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

bhamsteve

micks_address wrote: »

hi guys,

I've taken out our fireback in prep for fitting the stove in the next few weeks, it looks like our existing marble opening will be to big -

we have a black marble hearth, black stripes then above, and to the left/right of the opening. The opening is also to high, but we are going to raise the floor under the stove by 3" so the stove will cover the marble at the top, and it will cover the marble on the right, but we will have a gap of about 2" by 27" high to the left of the stove as you look at the fireplace. Can you buy strips of marble that size? Anyone have an idea what it might cost?

Cheers,
Mick

You can have marble cut to any size, check out your local stone stone merchants. They might have some small pieces left from other jobs and just charge you for the cutting of it.
http://www.feelystone.com/ are in Boyle, Roscommon, just off the N4.

Another option is to cut a 3 sided border out of 5mm sheet steel and paint it. It would look a bit rough but would cost very little. ( I've a piece going spare if you want it).

Alternatively you could put a strip of heat resistant tiles around the stove to cover the gap, using suitable heat resistant adhesive grout etc. It would be the most fiddly option but would look smart with the right choice of tiles.

micks_address

Thanks Steve my dad is sourcing some for me from a local supplier. I just need to get the concrete base in today. Not easy after a bottle of wine last night. I think I'll plan for a few more hours before starting

bhamsteve wrote: »

You can have marble cut to any size, check out your local stone stone merchants. They might have some small pieces left from other jobs and just charge you for the cutting of it.
http://www.feelystone.com/ are in Boyle, Roscommon, just off the N4.

Another option is to cut a 3 sided border out of 5mm sheet steel and paint it. It would look a bit rough but would cost very little. ( I've a piece going spare if you want it).

Alternatively you could put a strip of heat resistant tiles around the stove to cover the gap, using suitable heat resistant adhesive grout etc. It would be the most fiddly option but would look smart with the right choice of tiles.

molladam

Hi all,
Which is best for heat ? Insert or free standing box stove .
I live in a 3 bed semi-d with standard fireplace.
My neighbour has a 6kw stove in his livng room and he tells me that the heat from it radiates around the whole house heating adjoining rooms. He also tells me he has bot got oil for the last 2 years because of this. His stove is non-boiler and he fitted it himself also.
I am concerned if I get an insert which I think are more neat and tidy that there will not be sufficient heat. I would like to not having to get oil for obvious reasons.
I am looking at a 4kw insert arched stove or would I be better with a non-insert ?
Thanks

jiggerypokery

molladam wrote: »

Hi all,
Which is best for heat ? Insert or free standing box stove .
I live in a 3 bed semi-d with standard fireplace.
My neighbour has a 6kw stove in his livng room and he tells me that the heat from it radiates around the whole house heating adjoining rooms. He also tells me he has bot got oil for the last 2 years because of this. His stove is non-boiler and he fitted it himself also.
I am concerned if I get an insert which I think ftare more neat and tidy that there will not be sufficient heat. I would like to not having to get oil for obvious reasons.
I am looking at a 4kw insert arched stove or would I be better with a non-insert ?
Thanks

A non boiler stove is a room heater. It's not possible to heat a house with an insert or free standing dry stove. There's more heat from a free standing stove as all sides of the stove give off heat.

bhamsteve

molladam wrote: »

Hi all,
Which is best for heat ? Insert or free standing box stove .
I live in a 3 bed semi-d with standard fireplace.
My neighbour has a 6kw stove in his livng room and he tells me that the heat from it radiates around the whole house heating adjoining rooms. He also tells me he has bot got oil for the last 2 years because of this. His stove is non-boiler and he fitted it himself also.
I am concerned if I get an insert which I think are more neat and tidy that there will not be sufficient heat. I would like to not having to get oil for obvious reasons.
I am looking at a 4kw insert arched stove or would I be better with a non-insert ?
Thanks

Convector insert stoves have efficiency ratings comparable to free standing stoves, but cost a bit more than the cheapest inserts or cheapest free standing stoves. Efficiency ratings of stoves are easily found online. Inserts are often cheaper to fit so take that into consideration when choosing.

micks_address

Hi guys, is it possible to get a short piece of flexible flu? I'm fitting a cara insert at the weekend and have the casing in now but the front of my flu is still about 1.5 inches from the front of the flu opening on the stove. Rather than messing with angles is it possible to get a short flexible flu kit which would allow me to connect the steel flu adapter in the chimney to the short piece of four Inch flu coming up from the stove? Cheers mick

micks_address

micks_address wrote: »

Hi guys, is it possible to get a short piece of flexible flu? I'm fitting a cara insert at the weekend and have the casing in now but the front of my flu is still about 1.5 inches from the front of the flu opening on the stove. Rather than messing with angles is it possible to get a short flexible flu kit which would allow me to connect the steel flu adapter in the chimney to the short piece of four Inch flu coming up from the stove? Cheers mick

If a short flexible flu adapter is not an option could anyone recommend a good full length flu liner who would fit in North county Dublin?

k123456

Imagine you have a boiler stove , which heats room and say 12 rads

If you turn off 6 of the rads, (for rooms not used for example) does the stove go thru less wood

And with a boiler stove, is there a system where you can light the boiler stove, and choose to heat room thru stove only, ie no hot water to rads anywhere in house

Thanks

bhamsteve

micks_address wrote: »

Hi guys, is it possible to get a short piece of flexible flu? I'm fitting a cara insert at the weekend and have the casing in now but the front of my flu is still about 1.5 inches from the front of the flu opening on the stove. Rather than messing with angles is it possible to get a short flexible flu kit which would allow me to connect the steel flu adapter in the chimney to the short piece of four Inch flu coming up from the stove? Cheers mick

A short piece of 125mm flexi flue would do the job, check your local stove shops/fitters, someone may have a small bit left from a job, otherwise buy the minimum length. Alternatively you may find a flue pipe offset reducer with the suitable dimensions.
See installation types 2 and 3 here

Galego

Hi all,
Looking to purchase a stove here. My question now is:

Do people prefer an insert stove WITH or WITHOUT boiler? What works better in terms of energy efficiency/cost?

crock!

Galego wrote: »

Hi all,
Looking to purchase a stove here. My question now is:

Do people prefer an insert stove WITH or WITHOUT boiler? What works better in terms of energy efficiency/cost?

The two are very different.
One heats a room and the other heats a whole house if small or part of a house.back boiler heats dhw.

bhamsteve

k123456 wrote: »

Imagine you have a boiler stove , which heats room and say 12 rads

If you turn off 6 of the rads, (for rooms not used for example) does the stove go thru less wood

And with a boiler stove, is there a system where you can light the boiler stove, and choose to heat room thru stove only, ie no hot water to rads anywhere in house

Thanks

If you turn off 6 of the rads you can either turn down the air intake or build a smaller fire, both of which will reduce your fuel usage.

Assuming you have rads in the room with the stove you run stove at a low heat while supplying only the DHW and rads in the room you are heating.
Eg, 10 kw stove, running at 50% of full output might give 2kw to the room and 3KW to the water, enough to heat up the hot water tank and then a radiator or two. You need to allow the hot water to travel to the water tank or some radiators or it will over-heat.
If you are thinking of buying a stove your local stove shop would be able to answer your queries as to a suitable stove. A heating engineer or good plumber would help you design a system to suit your needs.

paul71

crock! wrote: »

The two are very different.
One heats a room and the other heats a whole house if small or part of a house.back boiler heats dhw.

If you vent the hot air directly from a stove to the other rooms of the house a decent sized stove will heat a whole house. This is common on the continent where backboilers are almost unknown and is more efficient as water boilers cool the firebox resulting in a less efficient burn.

Galego

paul71 wrote: »

If you vent the hot air directly from a stove to the other rooms of the house a decent sized stove will heat a whole house. This is common on the continent where backboilers are almost unknown and is more efficient as water boilers cool the firebox resulting in a less efficient burn.

Thanks for the advice.

I was just wondering if a backboiler was really worhty because some people seem to say that a decent sized stove is less work so less hassle.

Would a backboiler really worth extra work/money/hassle?

crock!

Galego wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

I was just wondering if a backboiler was really worhty because some people seem to say that a decent sized stove is less work so less hassle.

Would a backboiler really worth extra work/money/hassle?

I see a lot of back boilers in house's and most people love them.they can be expensive to fit and a lot of hassle depending where your tank is.as for a dry stove with heat recovery are great but I have yet to see one that heats a house.ive seen them heat a few rooms and worked really well.maybe you could look into a dry stove and have your house zoned for your boiler if not done already

lollymob

Hi all,
I'm looking for a double sided inset stove with external air supply to heat large open plan kitchen/dining/living room (split level)
I need to make a decision fairly soon and I am willing to travel to visit showrooms (within reason), I'm based in the midlands.
What are the makes I should be looking for/avoiding. I would welcome any recommendations anyone has to make.
Many thanks,
Lollymob

paul71

Galego wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

I was just wondering if a backboiler was really worhty because some people seem to say that a decent sized stove is less work so less hassle.

Would a backboiler really worth extra work/money/hassle?

I will find out next week if it works. My brother-in-law installs these kind of systems in The Czech Republic (where they get real winters) and he is driving over here with a 26kw wood burning stove to install in my parents house. The house is 3,500 sq/ft and we will be using vents directly in the other ground floor rooms and via the floor space to upstairs rooms. The venting system uses tubes similar to the airconditioning ducts you see in office buildings.

micks_address

hi guys, we fitted our stanley cara over the weekend. Fitting was tricky as we were dealing with a non standard fire opening. The chimney was back a couple of inches more than the straight flu up out of the cara. I didnt realise that there is a mark 2 cara which has the flu outlet slightly tilted back.. that would have solved all our problems! Still i cant complain - we got it in, and connected securely using the flu adapter and a 15 degree angle i picked up friday in a fireplace shop in dublin. Great bunch of lads, really helpful with advice on fitting!

So at about 7pm on saturday evening we fired her up, just a small fire to start with. Couple of observations already.. Its very easy to light, there is a great draft up the chimney. Saturday we bured two briquettes, two turf and a small wood log over a 3 hour period and the house was grand and cosy. I know its not the depths of winter but you could defintely get the heat from it. There was a slight smell from it, but my dad reckoned it was probably the fire cement curing. We have a carbon monoxide detector so not worried on that front and there is no smoke in the room. Is there an easy way to check if you have a 100% seal around the flu? The only but i'd be half concerned about is the bit sticking up out of the stove, which is bolted up, we filed that with fire cement so it should be good enough. When you open the spin vent on the front of the stove when its lit you can really hear the air being pulled up the chimney.

Anyway so far so good. No complaints. I guess we wont be lighting it to much over the summer, but its nice to have it fitted all the same and ready to go for the winter.

Can anyone recommend the best way to clean the chimney now? Im thinking of picking up a secondhand set of rods so i could do it myself, but i'm wonding if i can just get a 5" brush up through the cara, - will that be sufficient to clean the 8" flu or would i be better getting someone to clean it from the top down and take the soot out down through the cara?

Thanks,
Mick

Robbie.G

micks_address wrote: »

hi guys, we fitted our stanley cara over the weekend. Fitting was tricky as we were dealing with a non standard fire opening. The chimney was back a couple of inches more than the straight flu up out of the cara. I didnt realise that there is a mark 2 cara which has the flu outlet slightly tilted back.. that would have solved all our problems! Still i cant complain - we got it in, and connected securely using the flu adapter and a 15 degree angle i picked up friday in a fireplace shop in dublin. Great bunch of lads, really helpful with advice on fitting!

So at about 7pm on saturday evening we fired her up, just a small fire to start with. Couple of observations already.. Its very easy to light, there is a great draft up the chimney. Saturday we bured two briquettes, two turf and a small wood log over a 3 hour period and the house was grand and cosy. I know its not the depths of winter but you could defintely get the heat from it. There was a slight smell from it, but my dad reckoned it was probably the fire cement curing. We have a carbon monoxide detector so not worried on that front and there is no smoke in the room. Is there an easy way to check if you have a 100% seal around the flu? The only but i'd be half concerned about is the bit sticking up out of the stove, which is bolted up, we filed that with fire cement so it should be good enough. When you open the spin vent on the front of the stove when its lit you can really hear the air being pulled up the chimney.

Anyway so far so good. No complaints. I guess we wont be lighting it to much over the summer, but its nice to have it fitted all the same and ready to go for the winter.

Can anyone recommend the best way to clean the chimney now? Im thinking of picking up a secondhand set of rods so i could do it myself, but i'm wonding if i can just get a 5" brush up through the cara, - will that be sufficient to clean the 8" flu or would i be better getting someone to clean it from the top down and take the soot out down through the cara?

Thanks,
Mick

To test the flue for smoke leakage you need a smoke pellet set if off in the fire box with both dampers closed the smoke should fill the stove and then check for any leak leave for a few mins then open bottom damper and the smoke will leave stove.
To clen the chimney you need to brush from the top down

micks_address

thanks - where do you get a smoke pellet?

Robbie.G wrote: »

To test the flue for smoke leakage you need a smoke pellet set if off in the fire box with both dampers closed the smoke should fill the stove and then check for any leak leave for a few mins then open bottom damper and the smoke will leave stove.
To clen the chimney you need to brush from the top down

Rushy Fields

Hi just wondering if anyone knows anything about a new supplier on the Irish market. Its a polish company. The company is KRATKI. Anyone have any experience with their products or recommend an alternative?

Robbie.G

micks_address wrote: »

thanks - where do you get a smoke pellet?

They're available in any plumbing/heating merchants you buy a box cost about €10 max

micks_address

i guess its worth doing for peace of mind.. b & q do them? i have to return something there this evening..

Robbie.G wrote: »

They're available in any plumbing/heating merchants you buy a box cost about €10 max

jamescc

hi guys i got a Wainsford "Durham inset boiler " i was wondering do you have to put insulation in the opening of fire.
has anyone heard anything of these stoves.
i got it new for E1,100. i got a quote for dual system for E1,300 going ahead with it next month.

thanks for you help

ubs69

Hi ,anyone know of a supplier in Dublin for the flexi liner ? Thanks

micks_address

Hi folks, I got the smoke pellets in b and q last night. Couldn't find them so I asked at customer service to be told they didn't stock them so I asked them to check their stock system and low and behold they did have them. Anyhow did the test at home and everything perfect not a leak in sight. Only slight concern now is that the top of the stove is only about 250 mm from the bottom of our wooden surround. From the few fires we lit thus gets hot and uses to get very hot to with the open fire. Is there anything can be done to protect the wood from overheating?

Robbie.G

micks_address wrote: »

Hi folks, I got the smoke pellets in b and q last night. Couldn't find them so I asked at customer service to be told they didn't stock them so I asked them to check their stock system and low and behold they did have them. Anyhow did the test at home and everything perfect not a leak in sight. Only slight concern now is that the top of the stove is only about 250 mm from the bottom of our wooden surround. From the few fires we lit thus gets hot and uses to get very hot to with the open fire. Is there anything can be done to protect the wood from overheating?

Stanley state that there should be 500mm from combustibles on the top and 300mm on the sides.
Unfortunately as far as I know there isn't a heat shield or deflector for the cara.
The only thing is to replace the surround with something that's non combustible.

micks_address

would it be possible to attach some sort of heatshield to the bottom of the fire surround?

Robbie.G wrote: »

Stanley state that there should be 500mm from combustibles on the top and 300mm on the sides.
Unfortunately as far as I know there isn't a heat shield or deflector for the cara.
The only thing is to replace the surround with something that's non combustible.

micks_address

i've seen a few instances where people have used polished copper to create a heat shield between a stove and a wooden surround, we are fine to the left/right - anyone done anything like that before?

micks_address wrote: »

would it be possible to attach some sort of heatshield to the bottom of the fire surround?

blue100

micks_address wrote: »

Can anyone recommend the best way to clean the chimney now? Im thinking of picking up a secondhand set of rods so i could do it myself, but i'm wonding if i can just get a 5" brush up through the cara, - will that be sufficient to clean the 8" flu or would i be better getting someone to clean it from the top down and take the soot out down through the cara?

Thanks,
Mick

My understanding is that you have to have special brushes so that you don't damage the flue. We got a Stanley Cara also and find it excellent. Enjoy!