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Mrs Fiddlesticks

Woodburner fitted today!

Fitters arrived at 8am as they said they would and fitting went smoothly. It needs to burn all day today to cure and I can feel the room getting toastier already. Its a Woodwarm inset one if you're interested



That's another project crossed off the list! Very Happy
sean

Tssk, look at the state of that carpet. Wink Congratulations. What's its output?
Mrs Fiddlesticks

sean wrote:
Tssk, look at the state of that carpet. Wink Congratulations. What's its output?


I've now put the rug back (and a hard floor is next years project)

It should get up to 6.5kw
joanne

Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote:

It should get up to 6.5kw


That's in how big a room?
sean

That should cut your leccie bills a fair bit then. (You have storage heaters don't you?)
Northern_Lad

How long have you had a floor in that room? I thought it was held together with furniture, books, papers and magazines....
Mrs Fiddlesticks

jocorless wrote:
Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote:

It should get up to 6.5kw


That's in how big a room?


its large - about 27ft long by approx 18ft at widest I think. (not very good on measurements )
Mrs Fiddlesticks

sean wrote:
That should cut your leccie bills a fair bit then. (You have storage heaters don't you?)


that's what we're hoping cos yes we have storage heaters. Seemed a good 'green' plan.
Mrs Fiddlesticks

Northern_Lad wrote:
How long have you had a floor in that room? I thought it was held together with furniture, books, papers and magazines....


I've tided up a bit Embarassed (its not THAT bad !)
Northern_Lad

I wouln't have said that big, but it is large, and there's patio doors on one wall. Sensible place to have them really; they'd look odd in the middle of the room.
Oh, and you forgot to mention it's L shaped.
sean

Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote:
sean wrote:
That should cut your leccie bills a fair bit then. (You have storage heaters don't you?)


that's what we're hoping cos yes we have storage heaters. Seemed a good 'green' plan.


Ours puts out 5kW and we went through last winter with no other heating and without any problems. Depends a bit on the layout and insulation of your house though.
joanne

Ah that's good - We've got a 3kw heater (well 3 to room, 3 to water) on order at the moment and I had a sudden panic its not going to be big enough - our room is about half that size
Northern_Lad

jocorless wrote:
Ah that's good - We've got a 3kw heater (well 3 to room, 3 to water) on order at the moment and I had a sudden panic its not going to be big enough - our room is about half that size


Do you remember my front room, Jo? That's about 5m square, with a lot of glass for one wall. My stove's 4.5 (I think) and it's way more than enough.
joanne

Yes I do remember your front room - Our dining room is about the same size as that so I suspect the 3kw will be sufficient - just have a mild panic - we've got a 2.5kw calor gas heater in there at the moment and even with the potiential for heat to disappear straight up the currently open chimney - it heats the whole house nice and toasty
Mrs Fiddlesticks

Northern_Lad wrote:
I wouln't have said that big, but it is large, and there's patio doors on one wall. Sensible place to have them really; they'd look odd in the middle of the room.
Oh, and you forgot to mention it's L shaped.


I knew I wasn't good at measurements perhaps its more like 25ft X15ft at widest narrowing down to say 10ft at the back.

House is only 14 years old so insulation up to date inc cavity wall.
Mrs Fiddlesticks

jocorless wrote:
Yes I do remember your front room - Our dining room is about the same size as that so I suspect the 3kw will be sufficient - just have a mild panic - we've got a 2.5kw calor gas heater in there at the moment and even with the potiential for heat to disappear straight up the currently open chimney - it heats the whole house nice and toasty


that's the other thing we were told about. 'Sealing off' the chimney as it were with a stove prevents other heat sources disappearing up there, so if very cold and other heaters were needed then they become better at heating the space as well
Jonnyboy

We have a large 'L' shaped kitchen and living room, the woodburner only puts out 2.5kw into the room and the rest to the CH&DHW but it is often enough to make the room very warm, and the radiators are never on in there.
Mrs Fiddlesticks

edited out as another poster has since removed their post from above ( and perhaps a fairy can remove this one too Laughing )
alice

I can heartily recommend one of these.

flutter, flutter

(sorry, still link-ignorant Embarassed )

We used it on the stove on our narrowboat and we brought it here with us. Our house is single storey, one room deep, and the esse solid fuel/woodburner is in the centre of the house. After we installed it last october we switched the oil CH off and all the rooms are warmed by the stove and this little fan helps enormously - quite out of all proportion to it's size/appearance.
alice

Now I really believe in fairies Very Happy
Nicky cigreen

yay
i love my woodburner - one fo the firs things we did on moving in here.. still have horrible old lady pink wallpaper.. but at least we are warm


well to be fair we are only warm in that room or the kitchen as we still have drafts ... fixing slowly...
Pilsbury

Ok how would I go about seeing if I can put one in my house? is there building regs to get through, do i need to get plannig or anything like that, then where to go for free / cheap advice to see if its practical for us?
my dad knocked the center of the fire place out to about 6 FT high but the sides are still there, It an alcove at the moment with a book case in so would the top have to be re built back down to normal fire place level?
the chimney is still there and unblocked, probably except from the birds and stuff that has expired there in the last 20 years since it was done?
I really want a wood burner, well it would probably have to be multi fuel as I live in the smoke free zone but dont even know how to start going about it Crying or Very sad
sean

You can use a woodburner fitted with a catalytic convertor. Clearview (possibly some others as well) are allowed to burn wood in smoke free zones without one. I think that you have to get your chimney lined now to meet building regs.
Pilsbury

I knew about geting the chimney lined, its wether I need to have major building work done to the fireplace to get it back to a state it can be used as a fireplace
Nicky cigreen

i think if you get the right kind of woodburner, then you can burn wood in a smokeless zone, as it burns clean. but i might have imagined this ...

I would start by going to a showroom and asking questions there. even if you decided to DIY in the end it would give you an idea of costs (or costs to beat) what you want etc.
Yopu might have to get the chimney lined, they can assess that. if you do, that bits a bit costly, but doable. My first woodburner (last house) did not need one, chimney was sound, this one needed a liner. I dont think it matters much how big the fire place opening is (although I hope you have some kind of lintle!) as the flue comes out of the stove and up to a register plate.
Pilsbury

there is an RSJ across the top of the opening, I know this cos at 15 years old I had to help lift it in, the next problem is finding someone who sells wood burners in east london but Im sure if I google it I will be OK.
thanks for the answers to my foolish questions Embarassed

and I was rather hoping I could have the large opening as I can stack fire wood at teh side and maybe have a wood burning stove in there so I can boil a kettle and make stew on there....
sean

Get it installed by someone who does it for a living. According to the stove people in town more than 50% of their business is sorting out installations done by a mate/jobbing builder.
Pilsbury

With something this inmprtant I would only go with a professional firm, fitting fire into a house is just to an important job to give to Jo bodgeit from the small ads
Nicky cigreen

yeh i agree - and had both stoves in both houses fitted professionally - just not something I would want to get wrong! think CO etc...
wellington womble

Our fireplace is a big one, with space for wood each side - must be around six foot high (you can stand in it) with a wood burner in it, so it must be possible. It wasn't professionally fitted (in fact, I helped, because it was so heavy) but it burns great and draws really well. There some bits leftover mind, and the cowl falls off, but only cosmetic stuff. I'll post a photo later, if I remember.
Treacodactyl

Pilsbury wrote:
Ok how would I go about seeing if I can put one in my house? is there building regs to get through


IIRC there are now buildings regs although a suitably qualified installer can self-certify. More details here http://www.hetas.co.uk/home/building_control.html
woodsprite

Looking good Mrs F Very Happy
We got the keys to our new place on Monday and by last night my hubby and son had reinstated the inglenook in the sitting room (it had a dreadful brick infill, ugh) and lined the chimney. The woodburner will go in over the weekend. Very Happy
Green Man

Your inset burner looks really neat and tidy. Very Happy
wellington womble

This is ours, in all it's glory - I'd rather have one of these than a telly, any day....


Lorrainelovesplants

Please check who is installing woodburners. If they are not Hetas then you invalidate yourhomeinsurancein case of'incident'. Also need the Hetas cert for selling home now.
I personally would not have someone self certify as you (and he) cannot check the conditionof the chimneyor installation without some (or a lot) of upheaval and upset.
Get it done right at the start.
Andjust cos someone is Hetasregistered dosnt mean they are capable of good work, as we have heard locally .........
And Hetas say its nothing to do with them (faulty installation)
Treacodactyl

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:
I personally would not have someone self certify as you (and he) cannot check the conditionof the chimneyor installation without some (or a lot) of upheaval and upset.
Get it done right at the start.
Andjust cos someone is Hetasregistered dosnt mean they are capable of good work, as we have heard locally .........
And Hetas say its nothing to do with them (faulty installation)


A HETAS qualified person would self certify. From the HETAS link I gave:

Quote:
Most installations of solid fuel and wood biomass appliances and systems are subject to the requirements of Building Regulations and are notifiable to the Local Authority in your area by law. HETAS registered installers can self-certificate their work thus avoiding the need for costly and time consuming Building Notice applications to the local Building Control Department.


I've no idea about HETAS but I agree that registration of various professional bodies doesn't guarantee a good job, certainly in my experience.
joanne

Pilsbury wrote:
there is an RSJ across the top of the opening, I know this cos at 15 years old I had to help lift it in, the next problem is finding someone who sells wood burners in east london but Im sure if I google it I will be OK.
thanks for the answers to my foolish questions Embarassed

and I was rather hoping I could have the large opening as I can stack fire wood at teh side and maybe have a wood burning stove in there so I can boil a kettle and make stew on there....


Does it look a little like this ?



Obviously this is ours in its raw state - not that its much further on yet Rolling Eyes but you can have a normal inset woodburner in that space - we are having this one

http://www.firesonline.co.uk/acatalog/Dunsley_Highlander_7_Multi-fuel_Stove.html

put into that space - you have a plate fixed across the inside of chimney which the flue goes into
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