Open fire/Stove

[woodyguy]

We had an open fire in our centrally heated victorian house for several years. It felt warm in the room if you were in direct radiated heat from the fire. I suspect overall that it cooled the house though. We changed to a small Esse stove. We now burn perhaps 1/4 of the wood but are massively warmer. We open the doors to dissipate the heat around the house and have the central heating on lower. So to my mind it is at least 8x more efficient. I'm amazed that anybody continues with an open fire and personally would never touch one again.

[pycoed]

Dunsley Highlander7 £1000?? Paid less than £400 for mine 3-4 years back, admittedly without the boiler. Absolutely delighted with it. Glass is as clean as it was new, firebricks AOK.

Haven't tried coal in it, since all our local stuff is anthracite & burns too hot for the standard grate, but it'll stay in overnight if needed on wood alone. I burn everything from leylanddiii through willow up to oak ash & beech. Some large, mostly hedge cuttings 3- 8" diameter. It saves us 2 tons of coal(anthracite grains) per year in the central heating boiler & has been a brilliant buy.

[White Noise]

We only live in a small house . Heck when the little 5kw woodburner is kicked in the whole house is to hot within 2 hrs . I mean to the point of opening the windows ? Free fuel so what the heck . Only downside is we get lots of vistors in winter . Most of which we dont have owt to do with throughout the year but they still come the fickle beggars .................... Drink my plonk and whiskey they do . Well not this year as I have installed a gate . This means I can pretend to be out for the phoneys and in for the real people

[spudulike]

Yup, decent stove and free wood, that's the answer, haven't paid for wood for ten years. I have got a few chainsaws now though:sneaky2:

[Big J]

Dunsley Highlander7 £1000?? Paid less than £400 for mine 3-4 years back, admittedly without the boiler. Absolutely delighted with it. Glass is as clean as it was new, firebricks AOK.

Haven't tried coal in it, since all our local stuff is anthracite & burns too hot for the standard grate, but it'll stay in overnight if needed on wood alone. I burn everything from leylanddiii through willow up to oak ash & beech. Some large, mostly hedge cuttings 3- 8" diameter. It saves us 2 tons of coal(anthracite grains) per year in the central heating boiler & has been a brilliant buy.

 

Well at £400 it's less of a rip off than a grand (google it, that's what they seem to retail at now), but it's still a dreadful stove. Perhaps it's the boiler that ruins it.

[djbobbins]

We live in a 4 bed 1970's detached with cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and double glazing.

 

For the first four years we were in the house, we had an open fire, then decided to have it ripped out and installed a 4.9kW DRU 44MF.

 

The reduction in drafts through the house by getting rid of the open fire is phenomenal. We burn about as much wood as we used to, to be honest, but in three years have gone through perhaps four shovels of coal. Keep thinking I ought to go and get some smokeless fuel in "just in case" we run out of logs but it's not come to that yet.

 

There are a couple of things that I do miss about the open fire though. Firstly, the stove does not give out the same fierce heat that the open fire did with a log and a shovel of housecoat, secondly the old fireplace was York stone, so once that and the masonry chimney were hot, they retained heat through the house overnight.

 

But all in all, I would very much recommend a stove ahead of the open fire!

[agg221]

When it comes to fires, I am a Luddite.

 

In our previous Victorian house, I fitted an 18" grate in the living room, and a 14" hob-grate in the dining room. They looked right and I could keep the whole 2-bedroomed house tolerably warm with the one in the living room alone. It drew air mainly through the air bricks under the floor, so there wasn't any noticeable draught, and both inserts had plates fitted to close the flue when not in use.

 

Our current place is a thatched C15 hall house with an inglenook fireplace inserted around 1550. I can't think of any stove which would look in keeping, so when I remove the plywood register plate (!!!!) and fit a liner to reduce the chimney volume it will be left open with a canopy and ash pit, which will work nicely with wood and allow me to get the face area:chimney cross-section right. I will also have a closure plate in the flue and an air inlet ducted under the floor to keep draughts down. I recognise that it won't be as efficient as a stove, but it will work well enough for me.

 

Alec

[Stubby]

When it comes to fires, I am a Luddite.

 

In our previous Victorian house, I fitted an 18" grate in the living room, and a 14" hob-grate in the dining room. They looked right and I could keep the whole 2-bedroomed house tolerably warm with the one in the living room alone. It drew air mainly through the air bricks under the floor, so there wasn't any noticeable draught, and both inserts had plates fitted to close the flue when not in use.

 

Our current place is a thatched C15 hall house with an inglenook fireplace inserted around 1550. I can't think of any stove which would look in keeping, so when I remove the plywood register plate (!!!!) and fit a liner to reduce the chimney volume it will be left open with a canopy and ash pit, which will work nicely with wood and allow me to get the face area:chimney cross-section right. I will also have a closure plate in the flue and an air inlet ducted under the floor to keep draughts down. I recognise that it won't be as efficient as a stove, but it will work well enough for me.

 

Alec

 

If your happy ...I'm happy

[agg221]

If your happy ...I'm happy

 

And I'm happy that you're happy that I'm happy too

[Stubby]

And I'm happy that you're happy that I'm happy too

 

Happy days !