Looking at Solid Fuel Stoves.

BahSheep

Right so,

Myself and my mother were looking for a cheaper way to heat the house this winter. We have 4 bedrooms, 2 average size, 2 small, we have a kitchen, again average size, bathroom, bigger than average for a bathroom, a sitting room which would be bigger than average again. When my parents moved in, before they had kids the house was only a bedroom, sitting room, bathroom and kitchen and my father being the diy expert and builder that he is, built on 3 rooms at one end of the house (2 bedrooms and new sitting room and an extended hall.) So the end my father built on 20 years ago, we've never had a problem with it's really warm, even when the heating isn't on. But, the older end, which now has a bedroom instead of a sitting room, the kitchen, parents bedroom and bathroom - is freezing. We have 7 radiators and would be adding in another 1 into the sitting room.

I've been looking through the stanley range as it's the only one that i could actually find prices on etc and it seems the only one that has a boiler is the oisin.... We have a chimney from our kitchen that used to hold a stove-cooker before my parents moved in. It has the hot water tank beside it with doors to the front and my parents made a storage area in the kitchen where the stove was, for towels etc. But, now seen as the nights are getting colder. We have to have something that is cost effective, efficient in heating the house etc..

I need some suggestions on where to look.. Prices, We'd like to have it installed before december and it has to have enough power to heat the house, we don't fancy using so much oil and we have a lot of firewood stored for the winter. The house is a bungalow and i have literally no idea where to start or what i'm looking at. What is 4, 4.5Kw heat output? haha

Thanks.

Wind and Wave

My house is of similar age and size to your own. I have installed a 20kw Broseley Hurcules and all I can say is that it is an animal. This is just my personal opinion but my house has never been as warm. It takes a bit of manipulating to learn how to control the airflow for optimium use but it is worth the wait

Stove Fan

BahSheep wrote: »

Right so,

Myself and my mother were looking for a cheaper way to heat the house this winter. We have 4 bedrooms, 2 average size, 2 small, we have a kitchen, again average size, bathroom, bigger than average for a bathroom, a sitting room which would be bigger than average again. When my parents moved in, before they had kids the house was only a bedroom, sitting room, bathroom and kitchen and my father being the diy expert and builder that he is, built on 3 rooms at one end of the house (2 bedrooms and new sitting room and an extended hall.) So the end my father built on 20 years ago, we've never had a problem with it's really warm, even when the heating isn't on. But, the older end, which now has a bedroom instead of a sitting room, the kitchen, parents bedroom and bathroom - is freezing. We have 7 radiators and would be adding in another 1 into the sitting room.

I've been looking through the stanley range as it's the only one that i could actually find prices on etc and it seems the only one that has a boiler is the oisin.... We have a chimney from our kitchen that used to hold a stove-cooker before my parents moved in. It has the hot water tank beside it with doors to the front and my parents made a storage area in the kitchen where the stove was, for towels etc. But, now seen as the nights are getting colder. We have to have something that is cost effective, efficient in heating the house etc..

I need some suggestions on where to look.. Prices, We'd like to have it installed before december and it has to have enough power to heat the house, we don't fancy using so much oil and we have a lot of firewood stored for the winter. The house is a bungalow and i have literally no idea where to start or what i'm looking at. What is 4, 4.5Kw heat output? haha

Thanks.

Hi:)
What you need is a company selling stoves to visit your home and work out how big a boiler output you need and what output you need to the room the stove is in. You could have a rough idea on size by measuring your existing radiators taking note whether singles or doubles and comparing with a radiator brochure online with a similar style and write down the btu's or KW of each rad. Add them all up and if you have a standard size hot water cylinder add 3kw or 10,000 btu to the rad total.

There are many different stove manufacturers on the www. Charnwood, stovax, clearview, woodwarm, hunter, villager, stanley, dunsley etc

Stove Fan:)

emg74

Can you look at getting the house insulated in addition to adding a stove ? There are grants for insulation and as far as I know if you get a fuel allowance you can get the insulation done for free. By upgrading the insulation, the house will retain the heat better.

We got the insulation upgraded in our 11yr old bungalow earlier this year and I can see a huge difference in the heat. Need less of a fire & have not turned on the oil since April. At the minute it is 23degrees in my livingroom and there hasn't been a fire in the stove since last night

Can't really advise on a stove for you but definitely look at the insulation side of things

BahSheep

Sorry about the late reply here, i'm not exactly sure how to work boards.ie haha..

So, Emg74 Thanks for your reply, I'll look into that. A lot of people don't know what benefits they can get, to me, all the better. I don't know if you can insulate mass concrete, cause one half of our house is mass concrete, it means its very cold on this end. The other end is bricks and was only built about 20 years ago. Hmm. Will definitely look into it.

Stove Fan, Thanks for the reply again, So what stove would you recommend, we have a meeting with a man tomorrow in thomastown about stoves, he has a shop so hopefully.

Wind and Wave, Thanks to you also, Your 20kw Broseley Hurcules, how much was it if you don't mind me asking? Did it fit in where there was a chimney before or .. Does it come with a boiler or do you have to get that seperately etc? Because i'd like to look into it, depending on the price

Stove Fan

BahSheep wrote: »

Sorry about the late reply here, i'm not exactly sure how to work boards.ie haha..

So, Emg74 Thanks for your reply, I'll look into that. A lot of people don't know what benefits they can get, to me, all the better. I don't know if you can insulate mass concrete, cause one half of our house is mass concrete, it means its very cold on this end. The other end is bricks and was only built about 20 years ago. Hmm. Will definitely look into it.

Stove Fan, Thanks for the reply again, So what stove would you recommend, we have a meeting with a man tomorrow in thomastown about stoves, he has a shop so hopefully.

Wind and Wave, Thanks to you also, Your 20kw Broseley Hurcules, how much was it if you don't mind me asking? Did it fit in where there was a chimney before or .. Does it come with a boiler or do you have to get that seperately etc? Because i'd like to look into it, depending on the price

I couldn't really recommend one particular stove as each stove is suited to different heat load requirements. Charnwood, clearview, dunsley are very very good makes. Stovax and trianco are well known brands too. The cheaper brands are Hunter, villager, but still represent good value and reasonable quality. A lot of the stoves sold here are imported stoves from china.

Stove Fan.:)