1986
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Registered: 19th Jun 13
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Anyone had one of these fitted to a house ? wanting a rough idea of the price and work involved, would save a fortune in the long run but do they heat the house enough etc ?
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Ste
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Registered: 5th Mar 03
Location: Taif, Saudi Arabia
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Depends on what you install. I can't vouch for price but regarding the fire itself, You can either have a stand alone or one with a back boiler. Stand alone will only heat the room it's in but usually this means the central heating can be on lower in the rest of the house. This is cheaper than a back boiler one which will do all your radiators too. Had both in the past so depends what you want from it and budget I suppose. Also, do you have somewhere to store logs/ coal. obvs cheaper bought in bulk.
I would rather lose by a mile because i built my own car, than win by an inch because someone else built it for me.
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1986
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Registered: 19th Jun 13
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I have a garage for the logs where they could stay dry or even a decent space in back of van for them, wanted the whole radiator system doing for the whole house but im guessing the price will be abit of a shock, need to have a look at the idea of these stand alone ones aswell
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Can you get free/cheap wood?
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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False economy John, poor wood = poor burning = poor heat output. You need logs with a 10-15% moisture content. Too wet and they'll burn inefficiently and clog up your flue, too dry and they'll burn too efficiently and burn out in no time.
My 4.5kw burner heats my 3 bedroom house especially if I leave the hallway doors open so the heat can travel up the stairs. I installed mine myself and there's a thread somewhere on here showing everything from lining and insulating the chimney, installing the register plate and adapter and finally the actual stove in place.
Don't be tempted to oversize your burner; it's much better to use a smaller stove at full capacity rated than an oversized one being used inefficiently by having to clamp down the air flow, again, burning inefficiently will just give you more headaches and cleaning.
Also, don't be tempted by too cheap a burner, the cast Chinese ones in machine mart etc. are useless. I've got a Clearview Pioneer 400, my dad has a pioneer 400 and 2 x solution 500s and they work well.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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It's not a false economy if you get it all free.
Considering he's talking about saving a fortune on the long run, unless he's got a cheap supply, it'll be much more expensive than gas.
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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It is with the potential to damage your flue or cause rapid degradation of the liner.
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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Running costs are less than gas in my experience but I buy in bulk, along with three other people and have plenty of storage facilities. I pay roughly £65 for a cubic metre and I use 2-3 cubic metres from November - March. There was a noticeable drop in gas usage over the same period which more than covered the timber costs.
We used I get it cheaper by buying trunks delivered directly from the Forestry Commision and then cutting, splitting and seasoning it all ourselves but it was a huge amount of work.
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1986
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Registered: 19th Jun 13
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didn't think of the wood quality but I can pretty much get wood on tap off cuts, pallets etc
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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Pallets are one of the wort things for a log burner and also they tend to be too dry so burn in no time. Don't get me wrong, I hop up pallets for kindling to get the fire going and I throw the occasional lump of fence post or 3x2 on but it burns quite quickly and follow it with a good log to burn off the crap. My burner barely ever needs cleaning and never cokes up but if you see one that's used to burn any old crap, you can tell straight away from the inside of the stove and however bad the stove is, the flue will be worse.
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baza31
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Registered: 19th Apr 03
Location: yorkshire
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I burn everything on mine. From outside it looks like am burning tyres . I find coal to be 100x better than wood. I get sick of filling it up every 15 minutes with wood where as coal is good for hours . Also got some anthracite and that's even better but needs to go on when fire is full swing as it's hard stuff
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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Is yours multi-fuel or a log burner?
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dannymccann
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Registered: 9th Aug 06
Location: Doddington, Lincolnshire
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My mother in law has a multi fuel, right in the middle of the house, has a back boiler too. When she just wants quick heat like you say she uses wood, tends to grab it off people cutting trees down and what not, doesnt mind too much what she sticks in there. When its cold cold she turns to the coal, my god it's hot in her house when she has coal on the fire, it literally is like being in an oven.
I've no idea on the costs of maintaining the kit because the council sort it out for her, but the coal isnt particularly cheap
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Ben J
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Registered: 31st Jan 05
Location: Cheshire
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My parents had one put in over the summer. I was shocked at the cost. the burner itself was £1k I think, then they had to have the chimney lined etc.
Tbh they won't rely on it at all. bet it hardly gets used. My Mum seems to think its going to burn the house down 
[Edited on 25-11-2013 by Ben J]
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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All in, I would imagine mine has cost about £2,000 to buy and install. Stove was £1250 iirc; then liner, vermiculite, register plate, adaptor, pot hanger, limestone hearth, fireboard, specialist plaster, oak mantle etc.
got no carpets though 
[Edited on 25-11-2013 by LiVe LeE]
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mwg
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Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
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Do not get it in to your head that logs are free. You don't expect to get your gas for free/next to nothing.
Any top quality supplier of hardwood logs will be at least £90 per m3. I sell at £95m3. So something to bear in mind with your costs.
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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I buy at £65 (ish) a m3 but we're buying about 20m3 at a time with one delivery. I bought smaller packs on pallets last year of kiln dried wood from certainly wood but they were bloody expensive this year and no discount for bulk.
Edit: that's summer/end of season logs-not winter prices.
[Edited on 25-11-2013 by LiVe LeE]
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Looks amazing Lee, want one like that!
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deano87
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Registered: 21st Oct 06
Location: Bedfordshire Drives: Ford Fiesta
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That looks swish 
Better than the Mrs parents bodge job!
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mwg
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Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
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quote:
Originally posted by LiVe LeE
I buy at £65 (ish) a m3 but we're buying about 20m3 at a time with one delivery. I bought smaller packs on pallets last year of kiln dried wood from certainly wood but they were bloody expensive this year and no discount for bulk.
Edit: that's summer/end of season logs-not winter prices.
[Edited on 25-11-2013 by LiVe LeE]
It does seem to vary from region to region. I sell out every year so my price is about right round here.
You do right buying in bulk in the summer, wish more people did. My summer price is the same as my winter price 
[Edited on 25-11-2013 by mwg]
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baza31
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Registered: 19th Apr 03
Location: yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by mwg
Do not get it in to your head that logs are free. You don't expect to get your gas for free/next to nothing.
Any top quality supplier of hardwood logs will be at least £90 per m3. I sell at £95m3. So something to bear in mind with your costs.
What sort of comment is this . I have a garage full of wood . It's that full I turn it away on a regular basis . The wood is getting burnt so why would anyone pay for it if you can get it for free? I personally couldn't give a shit if it smokes more or doesn't burn efficiently . As long as my room is hot then it will do. Go to any skip yard they will give you as much wood as you can move for free. It makes me laugh when I see people at petrol station buying small sacks of wood for a fiver a bag that will last a few hours
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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Is your's multi-fuel Baza?
Remember as well that a lot of places will be in smoke restriction areas; my stove triple burns a ways but using seasoned hardwood means hardly anything goes up the chimney-I'm not in a smokeless area but if I was, I dot think if have an issue.
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mwg
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Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
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quote:
Originally posted by baza31
quote:
Originally posted by mwg
Do not get it in to your head that logs are free. You don't expect to get your gas for free/next to nothing.
Any top quality supplier of hardwood logs will be at least £90 per m3. I sell at £95m3. So something to bear in mind with your costs.
What sort of comment is this . I have a garage full of wood . It's that full I turn it away on a regular basis . The wood is getting burnt so why would anyone pay for it if you can get it for free? I personally couldn't give a shit if it smokes more or doesn't burn efficiently . As long as my room is hot then it will do. Go to any skip yard they will give you as much wood as you can move for free. It makes me laugh when I see people at petrol station buying small sacks of wood for a fiver a bag that will last a few hours
If you can get it for free well done but most people pay for logs and top quality ones that burn well will cost you.
You don't expect to get your other fuels for free so why expect to get wood for free, it's a fuel just like petrol, gas, oil etc.
I don't know what the wood is that you get from a skip yard, maybe it's really nicely seasoned logs or maybe it's old timber from building works, pallets etc. if it's the former then I'm not sure if it's even legal to burn treated timber as it has arsenic in it which can cause all sorts of health issues for you and your neighbours.
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Robin
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Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
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Mine is shit. Whatever you burn, even if it's mega dry, it will not burn right. The flue is clear but you have to have the door ajar or it will not maintain a fire.
I won't have one again.
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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What type is it? Where did you buy it from? Unfortunately with these things, buying cheap is never a good thing.
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