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Im not necessarily looking for a "cheap" woodburner rather one where the price is reasonable for half decent performance. Some of the branded ones are serious dosh and just wondered how much better they are compared to the cheaper ones.
Needs to be about 6kW and ok for smokeless zones,
cheers
S
You could look at this list of smokeless area approved appliances and work back from there. Here's the list for Scotland:
[url= http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/appliances.php?country=s ]http://smokecontrol.defra.gov.uk/appliances.php?country=s[/url]
If you can get away with 5kW you dont* need to create a separate air supply hole.
* conditions apply
I like my yeoman CL3. They do biggerer versions but its only in a small room.
mcmoonter recently fitted one from the aduro brand which looks pretty neat and good VFM to me.
http://www.fireplaceproducts.co.uk/aduro-stoves/aduro-asgard-1-wood-stove/
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although I want one of these but at £1,700 that's making my logpile wince.
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The one I just fitted is pretty damned good. I've got it up and running in the studio and it kicks out a phenomenal heat. The studio is about 75cubic metres. I've been working away in a T shirt whist the snow showers passed through today in what in reality is a partially insulated shed.
It's not nearly as heavy as the bigger stoves we have, but it's output in relation to it's fuel consumption is impressive.
The firebox is pretty small, so I'm having to use the smaller logs from the pile. I will make a point of cutting smaller logs for it in future.
[i]If you can get away with 5kW you dont* need to create a separate air supply hole.[/i]
Which takes all of 1/2 hour or so to add, so I'd rather have a decent output.
You want the output to match the room size though as it's more efficient to run a small burner at full whack than a larger size at a lower temp.
get away with 5kW
by "get away", I mean "if it is of sufficient size for the room".
As footflaps says, b r, a small one working it's nuts off but sufficient for a room is better than a oversized box running slow and having to bang a 4" square permanent draft in your room.
Check out the fireline fx5 for less than £500, defra smoke free, can get a multi fuel option too.
Only 5kw mind
I think Aarrow are hard to beat for VFM.
Burley Hollywell is also a fantastic stove, a bit more expensive but you won't regret it when you are sitting in front of it watching the way it burns. Rated 5KW but in reality I reckon is more like 6 when burning well. DEFRA smokeless compatible.
Don't go to machine mart or B&Q, it's really not worth saving a couple of hundred quid on a junk stove IMO.
The whole kilowatt output story is completely arbitrary; when a stove is running hot with a good bed of embers and a nice dry log glowing away it will knock out a phenomenal amount of heat and I'm sure you couldn't measure any difference between a claimed 5 kw and a claimed 6 kw.
The best advice is defintely to err on the side of a smaller stove, which you will need to burn hotter and therefore cleaner. There's nothing worse than a huge woodburner shut down and burning all smokey with the glass all sooted up.
We've a big room, that'd take 15kw (on volume alone) but no way would you be able to sit with six feet of it...
Ours is 8kw and the 'vent' is situated out of the way and behind the curtains so no real draught. And tbh the room volumes' out at 15kw.
But irrelevent of output there's one advantage to a large sized stove, you can put large logs in it - so less chopping. 🙂
This is ours:
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I'd look at getting a used one off eBay. I've done this three times and after stripping down, wire brush (on angle grinder) respray and new seals/fire bricks they really look like new for very little outlay.
I'm a big fan of Clearview but can't afford new ones (which is why I've done down the renovation route) but would def look at a Morso also.
The Clearviews are made of welded steel, not cast iron, which means there's little chance of air leaks which 'can' be a problem with cast iron stoves
I don't have any experience of other makes so can't help there.
In the summer I'm being given a Jotul F100 that needs some TLC and this will end up in my office.
Gratuitous phone pic of renovated Clearview inset - total cost £600, cost new £1300
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8370/8569980236_2840f61728.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/59103763@N08/8569980236/ ]Stove[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/59103763@N08/ ]Metal-Chicken[/url], on Flickr
I've used this firm, very good value, even with 40 quid delivery.
http://greymetal.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=149
firefox, we've got the 5kw, its brilliant, i think its was about £450. stay away from anything from machine mart, and anything from villager. i wouldn't go less than £400, you get what you pay for. the thing with the separate vent is assuming you've got an airtight house, most houses will be drafty enough. if you do need a separate vent its nice if it terminates somewhere near the fire, ideally underneath it. a friend has one across the other side of the room, the whole house is freezing. kind of defeats the object really...
http://greymetal.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=51
we have one of those - ok it's is cheap, but works a treat. Paint needs touching up but that's more to do with the mother in law using her boots to shut the boor and melting the sole all over the damn thing 👿
Our Morso Squirrel was about £400. I believe thats rated at 4 or 5 Kw, but that's conservative, by some margin i reckon. More or less warms our 4 bed house without breaking a sweat. At full chat, i doubt you could stay in the same room as it.
Might be worth checking out Parp industries, ive used their stoves in a yurt i lived in. Basic looking, but work very well.