 

[openspaceman]

45 minutes ago, Cath11 said:

I rang Stovax to see if I could change them over and then effectively I would have a multifuel stove but they have said that as my instruction book doesn’t mention a conversion kit, and as they don’t sell conversion kits then it can’t be done.

Is it a current stove that you can visit a shop to look inside?

 

What about pricing up the spares for the multifuel version rather than asking for a conversion. Chances are that they will all fit.

[neiln]

Eh?  Dovre stove but you rang Stovax?  Mistyped or...?

[Steven P]

For my stove I have over time replaced all the internal parts, a phone call to the manufacturer and the spare comes my way (apart from fire bricks, I make my own now).

 

Might be you just take a chance, do the same, and order the multifuel grate as a spare part and see if it fits?

 

Fire Bricks: The only differences I can think of that would be specific for wood or for multifuel would be thickness, my multifuel stove are 25mm thick, and height to suit the firebox. The materials are the same generally, vermiculite. So if yours are about that thick I would leave them as they are for now.

 

Baffle plate... not sure why there would be a difference here either really, and again leave it as it is till you see if the grate works. 

 

The only important thing is the grate and having enough air flow through it to keep it cool and you don't burn it out, and a little also so that the coal burns.

 

If the manufacturer can't supply then Stovax are a big brand and there should be a lot of after market spares out there which you wouldn't get with a smaller brand.

 

 

So.. if you can spare the cash, get one, try it and see.

 

 

If it all fails, one of the members here, Bowland stoves I think he is, is a supplier... guess what his business is called, and if he sees this can probably advise you better - he appears to do spares for this

Edited April 4, 2022 by Steven P

[Cath11]

21 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Is it a current stove that you can visit a shop to look inside?

 

What about pricing up the spares for the multifuel version rather than asking for a conversion. Chances are that they will all fit.

Yes that’s what I wanted to do, just change the grate for the multifuel grate, which would effectively make mine multifuel, however after I posted this I found in my manual that I can actually burn brown coal briquettes in mine anyway .. I presume this is that smokeless coal that is in small round lumps?

[Cath11]

16 hours ago, neiln said:

Eh?  Dovre stove but you rang Stovax?  Mistyped or...?

Yes they own Dovre and that is the only telephone number available 

[Cath11]

14 hours ago, Steven P said:

For my stove I have over time replaced all the internal parts, a phone call to the manufacturer and the spare comes my way (apart from fire bricks, I make my own now).

 

Might be you just take a chance, do the same, and order the multifuel grate as a spare part and see if it fits?

 

Fire Bricks: The only differences I can think of that would be specific for wood or for multifuel would be thickness, my multifuel stove are 25mm thick, and height to suit the firebox. The materials are the same generally, vermiculite. So if yours are about that thick I would leave them as they are for now.

 

Baffle plate... not sure why there would be a difference here either really, and again leave it as it is till you see if the grate works. 

 

The only important thing is the grate and having enough air flow through it to keep it cool and you don't burn it out, and a little also so that the coal burns.

 

If the manufacturer can't supply then Stovax are a big brand and there should be a lot of after market spares out there which you wouldn't get with a smaller brand.

 

 

So.. if you can spare the cash, get one, try it and see.

 

 

If it all fails, one of the members here, Bowland stoves I think he is, is a supplier... guess what his business is called, and if he sees this can probably advise you better - he appears to do spares for this

Hi yes this is what I was wanting to do, just change the necessary internal parts as they are readily available.  My stove already has a riddler, ash pan and airflow control for underneath. I made another call to them as my manual says I can burn brown coal briquettes. This time the guy said to me that mine is a multifuel but more geared up for logs, hence the metal flat grate with centre riddler so I can either build up a bed of ash for logs or burn smokeless defra approved coal and riddle out the ash.  The dedicated multifuel is more geared up for other fuels (hence the rather holey grate) and more difficult to build up a bed of ash. Of course this is what they used to sell, three versions with one being logs only, mine and the other one. But now they only make the one in this range.  So it looks like I don’t need to change any internal parts, but it’s really good to know you think I can if needed, Thank you for your fab detailed response 

[openspaceman]

48 minutes ago, Cath11 said:

I found in my manual that I can actually burn brown coal briquettes

 

I have never seen brown coal briquettes but brown coal is generally just one step on from peat and not a smokeless fuel. I think germany burns a lot in power stations.

[neiln]

49 minutes ago, Cath11 said:

Yes they own Dovre and that is the only telephone number available 

AHH, didn't know that.

[Paul in the woods]

I was going to ask if running smokeless coal overnight would be any cheaper than gas, even after the gas price rises as I expect coal price rises as well.

 

I've recently had to use a few bags of smokeless brickets and they were terrible - didn't last long and didn't give out much heat. 

 

As it seems you don't have to change anything worth trying a bag of two before stocking up.