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With the impending energy crisis looming i have been working on options.
Got a trad chimney but its adjoining another flue, has a 400mm opening, 600 deep, 700 high.
Its a straight ish run to roof with a slight corbelled left right kink but there is 6in straight.
My concern is weight, and inset stoves are proper heavy
Also out put, are they as effective as a free standing stove?
Cant extend the fire place without full rebuild. There just isnt the space to sides, and the cheek would need to be lintelled too. There is an iron lintel that curves so uses tge arch effect for strength.
I am thinking build up to this to allow for heat pad, then use steel plate wall bolted to existing brick to spread the load across the existing 1100mm fireplace
Render it flush. Sweep it, chimney liner, hetas sign off, job done
I can only comment on the output question.
We have both inset and freestanding stoves (clearview) and the inset does not put out as much heat into the room as the freestanding stove.
But what it does do is put heat into the chimney breast which then emits that heat for at least 24 hours after the stove has gone out.
So, for us, it works best When used almost daily.
It's way better than the traditional open fireplace that was there before though.
My mum put a cassette/inset stove in last summer, a Brabas. It's great, really really chucks the heat out. I'm very impressed with it.
Spend the money making your house more fuel efficient, an air to air heat pump is better for the environment and cheaper to run if you intend to buy wood.
I used to fit stoves for a living and pretty much the vast majority of people are too stupid to use them correctly. Even the most efficient stoves are very damaging to the local environment, i don't have one myself now my neighbours have children with asthma so using one would not be very smart or neighbourly.
Spend the money making your house more fuel efficient, an air to air heat pump is better for the environment and cheaper to run if you intend to buy wood.
I used to fit stoves for a living and pretty much the vast majority of people are too stupid to use them correctly. Even the most efficient stoves are very damaging to the local environment, i don’t have one myself now my neighbours have children with asthma so using one would not be very smart or neighbourly.
A bit like when folk I know contemplate putting in a wood stove - just use your bloody central heating!
They ain't cheap to buy, and ain't cheap to run - they're just a vanity (for folk with CH).
They ain’t cheap to buy, and ain’t cheap to run – they’re just a vanity (for folk with CH).
OK, so I should switch the oil CH on (at about £1/L at the moment) to heat the whole of my large 4 bedroom detached house even though I only want to heat the kitchen/snug (with 5 logs) for the evening?
OK, so I should switch the oil CH on (at about £1/L at the moment) to heat the whole of my large 4 bedroom detached house even though I only want to heat the kitchen/snug (with 5 logs) for the evening?
Smart radiator valves control which rooms are heated and when.
I've got 3 years worth of wood that I got for free.
I don't need to spend a load of money on radiator valves That will probably go wrong and need a constant supply of batteries in order to work.
😀 I have the same issue, CH is somewhat undersized for the house, so during the winter will only bring the house up to 17-18 degrees. Which is ideal for most rooms in the house where i either want it cool (bedrooms etc) or where we have other heat sources (office, kitchen, utility).
The living room needs the fire to bring it up to a comfortable "sitting around" temperature, so 4-6 logs in there will keep the room warm and comfortable for the rest of the evening once it's gone out. Also have a fan on there so it warms the entire floor of the house slightly.
I'm already triple glazed, 14-16" of rockwool in the loft and the build generally is far in excess of UK standards (but not to passivehaus levels!).
Turning the GSHP central heating up and driving it harder means that it almost immediately cuts from ground source to pure electricity, and still only adds 0.5 degree to the house temperature. (this is by design, not a fault)
Upgrading the central heating system will cost (minimum) £10k for a larger heater, and i'm not even sure if the ground loop will support it.
Will add a stand alone ASHP this year though.
I do live in the middle of nowhere though, and know how to use the fire.
I don’t need to spend a load of money on radiator valves That will probably go wrong and need a constant supply of batteries in order to work.
Yes, definitely don't do something which is far cleaner and cheaper than your proposed solution.
Pretty sure wood fires are no good for the lungs of the users as well as the neighbours. I can definitely see the attraction, but when you look into the particulate pollution they should be a no no unless you have no other choice.
Laws of physics obviously work against inset, although if the inset is a Finnish mass stove or masonry heater that's a different thing altogether.
Wood burning isn't just vanity if you work in forestry and get your wood for free. But if I lived in a city and paid for wood no way would I have one, then it is just vanity and KLF-esque behaviour. And environmentally selfish.
don’t need to spend a load of money on radiator valves That will probably go wrong and need a constant supply of batteries in order to work.
Don't need to be smart valves to work, just bogo trvs will do the job. I've never liked wood burning stoves but I'd have one as a back up to make sure I was self sufficient in case of lack of gas or electric.
I think if you live somewhere built up then it's not a great idea from a public health perspective.
Free wood is the attraction though.
Friend has 7 acres of woodland that needs serious thinning and alot of trees are dead standing.
We have a Stovax Stockton inset stove. It probably doesn't shove out heat as quickly after lighting as the free standing one in our old house but as above warms the chimney (which goes through the centre of our house) and give really good heat when it's warmed up. One thing to watch is the distance to combustibles. The Stockton was the only one that would fit in our fire surround which we wanted to keep.
It's way more efficient and less polluting than the coal open fire that was there before and we don't have cold air pouring down the chimney all the time the fire isn't on. After loft insulation it was probably the biggest reduction in heat loss in the dining / family room. Upgrading the thermal performance of old houses is far from straightforwards.
https://c20fireplaces.co.uk/parts/stockton-7-inset-stove
It's interesting to track STW attitudes to woodburners over the years.
Several years ago when the daily mail were bashing them, no problem.
More recently as the Guardian have jumped on board, woodburning is now out of favour. 🐑
In answer to the OP, no, an inset is never going to quite compete with a freestander.
But, as above, the 'weakness' of an inset can be an advantage if the heat is lost to masonry within the house. Gable end chimney not so good.
Yes, definitely don’t do something which is far cleaner and cheaper than your proposed solution.
I'm sorry, which bit of "free" wood do you not understand?
Running an oil boiler is a long way from cheap.
Cleaner? Questionable
I agree with stoves not being good in built up areas but my nearest neighbour is ¼ mile away and doesn't seem to mind.
Regardless, the stoves are way better than the open fires they replaced.
I’m sorry, which bit of “free” wood do you not understand?
Is the stove free as well?
Wait, your comments seem to have been mixed up with the OP, I can see where the confusion is. As you were.
FWIW the comments about insulation and such are quite valid and absolutely should be the first step. Difficult to insulate != more expensive than installing, running and maintaining a stove.
Free wood is the attraction though.
Friend has 7 acres of woodland that needs serious thinning and alot of trees are dead standing.
healthy woodland/forest has a *lot* of dead wood in it. By all means indulge in a bit of manly chainsawing/thinning, but the plants that want to thrive in all that new light need the rotting dead wood more than you do.
Yeah but no.
He wants it opened up with few trees and grassy meadows as opposed to jammed in pine trees
I live on the corner of an island. In the winter my nearest downwind neighbour is Cherbourg.
Got double glazing, got loft insulation, got lined curtains, house has cavity walls.
Fireplace is central so will heat whole house if run for a few hours.
The inset stove i have in mind is £300.
I dont have kids so my net co2 contribution is tiny.
Will continue research into chimney liners and work out if i can mount onto a lintel to distribute the heft into the entire chimney stack
I’m sorry, which bit of “free” wood do you not understand?
Does it come with a free stove?
It’s interesting to track STW attitudes to woodburners over the years.
I would hope that people changed their minds as the science became clearer.
Does it come with a free stove?
It's already there.... In the same way as the boiler is already there.
I guess it depends how you intend to use it. Different stove types, sizes and properties.
We have a steel stove in the day room as it gets up to temperature quick and with a fan distributes it's heat well. Airer hangs above it.
In the evening room we have a cast stove that radiates its heat after a slower warm up time. Lit as the day room is left to burn out, it starts in a pre heated house and maintains it with minimal intervention.
Both are sized to the rooms they are in to avoid sauna conditions or running the stoves damped down.
My Nanna has an inset and it works much like the cast stove whilst built of steel.
Jotul 602 may go in the opening if you didn't want an inset, but a Marmite look.