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

OwenM

Seems Ok.

Also, your getting a CO alarm, not a CO2 meter.

peadar76

can I install a stove on a tiled concrete floor without a hearth?

Tommy Max

Would like to hear any feedback from anybody who purchased a Henley Apollo or achill stove? Non boiler insert stove is what we are after.

Our room is 18.5 feet x 12.5 feet so looking at what would work best.

Really appreciate any feedback or recommendations please.

rpmcs

peadar76 wrote:

can I install a stove on a tiled concrete floor without a hearth?

By building regs the area around stove should have a height distinction of 12mm or more..
So technically no...

Shefwedfan

Might seem an odd one. I have a Green 8kw stove installed. There is a problem with the flue and looking around at prices to get fixed which is going to cost 1,000+ from the initial quotes.

I was looking around for installers and seen gas stoves. Never seen these before. Just checking if anyone has these installed?

My thoughts was replace the solid fuel stove, put in gas stove. It is in chimney which is on outside wall so I could drill outside and then have large gas cylinder outside.

I already have a large solid fuel stove in other room so having gas in other room would be handy.....

cronley

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Ok sorry to bring this back up. I promise will be final time.

So I replaced the cowl. It is special version to increase the draw. So I fired up stove. Not a drop of rain around.

Left it lighted and new cowl is adding extra draw but the bloody thing is dripping. I have no idea what issue is now. There is no rain so why would it be dripping? Took pic if, not sure if you can see the water waiting to drip

Any idea's?

You need to install flexi flue liner and insulate the flexi liner towards the bottom of the flue. Your chimney is too cold - the smoke is condensing on the cold chimney, and turning into creosote liquid. This condensing problem is very bad on external chimneys. The insulated flexi liner will increase the temperature in the flue - the smoke will rise, and not condense into liquid.
Browse here http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/
or here about external chimney http://www.woodheat.org/outside-chimney.html

Shefwedfan

cronley wrote: »

You need to install flexi flue liner and insulate the flexi liner towards the bottom of the flue. Your chimney is too cold - the smoke is condensing on the cold chimney, and turning into creosote liquid. This condensing problem is very bad on external chimneys. The insulated flexi liner will increase the temperature in the flue - the smoke will rise, and not condense into liquid.
Browse here http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/
or here about external chimney http://www.woodheat.org/outside-chimney.html

Thanks, yeah I had worked it out. The issue is the fireplace is a feature so there is cast iron flue coming out the back and going up. You can see about 1 m of the flue. So I need to replace with cast iron flue or it will look strange. So I need a double wall chimeny flue like this: http://stoneandstoves.ie/product/double-wall-chimney-500mm-2/

I know exactly what I need but I can't get anyone to do the job, the couple of places I have asked came back and told me they are too busy installing new stoves.....

Briany3

Hi folks I have an 8kw inset stove. It is working great, maybe to good.
When I set the fire I stack it to the limit with off cuts I get about 4 hours out of it.
The problem is the fire place and cheminy get pretty hot a bit to hot.
Should the top of the stove be insulated. There is no insulation around the box at all. Just thinking if it where insulated I would not need to set such a big fire.
Thank you. Briany3

TPM

Briany3 wrote: »

I stack it to the limit with off cuts I get about 4 hours out of it

Do you have the air on the stove closed down?

Sounds like you are over fueling it, basically you are loading it with more fuel that it can handle.

Tony H

Hi can anyone PM me a recommendation for a stove fitter in the east Cork area ?

Thanks

Briany3

TPM wrote: »

Do you have the air on the stove closed down?

Sounds like you are over fueling it, basically you are loading it with more fuel that it can handle.

Yes I do have the air flow closed right down
Thank you.

rebeve

I am fitting a new 6kw stove , one installer told me as the house was built in the last 20 years I don't need flue liner . Other price from a different company was including liner .I thought the flue liner was a must .So am I wrong

Shefwedfan

rebeve wrote: »

I am fitting a new 6kw stove , one installer told me as the house was built in the last 20 years I don't need flue liner . Other price from a different company was including liner .I thought the flue liner was a must .So am I wrong

Depends, from what I have found out if there is cracks or damage to flue liner you will need a flue liner. If not then you are ok. My friends house was built in 70's got it checked and no need for flue liner but that is not to say a 3 year old house might need a flue liner if damaged

What I have found with most companies they will automatically put in flue liner without even checking the flue, more money in it for them....

kamila jelinkova

what's the best stove to buy and any idea on cost and installation guys in the market for one

Briany3

Phil.x wrote: »

That seems the norm, I was giving price of 2k with Stanley insert on semi detached .

I got a 8kw stove, chimney flue, and fire place, for €1350 last year. I would put up a photo but I don't no to.

what?yeah

Hi all,

I recently had a porto 400 6kw stove and a new fireplace supplied and fitted by a local fireplace store and I've few concerns about the fitting. Before calling the shop just thought I'd post here and see if people think there's cause for concern.

Stove:
1. So far we haven't gotten great heat out of the stove. We burn coal and logs and even after a couple of hours of adding fuel the room isn't fully heated. You can quite comfortably stand right beside the stove and put your hand next to it. There seems to be a whistling sound of air going up the chimney. Maybe I haven't found the right adjustment other air supply controls yet but I was expecting more heat output.

2. The stove appears to be installed at an angle leaning back into the fireplace opening. This means when you open the door to put fuel in the door starts closing behind you making it awkward. Is it normal for a stove door to close itself or should it stay open when opened?

Fireplace:
1. Theres a gap between the heart and the wall. At one side it's half an inch and on another side it's an inch. I thought the heart should be against the wall or at least a couple of mm off the wall and the skirting board cut around it. On ours the heart is flat against the skirting on one side and on the other it's a good half inch off the skirting. You can notice the heart running at an angle off the wall when you look at it from the side. Is this normal? Should the heart be closer to the wall?

2. The heart is split down the middle to allow for expansion as it should be. However I thought that the joint between the two pieces should be filled with some kind of filler, it isn't. Is this normal?

The shop I bought it from have been around a while so I'd be surprised if they didn't know what they were doing but these things kinda stuck out to me.

If anybody has any input on this it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

Uriel.

Hi Folks,

We got a Stovax Riva 55 installed in early summer as we were renovating a newly bought house and had floors up and walls pulled apart etc.

So it's been sitting there since June and we hadn't fired it up. It was a full professional installation job, chimney clean and flue/lining or whatever put in.

So we lit it up the other night. quite a bit of smoke coming into the room when door is open/opened (e.g. for refueling) on the first night. Also glass started to go black and has what seems to be bits of ashes stuck to it.

Fired it up again last night, more or less the same craic.

It's a multi fuel stove but at the moment we are just using dry wood kindling
and these air dried logs from BnM

In terms of air flow, the first night we had the primary open about 50% and the secondary about 25%

last night after some googling we adjusted it to about 50% primary and more or less 100% secondary - though we did adjust them as the fire developed and then died.

Nonetheless still some smoke coming into the room on opening the stove door and still getting blacker.

Can anyone advise as to what we are doing wrong? is the fuel ok, or should we be using something else.

Also has anyone any experience of these stove cleaning pads for the glass? they are supposed to be scratch free and have good reviews.


Thanks.

Shefwedfan

Uriel. wrote: »

Hi Folks,

We got a Stovax Riva 55 installed in early summer as we were renovating a newly bought house and had floors up and walls pulled apart etc.

So it's been sitting there since June and we hadn't fired it up. It was a full professional installation job, chimney clean and flue/lining or whatever put in.

So we lit it up the other night. quite a bit of smoke coming into the room when door is open/opened (e.g. for refueling) on the first night. Also glass started to go black and has what seems to be bits of ashes stuck to it.

Fired it up again last night, more or less the same craic.

It's a multi fuel stove but at the moment we are just using dry wood kindling
and these air dried logs from BnM

In terms of air flow, the first night we had the primary open about 50% and the secondary about 25%

last night after some googling we adjusted it to about 50% primary and more or less 100% secondary - though we did adjust them as the fire developed and then died.

Nonetheless still some smoke coming into the room on opening the stove door and still getting blacker.

Can anyone advise as to what we are doing wrong? is the fuel ok, or should we be using something else.

Also has anyone any experience of these stove cleaning pads for the glass? they are supposed to be scratch free and have good reviews.


Thanks.

Do you have a cowl on the chimney? It sounds to me like there isnt enought of a draw on the stove but I am taking a guess......

I use the following: http://www.woodies.ie/hg-stove-glass-cleaner-0-5-litre-1038320

But if you get the smoke fixed it will stop the problem

Shefwedfan

Just wondering if anyone could help. I have attached 3 "pictures" I have done up. One shows current set up which is causing a problem. It is too far going straight out the back

If you look at Planned B pic you can see what 2 stove installers are saying they want to do. So changing from back flue connection to top.

If you see planned A this is actually what I was thinking they would do, is there any reason why you should mount flue from top instead of back?

Uriel.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Do you have a cowl on the chimney? It sounds to me like there isnt enought of a draw on the stove but I am taking a guess......

I use the following: http://www.woodies.ie/hg-stove-glass-cleaner-0-5-litre-1038320

But if you get the smoke fixed it will stop the problem

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I believe a cowl was fitted, I would have to double check tonight to be absolutely certain but i am almost 100% that there is one. There was previously an open fireplace so we had everything done from scratch by the company.

Shefwedfan

Uriel. wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I believe a cowl was fitted, I would have to double check tonight to be absolutely certain but i am almost 100% that there is one. There was previously an open fireplace so we had everything done from scratch by the company.

For my parents stove which was retro fitted into old fireplace they had similar issues. They where recommended in invest in one of these(they didn't buy from this company or anything, first place that came up on google)

http://www.fluesystems.com/shop/Chimney_Cowls_Revolving.html

The spinning cowl creates a draw and resolved the issue.

The fuel you are using is ok so that is not issue. The air flow is good from what you wrote.

Could you go back to installer and see what they say>

Again I am no expert, it might not be a draw issue on chimney just sounds similar to parents house

keith_d99

Uriel. wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I believe a cowl was fitted, I would have to double check tonight to be absolutely certain but i am almost 100% that there is one. There was previously an open fireplace so we had everything done from scratch by the company.

Uriel - those BNM "air-dried" logs are rubbish - used them before had the same issue .. they were damp.

Get a bag of Kiln-dried and see how you get on ... at least it will help you to get to know your stove. Chances are there is nothing wrong with your stove or installation.

I have my Riva 40 in about a year now ... and am still getting to know it!
I tried some coal in it for the first time a few weeks back ... heat output is unreal and fire lasted for hours! .. Is bloody messy to clean out though.

I would never rule out coal for the cold spells.

keith_d99

Uriel. wrote: »

Hi Folks,
the first night we had the primary open about 50% and the secondary about 25%

last night after some googling we adjusted it to about 50% primary and more or less 100% secondary - though we did adjust them as the fire developed and then died.

Thanks.

For starting a fire on our Rive 40 - we start with both open 100%
Then when the first is established ... start closing the primary ... eventually having it fully closed.

Once a stove is hot ... it is easy to keep warm (with little fuel).
The trick is to get it established and hot as quick as possible!

I adjust the Airwash/Secondary .. if the room is too warm to slow the burn rate.

Uriel.

keith_d99 wrote: »

Uriel - those BNM "air-dried" logs are rubbish - used them before had the same issue .. they were damp.

Get a bag of Kiln-dried and see how you get on ... at least it will help you to get to know your stove. Chances are there is nothing wrong with your stove or installation.

I have my Riva 40 in about a year now ... and am still getting to know it!
I tried some coal in it for the first time a few weeks back ... heat output is unreal and fire lasted for hours! .. Is bloody messy to clean out though.

I would never rule out coal for the cold spells.

keith_d99 wrote: »

For starting a fire on our Rive 40 - we start with both open 100%
Then when the first is established ... start closing the primary ... eventually having it fully closed.

Once a stove is hot ... it is easy to keep warm (with little fuel).
The trick is to get it established and hot as quick as possible!

I adjust the Airwash/Secondary .. if the room is too warm to slow the burn rate.

Cheers Keith,
I will try the Kiln dried ones as you mentioned. I think you are right about the air dried logs - they do seem a bit damp (and dirty) to me and this could be the problem (or part of it at least).

I will grab a bag of the Kiln dried wood and try it for the next stove run and see how it goes.

By the way, have you ever tried BnM's eco logs? I am not sure if the heat output would be great, but I might give them a bash also and see if I can find the best fit via trial and error.

Uriel.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

For my parents stove which was retro fitted into old fireplace they had similar issues. They where recommended in invest in one of these(they didn't buy from this company or anything, first place that came up on google)

http://www.fluesystems.com/shop/Chimney_Cowls_Revolving.html

The spinning cowl creates a draw and resolved the issue.

The fuel you are using is ok so that is not issue. The air flow is good from what you wrote.

Could you go back to installer and see what they say>

Again I am no expert, it might not be a draw issue on chimney just sounds similar to parents house

I will double check the cowl tonight and see what's there. I might try a fuel switch as suggested by Keith to completely rule that out as the issue. If the fuel switch doesn't improve matters I will go back to the installer as you suggested and see if we can identify the problem (and hopefully the solution).

Cheers for the advice!

keith_d99

Uriel. wrote: »

By the way, have you ever tried BnM's eco logs? I am not sure if the heat output would be great, but I might give them a bash also and see if I can find the best fit via trial and error.

I did Uriel in the early days ... they burn easy alright .. but don't last very long at all! Leave plenty of ash too from what I remember. Not sure how much "value" would be in a bag.

steamsey

Briany3 wrote: »

Hi folks I have an 8kw inset stove. It is working great, maybe to good.
When I set the fire I stack it to the limit with off cuts I get about 4 hours out of it.
The problem is the fire place and cheminy get pretty hot a bit to hot.
Should the top of the stove be insulated. There is no insulation around the box at all. Just thinking if it where insulated I would not need to set such a big fire.
Thank you. Briany3

Assuming that you're talking about an insert? If the chimney and fireplace are getting excessively hot, then you might have an issue with lack of insulation around the stove, as you mentioned. The stove should be well insulated at the top, sides and back to make sure that you're getting the most heat possible into the room and not up the chimney / into the walls. I had a shoddy install done on my insert - got no heat from the stove. Complained, got new guys out, stove taken out, fully insulated and replaced. Savage heat since then. Also - burning off cuts mightn't be generating the most heat. If you really want to test a stove, get a good fire going then burn dry turf or stove coal (ecobrite) - they seem to give off the most heat.

Briany3

steamsey wrote: »

Assuming that you're talking about an insert? If the chimney and fireplace are getting excessively hot, then you might have an issue with lack of insulation around the stove, as you mentioned. The stove should be well insulated at the top, sides and back to make sure that you're getting the most heat possible into the room and not up the chimney / into the walls. I had a shoddy install done on my insert - got no heat from the stove. Complained, got new guys out, stove taken out, fully insulated and replaced. Savage heat since then. Also - burning off cuts mightn't be generating the most heat. If you really want to test a stove, get a good fire going then burn dry turf or stove coal (ecobrite) - they seem to give off the most heat.

Thank you very much I will try that.

Shefwedfan

Just an update on repair my stove, so I took off the stove last night. God it is a heavy beast. Then took into taking down the flue. Everything was covered in a black tar like substance so no easy job. Ended up pulling the supports out of wall with hammer and screwdriver.

The thing was full of rust and sh*t. Took a few pics of it lying on ground

From what I can make out they had a connector from the flue into the chimney but the actual chimney is not lined. This could be the reason for the condensation.

Going to head to a local supplier tomorrow and see what I need to buy and take into repair job next week. Main question is will I need twin walled flue

lartsa

Hi,

Looking for any insight people might have on the following.

We had a CARA stove installed a few years back and it works very well.

On the strength of this we have just put in a new one in a different room and for whatever reason this one does not really work at all!

It has a flexi flu attached all the way to the top of the chimney. Installation appears fine, Baffles etc all seem to be in correctly.

The stove fires fine and is controllable via the primary and secondary controller behaving just as per original stove, but all we get is radiant heat from the door.

There does not appear to be any hot air convecting out from the vents behind the top of the door. On the other stove hot air convects out of these vents.

The heat has to be going somewhere and I can only assume it is going up the chimney but why it is not convecting out heat is strange.

Any ideas , experiences worth sharing?

Cheers

bg