STOVES questions and answers here(see mod note in post 1)

stephen_k wrote: »

Hi giveitholly,

We have 21kw stoves which jump in size to 30kw as well... I had a quick look, at other stoves manufacturers that we don't do, but I couldn't see one with a boiler output of around 17kw with 5/6kw to the room... You seem to be falling between two stones I'm afraid... However bear in mind that a 30kw will only give 30kw maximum output, if you have a smaller fire in it, you will get less output, so with use you might find the 30kw will give you the results you require...

thanks for the advice stephen_k,it looks like i'll have to go with the carraig mor 30 k.w. Would you have any knowledge on the 25kw Green Stove,was looking at that one as well

Hi all, got huge shock today when I saw my esb bill up 100€. Only change us we installed a solid fuel stove which is heating the downstairs rads, has electric circulatory pump but that's all as far as I'm aware(far from an expert) surely that couldn't be putting up bill!! Can put finger on increase as if anything other electrical appliances used less due to work
Help

There is a list of fitters here http://www.orielflues.com/installation/

Hi,

I am looking at an inset stove with back boiler. Had seen the Stanley Cara inset and believe there is one coming out in the next few weeks that heats up to 9 rads (current model heats up to 4). Have also read about the Stratford Inset stove. Are there any others?

Any views on which model is best?
Do inset models heat as well as stand alone?
Have read some less than flattering comments about Chinese manufactured stoves with poor parts on other posts - honestly not sure what brand they are referring to. Is it a concern?
Any advice on what questions to ask when purchasing?
I won't be able to have all radiators connected so should I get the radiator in the room where the stove is connected or should there be enough heat in that room with just the stove? (standard 4 bed semi sitting room adjoined to dining room)

Thanks!

blue100 wrote: »

Hi,

I am looking at an inset stove with back boiler. Had seen the Stanley Cara inset and believe there is one coming out in the next few weeks that heats up to 9 rads (current model heats up to 4). Have also read about the Stratford Inset stove. Are there any others?

Any views on which model is best?
Do inset models heat as well as stand alone?
Have read some less than flattering comments about Chinese manufactured stoves with poor parts on other posts - honestly not sure what brand they are referring to. Is it a concern?
Any advice on what questions to ask when purchasing?
I won't be able to have all radiators connected so should I get the radiator in the room where the stove is connected or should there be enough heat in that room with just the stove? (standard 4 bed semi sitting room adjoined to dining room)

Thanks!

Hi blue100, first off I would not buy a stove by "how many radiators" it does, this is endemic in retailers selling stoves that do not have the correct training in sizing stoves... Saying a stove is capable of heating 9 rads is meaningless unless you know what size the radiators and what else is required in the system (hot water cylinder for example)...

The Stanley Cara as you pointed out is a room heater only at the moment, however I would say that the cast iron for Stanley, Henley, Olymberel, Blacksmith, Mulberry and a few others all come out of China... I am not saying there is anything wrong with any of these stoves, if installed correctly and used correctly they are a fine affordable stove. There are other UK brands Stratford and Charnwood being the well known ones that AFAIK use UK cast iron which would be considered of a "better" construction however like anything else you have to pay a premium for this... So it comes down to budget...

My advise would be ask if the person selling you the stove has completed a HETAS course, so they have the correct knowledge on sizing and fitting a stove correctly to building regs... Have they advised you on suitable surrounds for the stove, correct hearth sizes, advise on the possibility of relining your chimney if necessary, or do they just say "Ah sure it'll do 10 rads no problem"??

To size the stove correctly I would need a list of all your radiator sizes and the size (length x width x height) of the room the stove is going, also any information on insulation added or not, double glazing etc would help...

stephen_k wrote: »

Hi blue100, first off I would not buy a stove by "how many radiators" it does, this is endemic in retailers selling stoves that do not have the correct training in sizing stoves... Saying a stove is capable of heating 9 rads is meaningless unless you know what size the radiators and what else is required in the system (hot water cylinder for example)...

The Stanley Cara as you pointed out is a room heater only at the moment, however I would say that the cast iron for Stanley, Henley, Olymberel, Blacksmith, Mulberry and a few others all come out of China... I am not saying there is anything wrong with any of these stoves, if installed correctly and used correctly they are a fine affordable stove. There are other UK brands Stratford and Charnwood being the well known ones that AFAIK use UK cast iron which would be considered of a "better" construction however like anything else you have to pay a premium for this... So it comes down to budget...

My advise would be ask if the person selling you the stove has completed a HETAS course, so they have the correct knowledge on sizing and fitting a stove correctly to building regs... Have they advised you on suitable surrounds for the stove, correct hearth sizes, advise on the possibility of relining your chimney if necessary, or do they just say "Ah sure it'll do 10 rads no problem"??

To size the stove correctly I would need a list of all your radiator sizes and the size (length x width x height) of the room the stove is going, also any information on insulation added or not, double glazing etc would help...

Thanks a million, Stephen. Stratford seems to be a good bit dearer and one guys told me he stopped supplying them as had some problems with leakage? He recommended a yola. Any views? Previous poster seems to have got on well with it. My budget is probably around €1500 max for the unit.

I was told by a former very reliable poster here that I needed 11 to the rads and 3 to room. The yola inset is 14 to rads and 3 to room. Again the inset or any boiler inset we have come across will not throw out enough heat to room on its own so its very important to have a rad in the room preferably a double in a large room. Your open fire gives out way more heat to the room than an inset. (Thats without any rad being on) The stand alone stove is better. The stove we have is very good to heat up rads but its all down to the amount of fuel you put into it. In cold weather to keep the rads constantly hot you will use a lot of fuel. In normal weather conditions the stove will keep lighting away very well for ages on a lot less.

Thats the same reason we went for inset as we thought the other stove would come out too far into room. Then when they were installing it we realised we actually would have had more room than we thought to work with but we're happy with it. Our room is 16' x 12'. What I mean about more heat from fire is when you walk into the room and the fire is lighting you will instantly feel the heat from it where with the inset you need to be quite close to it to feel the heat. Now its the rads it really benefits so once your rad is heated up its grand and more of an even heat around the room.
We use timber and smokeless coal, the smokeless is a bit more expensive but is recommended. Now theres another inset we've seen in a house and the people there were really happy with it as regards heating their rads. Its a firebird and it has a smaller firebox. Its another Irish made one and the old firebird back boilers were super. Now its flush with the fireplace whereas the Yola extends out which I think is better. What size are your rads? Just to give you an idea we have 2 doubles which are 5'2" x 19", 2 singles 5'2" x 19", 3 singles 4'2" x 19" The stove heats all them no problem so that should give you an idea. We also lined our chimney even though we were told it was'nt necessary to do so.

munsterboy wrote: »

Hi Autorotation.. did you settle on the Inis bofin? If so, what's your experience? I'm interested in the Inis as well but very anxious because of the lack of reviews. etc.
Thanks!

munsterboy wrote: »

Hi Autorotation.. did you settle on the Inis bofin? If so, what's your experience? I'm interested in the Inis as well but very anxious because of the lack of reviews. etc.
Thanks!

Hi Munsterboy
I have an Inis More store and find it fantastic , lots of heat output to rads but the solid fuel consumption is very low considering the size of the stove.
My brother in law also has the same stove and he is also very happy with his, they are much better than the Stanley we fitted for our neighbour.
My brother is taking out his old stove even though its only a year old and is also fitting an Inis Mor.
All in all were very happy with the Inis stoves.
We have no connection to the company.
Cc
PS. 1 blue box of solid fuel keeps it going for about 8 hrs
See photo

blue100 wrote: »

Thanks, Brianne. I am surprised you say that the open fire will give you more heat in that room. I thought benefit of the stove was to stop most of the heat going up the chimney and to have it in the room / rads. I appreciate that the standalone stone will give greater heat in the room but our hearth is quite small, as is the room, so a stand alone would take up too much space. Good to know re extra fuel consumption. My gas bills are about €1500 pa and coal bills about €500. I am guessing my coal bill will double, but hoping that my gas bill will be reduced to at least 1/3rd. ie save up to €1k pa. Is that realistic? If i'm to spend €2500-€3000 on a stove (incl installation, tank, pump etc), I would hope to save a lot on bills. Would be good to know if this is a realistic expectation? Thanks again.

Hi blue. Just piggy backing here but have you experience of sizing a boiler stove for solo radiators?

blue100 wrote: »

Folks, just got a quote for €1100 to install an insert stove, not back boiler and including flue lining. Labour alone was €425. I'm in shock. I thought it would be about half that price. Any advice would be appreciated. Am I unrealistic or is the quote too high?? Tks.

That would be a realistic price if you take into account it takes 2 men to pull in a liner.They have to go on the roof so they have to provide ladders or safe means of access then fit liner and stove.insurance costs etc

Blue what insert are you going to go with? The guy that installed our boiler insert charged 800 but that included 2 large double rads which he bought and installed instead of 2 single ones that he had to remove and also he put one of those single ones elsewhere. He put thermostats which he provided on most of the rads also. He also lined the chimney. He was the bones of 2 days here as he ran into a problem with some of the pipes from our original back boiler which also he had to remove. The flexi flue a good 904 grade and vermiculite etc came to 630.

Is it possible to buy a boiler to retrofit it into a Waterford Erin stove? If so, any idea how hard it would be to do so, and how much it might cost?

Hi All,

I want to put a non boiler insert stove into my existing fireplace and I have been told that I need a 7 kw option.
the one that I like is a 10 kw one and I want to know if it would be a bad idea to put this in.
Also it is a cassette style stove and as such will mean that my fireplace will have to be altered for it to fit, is this
a big job and would anyone know if this would possibly cause some problems with the chimney.
Thanks in advance.

MugMugs wrote: »

Folks is there an installer list on this forum??

I am in The North East and having serious issues finding somebody to install my stove !

Had the same problem, trying to get my Henley Erin 8KW room ing heatstove fittedwith an external flue system.
Got three numbers from Daly Brothers of installers.
1st guy called and when he found out that I had all the flues and pipe work needed, He seeed confused by what they where for.
2nd guy called and after an hour, said he would ring the next day with a price. Never got the call.
3rd guy arrived and decided he needed to rent out a ladder, Jack hammer and drill, buy this and that and then give me a shock with a price of €660.
You can tell where I told him to go.
Too any people jumping on the Stove bandwagon who don't know what there are at, or only want the handy stove to sit on fireplace and stick flue up chimney and collect a wad of cash for it.

Being handy with DIY and searching on the net, I decided to fit the stove myself.Biggest challeng was gettig a neat hole through the wall for the twin wall flue @ 45 degrees.
Has been installed over a week now and all is working very well.
The heat from the stove is enough to even heat 3 more rooms downstairs and also heats the landing enough when the doors are open.

Good luck in your search.