The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Equipment => Topic started by: Fishyhaddock on January 04, 2017, 09:19:57 pm
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Hi,
Hope somebody can give me some thoughts on what brand of Wood Burning/Multifuel Stove I should purchase. I don't require a back boiler or anything like that. It is just for heating the living room and kitchen.
From the research I have done it would appear that the Scandinavian Stoves are the best??
But of course they are also the most expensive!!
The stove will be fitted using an existing standard chimney with a new liner.
Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Fishy
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I've recently bought a Morso. It's bloody marvellous!
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Four decisions to make:
- What rough heat output? (which dictates the size)
- Wood burning only, or Multi-fuel?
- Modern style, or traditional?
- Expensive and high quality, or cheap and functional? (there are exceptions, but your answer to this one is likely to dictate whether you're looking at cast iron or welded steel).
If you think in those terms, that should help you to narrow it down. There's no point in over-thinking it - they're only metal boxes with fires on the inside!
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We have had a number of different wood burning stoves. These include a morso squirrel which we have had for about 12 years and cannot fault . It is bigger than it looks and is ample for the small open plan holiday cottage (320 sq feet living space and open to stairs and landing) it really burns well and any bigger I would melt. We have also had 20+ years service from a welded steel Yeoman's stove in our home and it has also been completely reliable. We think these both represent the cheaper end of the steel and cast iron stoves.
Currently we are using a funny little thing called 'the Larch' which I think is about 15 years old and made by a company called ??? Greenwood stoves. It is extremely basic but if I saw a second hand one I would grab it. Not a looker (with tiny window) but love it.
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I don't think you can beat a Clearview stove. As far as I know they are British made, although I wouldn't swear to it. Only burn wood, although we thought we could also burn coal - not so. Sleek modernish lines, and can heat a kettle or soup on the top, and warm mince pies, in a power cut. Kicks out a lot of heat - we have about the smallest model for our cottage.
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Not sure how I found it online, but on someones site you put your room size it and it advises what kW you'll need. Output would be the first thing to decided on.
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and remember you don't have to stick to black. I have a morso squirrel and it's brilliant, but I wish I'd bought a lighter coloured one now. It's a black thing in an otherwise light room.
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Hi,
Just purchased an AGA Ellesmere 4.1kw-its fantastic, with a massive glass in the door. Biggest i have come across in my research. They do an Ellesmere 5 and 6 for higher KW if required. Muliti fuel is best.
AGA did cost a good sum of money but well worth it in my opinion. We also had to get a twin wall flue system which works quite nicely.
We got our from The Arcade in crosshands, carmarthenshire,wales.
Hope this helps.
Salamanda
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You would be wise to read the reviews on this site once you have narrowed down your choice: http://www.whatstove.co.uk/ (http://www.whatstove.co.uk/)
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Ours is a Jotul 3 which has no ash tray because it burns that hot it consumes the ash as well- very efficient. But what works for you will depend on the condition of your wood. Ours has to be properly seasoned and completely dry hardwood otherwise the glass fogs and the ash isn't consumed, so the fire clogs up over the day.
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You would be wise to read the reviews on this site once you have narrowed down your choice: http://www.whatstove.co.uk/ (http://www.whatstove.co.uk/)
Very positive reviews on this site for our Clearview Pioneer 400 - and it is British made. Apparently there is a multi fuel kit, but we only want to use wood now anyway.
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All the Morso stoves seem to have a 4.5 rating out of 5 - pretty good I reckon :innocent:
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I'm about to put a Stovax Stockton 3 in our holiday let, which seems to get good reviews. At home we have a Charnwood Country 6, which is great with a back boiler fitted, but would be way too much heat for the house if it wasn't doing the water too.
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I've got 3 woodburners, 2 in the house, 1 in the workshop. We have no central heating and heat the house and water using them. The main woodburner is a Woodwarm double sided that is utterly brilliant and controllable. The other is a Dunsley Yorkshire with boiler and is also excellent. The Dunsley operates at full blast while heating the water and slows down when the tank is full. The woodwarm is probably the best thing we've done to the house after fitting new windows. They're not cheap though but a match for any other stove you can buy.
In the workshop I've an old copy of a Jotul that I found in the barn when we bought the place, stripped it down and repainted it and had a flue fitted, keeps the workshop toasty when it's running.
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Whatstove is an excellent site.
I've bought and installed three diffeent woodburners, and have used my inlaws' one as well. These stoves were:
- Aarow Acorn 5 (multifuel)
- Charnwood Country 4 (wood only)
- Burley Springdale 3 (wood only)
- Morso Squirrel (multifuel)
Once you've decided between multifuel and wood only, the key things are log size, glass size, efficiency, and flue size. The airwash system is also of note.
Of you don't expect to burn coal, then don't buy a multifuel. They can burn wood but not as efficiently as otherwise, harder to clean out, and you will need slightly smaller logs because the firebox is partly full of grate and ashpan.
The best airwash systems are those that preheat the air. My first stove (the Acorn) simply had a slider at the top of the door, so cold air would pass down the inside of the glass. This worked a bit, especially if the stove was cranked up, but nowhere near as well as on the other three stoves where the air is drawn through tubes or channels within the body of the stove and hits the glass already hot enough to vapourise carbon.
My latest stove is the Burley, which at 89% efficiency is claimed to be the most efficient in the world. It's installed in a new house that I am still building, so has only been lit a handful of times yet, but so far I am extremely impressed with it. The makers actually understand the principle of an efficient fire- get it hot, keep it hot, burn off everything and send only CO2 and H2O up the chimney. Hardly any ash, no blacking up of the glass, and barely visible whiffs of white smoke from the chimney. They achieve this with a dour stage burn and a very well insulated firebox- vermiculite on the sides and floor, and a double glazed door. The metal baffles in the stove then extract as much heat as possible from the fire before it reaches the chimney, leading to a flue temperature of less than 150degC.
The only drawback of a super efficient stove is that the low flue temperature can make it harder to draw on cold days, especially if the flue is oversized. Mine is attached to the recommended 5" twinwall and so far no problems.