pancakedan

You can't get a more dusty place than ours at times ( the stove ash makes dust anyway ) and I have never smelt what you describe . If you power up a Vox AC30 after being stood for some time I can smell the dust burning off the hot valves but it is not toxic  .  Got to be something else .

Thanks. I keep coming back to it being dust as it's the only thing that makes sense. But we lit it yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks. The smell was truly horrendous - all doors and windows open. Smells almost toxic. Can this really just be dust?! 

The smell could be dust (it has a chemical kind of smell when burning off).

I have the problem with one of my burners. I get the smell from the first burn of the season (as expected) and once it’s being used everyday, there’s no smell.

But if it’s not been lit for 3 or 4 days, it gives off a chemical smell until the dust has burned off and then it’s fine again.

I painted two of my fire places with white emulsion, it’s been over seven years and I’ve had no issues or discolouring. My bricks also looked likes yours, a couple of good scrubs with washing up liquid should sort them out ready for painting.

Think it did take about four coats to get a good finish and the first coat was watered down to act as a primer.

Shhh.... Don’t tell everybody how good softwood is, they’ll all want to start burning it!

It’s mostly all I burn now and I prefer it to hardwood. Yes it does burn quicker and produces zero coals so you have to time the reloads but it’s easier to process, dries quicker and still kicks out a tremendous amount of heat.

We only have that in the bathrooms and the garage.

Had a go at this method and quite liked it. Found it difficult to fit the bottom logs in due to the size and how narrow the fire bed is but I've just split a load of logs down so can have another go with those.  The multifuel grate reduces the fire bed size and im contemplating converting it to wood only. 

The issue i am having is as soon as i open the tertiary (Sa) plate on the back regardless of where its set doesn't seem to provide the effect i am after, if anything it decreases the performance of my fire. This is why i ended up shutting it becuase the fire was performing better without. 
 
My main issue with the Sa open any amount is that the kindling burns so rapidly that its basically gone by the time my smaller logs on the top have even had chance to ignite. If i reduce the Aa to combat this for a steadier burn then this starves the fire of the oxygen it needs at this stage. 
 
It really looks to me as though the air is getting in but is just getting sucked up the flue instead of circulating the firebox.  Would a flue damper perhaps help the firebox retain some heat and help the air get to where it needs to? Or does this then prevent as much air getting in as well? 
 
At the end of the day the fires im getting arent horrendous. I can get it running at a good temperature .but im just not getting the burn characteristics i would expect and dont feel like i have any control over the burn rate with the air controls. Over the course of the night the fire dies because the logs arent burning down to a decent set of embers for the next logs to be added and they dont burn evenly at all. 
 
Overall i appreciate its a balancing act but it seems to be too much faffing about at the minute and i just cant put my finger on it.

I like to run my stoves hot and fast and control the heat by the amount of wood being burned. Once up to temp, I close down the primary air and rarely close the secondary/airwash.

Who told you about that ?  Its a great idea ! [emoji106]

I run three stoves as my main source of heating. I do have c/h but my system is rubbish and only heats the kids rooms which works well as the stoves heat the rest of the house. Week days, I normally light them in the afternoon, weekends, light them when we’re cold.

What happens to all the people that have multi fuel stoves fitted with the medium grade liners that aren't suitable for the higher temperatures of smokeless fuel?
Probably 95% of owners won't even question the quality of their liner after its fitted, and with the change to smokeless looming, will we see issues with chimney fires caused by burnt out liners?

I’ve managed to find one article about the ban written by somebody with some knowledge on the subject.

Why the war on wood burners?

WWW.SPIKED-ONLINE.COM

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The government seems to be banning things first and working out the justifications later.

It’s only making the news because it’s winter, come spring when most people stop burning everyone will forget about firewood, coal etc.. until next winter.

My third stove finished an hour ago, really pleased with it and cannot wait to light it.

I read a fair bit on the US based sites and it strikes me that the stoves they have are much more capable than anything in our market.  Many stoves with fans/blowers to shift heat off the stove, and also many catalytic stoves with a cat matrix above the firebox to burn the smoke.  This then allows them to be loaded full of wood but run low, the wood in the firebox smolders but the cat burn the smoke so emissions are clean, and with most of the heat coming off the cat the firebox itself can smolder really slow so a load of wood can last many many many hours.  Stoves such as the Blaze King Princess add thermostatic control to this, not sure but probably just a bimetallic strip type thing like a thermostatic shower valve, the user sets a temp on the knob and the stove varies the burn rate to auto adjust as the load burns down to coals.
Why do we not have stove like this in the UK?  I can see that the market would be somewhat small by comparison, but I'm a bit surprised it's not big enough for someone to start importing these US stoves.  I'd be interested to hear from both stove owners and users if they wold like these kind of stoves, and from our resident stove retailers on if they think they would or wouldn't sell.

With single you need the extra clearance, if you install twin down to the stove (fitted with a heat shield) you can have a more compact install saving floor space.

That’s more or less what I’ve just paid for a similar installation including a £1400 stove. Most of the cost goes on the twin wall flue which will generally cost more than the stove , plus as you are going through the wall it could be a day and a half installation. So I don’t think it’s a bad price, you just need to confirm what stove they have quoted and once they have seen the job in the flesh the price will likely change.

I get all my wood from a local arborist and process it myself which costs me £320 a year. This is the most cost effective way for me to run my burners and lets me control log size and seasoning as I keep myself a year ahead.

I have gone with the Stovax and feel confident that it will be a great stove. I did discuss my concerns with the stove shop and they made a very good point that Stovax are one of the biggest stove/heating manufacturers in the UK so naturally sell more units which generates more positive/negative reviews. Plus reading a lot of the negative reviews, I think a lot could be down to user error.

Running two stoves and get through about seven cubes a winter. But will be increasing that once the third stove gets installed in Feb.

Hi all,

I’m in the process of purchasing a Stovax Studio 500 freestanding stove but due to it being a new model, there are hardly any reviews on it.

What I am coming across are a lot negative reviews on Stovax’s other stoves. Has anyone got a Stovax and can provide some feedback on it?

Thanks

Contemplating the Stovax Studio 500 Freestanding with the bench. Just waiting for a survey to see if it can go where I want it to go.

Everyone on this forum should have the knowledge about burning softwood. It’s Mr Joe Bloggs that doesn’t and will consistently demand hardwood because that’s what they’ve been told. No amount of education will change their mind until the stove manufacturers change their guidance. Some of the other guidance on the Jotul site also recommends that you should only buy kiln dried logs!!!

Another stove manufacturer pushing the only burn hardwood message, this time it’s Arada:

“We would always advise using seasoned hardwoods such as Ash, Beech or Oak, as opposed to softwoods such as Pine or Spruce. Hardwoods burn for longer and emit
less smoke, but are more expensive than softwood”

https://www.aradastoves.com/pdf/literatures/arada_guide_to_burning_wood_web.pdf