stove advice insert or not?

auspoz

Hi I'm putting in a stove instead of my existing open fire. I was thinking of an insert stove as I really like my existing fireplace but my plumber said that they are not much good at heating and far more expensive. He says I would be much better off with a normal stove like a stanley oisin.
The Esse 350 insert seems to have a good output but now I'm not sure. Any advice?

paddy147

auspoz wrote: »

Hi I'm putting in a stove instead of my existing open fire. I was thinking of an insert stove as I really like my existing fireplace but my plumber said that they are not much good at heating and far more expensive. He says I would be much better off with a normal stove like a stanley oisin.
The Esse 350 insert seems to have a good output but now I'm not sure. Any advice?

I had my old crappy open fireplace demolished and had a new Stovax Riva 66 inset stove built in.Rated at 8kw.

The heat out of it is amazing.

And it looks modern too.

Dont be put off by what 1 plumber says.

JohnnieK

I put a Firewarm 4kW stove into my fire place last October and to be honest I rarely had the heating on down stairs when it was lit. The living room door was left open most of the time by the toddlers and it heated the whole of the down stairs because of that. The odd time in the snow we even left it lighting over night and the living room was lovely and warm in the morning.

A 4kW stove would be more than enough to heat most areas unless you live in a mansion.

BrianMc1980

Maybe your plumber is not confident in fitting this type of unit?? but if installed correctly it will do everything you expect. The difference in the Esse and the Fireware is the one you are looking at has a square back as the Fireware is tapered to fit without removing the fireback, your choice would be better for burning wood as it has a bigger firebox. The Riva 66 is a cassette type "hole in the wall" fire, it will not fit a standard builders opening this means the kango will have to come out, they do offer 2 smaller versions the 40 & 55. You can also get this type of fire with fans built in for larger rooms to distribute the heat more evenly. Fanco Belge offer such units, the Ubinus

BrianMc1980

I really like my existing fireplace
If it is a timber surround, it will have to come out

BrianMc1980

auspoz wrote: »

I really like my existing fireplace
If it is a timber surround, it will have to come out

Sligo Stoves and Fireplaces

If someone in the heating industry says the heat from an inset stove is not as good as that from a freestanding stove then they would either be avoiding the job or simply way behind the times. Simply put, if a stove has a rated output to a room then that is the heat it produces to a room, tested and proven. Its not a number plucked from the air, but if it is, then do not purchase that stove.

In my experience, insert stoves will vary in quality and, although some people that have cheaper stoves may say they are great, its better to put in a quality unit from high quality manufacturer that will stand the test of time and not burn out or warp beyond the point of use.

auspoz

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll have to do a bit more research. Sligo stoves is there any insert stove in particular you would recommend?

Sligo Stoves and Fireplaces

as mentioned, the esse 350 is a good little stove, stovax stockton 7 i have in my parents house, both are great stoves,and will give out the heat.

paddy147

Sligo Stoves and Fireplaces wrote: »

stovax stockton 7 i have in my parents house.

I was going for a Stockton 7 too,until I spotted the Stovax Riva 66 in the fireplace shop.

So I ended up buying the Riva 66 inset stove instead.:)

Widget

The choice of insets and stoves out there is bewildering! From all the posts I get the message that best to go for quality now as it will stand the test of time. I have a house which we rent - have decided to upgrade it big time. We have an open fireplace with a moghany mantlepiece and a poor back boiler. We are planning to replace the present oil central heating boiler with a completely new system. We were thinking of getting a 5KW insert into the fireplace and remove the back boiler completely. We have seen a huge variety in prices - we saw an attractive looking St Remo fro E450 but most of the old reliables appear to be around E1000. A price around E750 has been suggested for installation, upgrading the chimney and lining it. Are these figures reasonable? I am slightly concerned that removing the option of the back boiler might be foolish especially when everyone is strapped for cash and the high price of heating oil. What do the experts think?

Stove Fan

Widget wrote: »

The choice of insets and stoves out there is bewildering! From all the posts I get the message that best to go for quality now as it will stand the test of time. I have a house which we rent - have decided to upgrade it big time. We have an open fireplace with a moghany mantlepiece and a poor back boiler. We are planning to replace the present oil central heating boiler with a completely new system. We were thinking of getting a 5KW insert into the fireplace and remove the back boiler completely. We have seen a huge variety in prices - we saw an attractive looking St Remo fro E450 but most of the old reliables appear to be around E1000. A price around E750 has been suggested for installation, upgrading the chimney and lining it. Are these figures reasonable? I am slightly concerned that removing the option of the back boiler might be foolish especially when everyone is strapped for cash and the high price of heating oil. What do the experts think?

If you are upgrading the heating system and fireplace why not fit a stove with back boiler as you already have the pipework for the old back boiler?

It would seem to be a very sensible option with the price of heating oil:mad:. We rented an old stone 2 bed bungalow for 6 months and it had a combi oil boiler with integral hot water storage tank. It absolutely drank the oil in the six monhts we were there. We had the heating on for the first two weeks and then just hot water. The 500 litres ran out just before we moved in. The house was still freezing and damp:( We used the open coal fire in the lounge but it burnt fuel at an alarming rate.
If I was renting a house I would definately want a boiler stove:D
The price for installation sounds fine by me if.

Stove Fan:)

Widget

If we went for the stove and back boiler option - would it cost more? Also I am concerned that you have to have a unit which produces more KW of heat - would have to ensure the heat goes where it is needed - so enough to keep the room cosy but also enough to produce useful heat for the water - is there an insert that will do that? or should we be looking at a proper stove - something like a Stovax. The room itself is compact. Thanks for your advice

Stove Fan

Widget wrote: »

If we went for the stove and back boiler option - would it cost more? Also I am concerned that you have to have a unit which produces more KW of heat - would have to ensure the heat goes where it is needed - so enough to keep the room cosy but also enough to produce useful heat for the water - is there an insert that will do that? or should we be looking at a proper stove - something like a Stovax. The room itself is compact. Thanks for your advice

Yes a back boiler stove would cost more, but would pay for itself in less oil usage. Finding the balance between not overheating the room the stove is in and a boiler big enough to heat the rads is what you are looking for.

You need to know the heat output of the rads. (Heat requirements of the building).
Hot water heat requirements.

The size of your room that the stove will be installed in? The installer will calculate all of these requirements and then choose a stove with the required outputs.

I have not really looked but the parkray cumbria may suit.
www.parkray.co.uk

I am sure there are others:)

Stove Fan:)

Pique

BrianMc1980 wrote: »

If it is a timber surround, it will have to come out

Is this true ?

This is the one we have currently.
Is such a fireplace not suitable for a stove ?

Kevincoolna

Hello StoveFan,
Just wondering if you have any advise on the Boru Carraig Mor 30Kw stove ,
Im thinking of getting one, I have a 2500 sqft house running on bulk Gas for water and rads, I'm hoping to run my central heating from this stove, someone has recommended a Tripp TR25 stove also, I have 19 rads in total (including doubles) I will probably be only running about 16 though! I did a BTU calculation and came up with a btu reading of 70875 minimum to 85000 maximum.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Stove Fan

Kevincoolna wrote: »

Hello StoveFan,
Just wondering if you have any advise on the Boru Carraig Mor 30Kw stove ,
Im thinking of getting one, I have a 2500 sqft house running on bulk Gas for water and rads, I'm hoping to run my central heating from this stove, someone has recommended a Tripp TR25 stove also, I have 19 rads in total (including doubles) I will probably be only running about 16 though! I did a BTU calculation and came up with a btu reading of 70875 minimum to 85000 maximum.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

I would say that the tripp25 is two small for the number of rads. I don't know what the output is of the boru carraig mor 30kw as it only lists the number of rads on their website. If the boiler is rated at 75,000 it should be fine for your needs but too me it seems a very small stove.

You may need to buy the aarrow stratford TF90 or broseley hercules 30B or possibly the Arrow ecoboiler 18EBHE. although only 61,000btu boiler output.

The aarrow range of boiler stoves. http://www.stratfordboilerstoves.co.uk/

Stove Fan:)

Kevincoolna

Stove Fan wrote: »

Kevincoolna wrote: »

Hello StoveFan,
Just wondering if you have any advise on the Boru Carraig Mor 30Kw stove ,
Im thinking of getting one, I have a 2500 sqft house running on bulk Gas for water and rads, I'm hoping to run my central heating from this stove, someone has recommended a Tripp TR25 stove also, I have 19 rads in total (including doubles) I will probably be only running about 16 though! I did a BTU calculation and came up with a btu reading of 70875 minimum to 85000 maximum.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

I would say that the tripp25 is two small for the number of rads. I don't know what the output is of the boru carraig mor 30kw as it only lists the number of rads on their website. If the boiler is rated at 75,000 it should be fine for your needs but too me it seems a very small stove.

You may need to buy the aarrow stratford TF90 or broseley hercules 30B or possibly the Arrow ecoboiler 18EBHE. although only 61,000btu boiler output.

The aarrow range of boiler stoves. http://www.stratfordboilerstoves.co.uk/

Stove Fan:)

Thanks a million, will look into those!
That's great advise!

Stove Fan

Pique wrote: »

Is this true ?

This is the one we have currently.
Is such a fireplace not suitable for a stove ?

I would say that it would have to be totally removed to safely fit a new stove:( Is it a gas fire? The hearth would be in two pieces for solid fuel as it would crack with the heat from a coal fire.

Stove Fan:)

Pique

Stove Fan wrote: »

I would say that it would have to be totally removed to safely fit a new stove:( Is it a gas fire? The hearth would be in two pieces for solid fuel as it would crack with the heat from a coal fire.

Stove Fan:)

No it's a solid-fuel one with existing back boiler.
The hearth is in a couple of pieces as you say for expansion.

I'm worried about the wooden surround having to be dumped and replaced.

I realise it will have to be removed for fitting, but I was under the impression (and was hoping)that it could be refitted again once the stove is installed.

Dumping the surround and buying a new one is making the stove option more and more expensive.

Roebourne9

Hi,
Looking for advise on getting above inset installed. I have read several threads on stoves but can't really apply info to my installation as there's so much info out there.
I have few questions that i want to ask installer before getting it fitted on Thursday. We had to make quick decision on it yesterday as the next available fitting was Dec, prob a sales ploy but it suits us, I haven't asked them anything yet about installation which I was going to do on Monday but would like independent advise so i have idea what kind of answers i should be getting. We were told the installer will do assessment of suitability before attempting to fit it.
Our fireplace is similar to piques and we were told by person in shop that we should be able to keep it including cast iron insert. She even showed us a picture of it fitted into the exact same fireplace as ours, she said it may need to be trimmed a little bit. if It's not suitable they could put in different cast iron insert. does this sound ok?
Should the stove be completely sealed if It's fitted into existing cast iron insert?
what way should it be fitted to the chimney ie Flue pipes, lining etc. It's a detached 2002 dormer with the assumption the chimney is lined.
How is chimney cleaned after its fitted?
They're the questions i can think of at mo, if there's any other questions i should be asking please let me know, any advise greatly appreciated. Thanks