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

Ambersky

Just wanted to say thanks to those who have contributed so much information about stoves in this thread. This is one of the reasons I like boards because when it comes to something like buying a stove I wouldnt know where to start looking for information on good ones or potential problems to look out for.
Also there seems to be a thing on the internet that people who contribute what often is excellent information with loads of experience and training behind them have an equal voice with someone who knows nothing really about the issue but sounds smart. Id like to say thank you for persisting to some of the posters here this thread and that many of us reading threads like this are well able read between the lines and can tell the difference between someone chancing their arm and the voice of experience.
I think Ive taken some good advice from this thread and I now have a Clearview insert wood burning stove in my home since a few weeks before Christmas. I have to say the stove is a pleasure to own, it lives up to the name clearview as it still hasnt needed to have glass cleaned, its so efficient cosy and warm. So thanks and a special thanks to stove fan I found his contributions very interesting.

guinness queen

You are welcome, I must say I feel the same I have gotten some great advice and learned a lot from this board, Its always interesting to hear peoples ideas about certain models of stove, and the instillation advice is spot on.
Like yourself I should like also to than everyone who comments and gives advice . GQ

mummy2b

Hi,

Apologies if there had been a similar list already. I have read a lot of the posts bit not all. We have a sitting room and dining room backing onto each other. I am looking at breaking through the back of the fireplace in the sitting room and put in a double sided stove. Originally I was looking at a boru stove (we need a 15kw stove - not connected to boiler). I went to a shop yesterday and was told that as it was made in China they would not recommend? They have recommend a yeoman however it works out very expensive. Does anyone have any experience of what stoves are good/not so good.

I appreciate any advice I can get:)

guinness queen

I could not be 100 per cent sure but I think they are made near Cashel Co. Tipp, they were when they started out, perhaps they changed their manufacturing venue.
U can always give them a call, that said other famous irish stoves companies claim their stoves are made here in Ireland and that is just not so, perhaps assembled but not made.

PixelTrawler

Anyone have any experience of the Bodart&Gonay Infire 603?
Seems to be a pretty high end model (even at the baby of the range). We've only started looking into pricing and models.

The store we were at have it for around 2500 plus install and work we want doing on the fireplace is bringing it closer to 3500.

Then, ive found a store outside dublin that have a range of insert stoves for say 800-1200 although i dont know the install costs.

Is the B&G very end / overkill / too much money, or are they a solid product worth putting the money into.

Bear in mind weve bought a house and have a lot of stuff to get so the budget is important. We dont want to end up with a poor product either though.

Sanchez83

whowantstwoknow wrote: »

Visited a number of shops last weekend,

One (and only one) mentioned the UK HETAS regulation which have come into force in Ireland, is that correct? As a consumer not sure what that actually means...

Thanks

W.

To the best of my knowledge Heatas regulations have not been introduced here in Ireland.Most stove companies will advise people to use them though.
Heatas are a private company who the UK authorities have decided are responsible for heating regulations in the UK.
Heatas are planning on setting up in Ireland but that does not mean that the Irish government will follow the Brits in outsourcing the regulation to them.

guinness queen

Pixel Trawler, I have never heard that Brand and i spent 2 years looking at stoves. I finally settled for a Nestor Martin, which cost around 1700 H23. I hated it at first but now I really do love it. It takes some getting used to , firebox technology, its very advanced. Solid Fuel, I use anthracite which is mined locally, about 5 small shovels would keep it in all day. If the wood is seasoned for 2 years or a little less then it is also awsome. The instructions have to be followed to the letter in order to build up charcoal and then add the wood gradually. The draughts are so fine tuned, and that also takes time.
I was going to get it out after a few months but now am delighted.
I purchased it from a store in Tralee and it was used for about 2 years as a demo, got it for half price, so that might be an option for you.

jacksog

I'm in the market for a (non-boiler) stove for the first time. When researching the necessary kW required, the various online calculators I've found yield very different computations - what is the generally accepted calculation to convert volume of space to kW required?

Related, I am very keen on the Chesney range - but all I have to go on currently is the WhatStove website which gives pretty lousy reviews for Chesney which is a concern (particularly as am looking at a cream stove which seems to get bad reviews) although admitedly a very small sample. Does anyone have a balanced view on the Chesney range?

mister gullible

I have a Jotul No.3 which I installed many years ago. To fit the flue you break out a cast blank at the top or back of the stove. I broke out the back and as far as I can remember a throat piece bolts into place to take the flue. I want to change flue to the top and need to know can I buy a bolt in blanking plate for the back or do I have to make one?
Thanks.

Boru Stoves: Richard

Hi mummy2b,

Glad you were looking at a Boru Stove. I would like to confirm that Boru Stoves are NOT made in China. Please see the link to our YouTube video which contains information on how are stoves are made from start to finish in Thurles, Tipperary, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cODp0nkVx1I

Please feel free to call in at anytime as we have a showroom here and you will be given a tour of the factory.

Kind regards,

BoruStoves

bottlebrush

HI Hope somebody can give me some advice. I have a Stanley Oisin solid fuel stove, output 6.5kw. I have it in my livingroom which is a small enough room and have never found it overly warm, however, in the past 2/3 weeks the heat output seems considerably lower. I put a thermometer in the room last evening and after 2/3 hours being lit, the temperature was only 18 degrees and I was cold sitting on a couch about 8 feet away from the stove. I burn mainly briquettes but last night I thre in some timber also.

The stove was installed 3 years ago and it's never been so hot that I had to open the door of the room. In fact a couple of people visiting have mentioned that the room should be warmer than it is. Can anyone advise as to what might be wrong in this case. Many thanks.

RubyGirl

bottlebrush wrote: »

HI Hope somebody can give me some advice. I have a Stanley Oisin solid fuel stove, output 6.5kw. I have it in my livingroom which is a small enough room and have never found it overly warm, however, in the past 2/3 weeks the heat output seems considerably lower. I put a thermometer in the room last evening and after 2/3 hours being lit, the temperature was only 18 degrees and I was cold sitting on a couch about 8 feet away from the stove. I burn mainly briquettes but last night I thre in some timber also.

The stove was installed 3 years ago and it's never been so hot that I had to open the door of the room. In fact a couple of people visiting have mentioned that the room should be warmer than it is. Can anyone advise as to what might be wrong in this case. Many thanks.

Is the seal around the door good, maybe it needs changing and also the seal leading from the flu up the chimney, our clay around this often breaks and we need to put new stuff on as air will get in and burn quicker.

bottlebrush

RubyGirl wrote: »

Is the seal around the door good, maybe it needs changing and also the seal leading from the flu up the chimney, our clay around this often breaks and we need to put new stuff on as air will get in and burn quicker.

Many thanks rubygirl. I think you might be right. Briquettes burning way too quickly compared to what they used to. Reckon air getting in somewhere. Thanks again.

joykn

Hi, I am currently looking into getting a boiler stove this year for my bungalow house. We are looking at a 30kw stove at the moment to heat 17 rads altogether. Are there anyone out there had installed such capacity? I see that there are different kinds of output on rooms and water so I wonder is it the higher the output to rooms the better or which way is it? Any recommendation on 30kw stove? Thanks

therealmccoy

In terms of a boiler stove to heat all of the rads you have, possibly the best would be the Inis Mór 30kw. It is designed to heat 18 rads (4ft single panel) but from experience can heat a few more too).
It gives around 10kw to the room which is a fair bit so you might want to see how that works out.

http://inisstoves.ie/index.php/stoves/boiler-stoves/inis-mor

Other options include:

Boru Carraig Mór 30kw
Henley Druid 30kw

joykn

When I do my research Boru and Henley came out most of the time and they have different output to room. As I am putting the stove on my living room with is an open plan link together with my kitchen I might need a higher output into room. Sorry for my ignorance I am new to this, when they said room does it means to the room itself where the stove is located? And water is to heat the water or for the water to other rads?

Thanks

Sanchez83

Hi Joykn,

The heat to the room is the room it is in.Its quiet tough to heat an open plan as to get the heat throughout the openplan you would be melting sitting anywhere near the stove.
As for heat to the water,that includes your radiators and hotwater tank.

Jack180570

joykn wrote: »

When I do my research Boru and Henley came out most of the time and they have different output to room. As I am putting the stove on my living room with is an open plan link together with my kitchen I might need a higher output into room. Sorry for my ignorance I am new to this, when they said room does it means to the room itself where the stove is located? And water is to heat the water or for the water to other rads?

Thanks

Hi Joykn,
I have a boru 20kw installed in an old poorly insulated house. We burn firewood only and the stove is multifuel so has a grate. The boiler is a wraparound boiler (back, top and two sides). Its working now for two months and this is my experience of it. I think it is 16kw to the water and 4kw to the room.

For the first few weeks my experience was - plenty of hot water and hot rads and it heated the house very well, my only difficulty was that I found that firebox of the stove tended to get a bit dirty/sooty. This was disappointing as in the other house we have a Boru i500 insert stove which is very clean and a total pleasure to operate.

After much study and observation and testing I found that the 'problem' with my Carrig Mor boiler stove was as that because it is a boiler stove it is surrounded with a water jacket which at best will be around 80degC which means that the firebox temps in my boiler stove is too low for proper combustion of firewood. I also found that the firebox was not sufficiently 'tall' so that a good wood fire could get going. Finally, it had a grate which when burning only firewood, it was better without.

What I did then to 'remedy' the situation is that I removed the grate which added around 3-4 inches to the 'height' of the stove. Then I lined the base with thin firebricks from my local hardware (€3.50ea) and I also put a row of thin firebricks on edge covering the bottom 4 inches of the boiler. This has had the effect of reducing the output to the boiler to around 11-12kw and increasing the output to the room to 8-9kw. Now I have a far hotter firebox (300-400dC) and consequently a far cleaner burn with the firewood.

Galego

This question has possibly been asked here few times before but.....I really need a bit of advice on the below because I am very indecisive about which way to go.

My options are:

1- Remove existing fireplace and fit a new fireplace + an insert stove. I have set my eyes on the Henley achill 6.6kw
2- Remove existing fireplace, create a bit of an alcove and install a freestanding stove (6 or 8kw). The freestanding stove would sit half inside the alcove and half out.

My preference: option 1.
My doubts: people seem to say that freestanding stoves give better heat, are more efficient, etc. Seems like most of the people prefer them over inserts.

I'd like to hear your advise and which option you'd go for if you were in my shoes.

therealmccoy

Hi Galego,

A lot will depend on the opening that you have, for example, the Henley Achill needs 16" in width and 22" in height to fit.
If you have that then there should be no issues.

For option 2, you might poossibly have a bit of work to do, reason being you need ideally 6"s all around the stove to allow the heat to come out, so depending on the stove, and the construction of your chimney you may need to do work (re-fit the lentil) to give you the space you need.

There are no difference between inset and free standing stoves in terms of heat if they are matched correctly. (a 6kw inset and a 6kw FS) Both give the same heat, but in a different way. FS gives heat like a radiator, whereas the Inset works off of convection. Efficiency is much-of-a-muchness but from experience the inset stoves have a slightly (1 or 2%) higher efficiency than FS stoves. However, that efficiency is all dependant on the fuel you burn. (Kiln Dried Ash will have a higher heat efficiency than Turf/Briquettes).

Hope that helps a bit. Feel free to send a PM/reply if you have any specific queries.

Arsenium

Hi,

Quick question. We recently had a Hercules 30b stove fitted and are extremely happy with it. The heat to the water, the room and the radiators is terrific. However, it has a "tertiary air system" on the side of it and I am unsure exactly what it is for. The specs say that is is an "afterburner" which burns or generates heat from the gases / smoke that would normally just go up the chimney. I am just wondering if that is the case then why would I not have it open all the time? Does it impact the speed at which the fuel burns?

Thanks a lot,

farrela

Question. I bought a stove for sitting room. The chimney is in the middle of the house. When the plumber went to install the flexi flue (6") he said the top chimney pots were 8" but the ones further down we're only 5" so he couldn't insert the flue therefore no stove. Is there any solution to this problem as I now have flue and stove sitting idle. Thanks

Tzardine

Hi guys,

We recently moved into a new house that has an Olymberyl Aidan stove installed.

Just wondering what are the right temps to be running at.

We currently have a reading of 250 - 310 at the top of the stove and the radiators are just below 50. Is this what we should be aiming for ?

Many thanks

JR6

Folks,
I got a inset stove fitted last friday. I had the mantlepiece removed, and a granite plate put in behind the stove. I also got the chimney fully lined with flexible flue liner and cowel on top.
All was going well until last night when I spotted water leaking from the legs of the mantlepiece! I dried it up and put down paper towels which soak up almost immediately. Water still seeping from legs this morning.

Could rain be getting in between flue liner and chimney pots and running down the whole way?


Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks.

Pappacharlie

Did you fill the space between the steel pipe and the flue. If not you will get an amazing amount of black water seeping out.

Corkman11

Hi all

Installing a dual aspect stove into a chimney breast. It's just fits in perfectly. Just wondering should I insultate around the stove to protect the concert block chimney breast ??

irishgeo

a couple of questions

1. Any one heard of or have a Dimplico sotve?

2.The oisin stove from stanley looks like its got a very small firebox? Anyone with care to pass an opinion.

gomamochi1

irishgeo wrote: »

a couple of questions

1. Any one heard of or have a Dimplico sotve?

2.The oisin stove from stanley looks like its got a very small firebox? Anyone with care to pass an opinion.

I presume you mean the Dimplex stoves? I fitted 2 of them in outlet kast house great wee burners! The 5 kW and the 8 kW free standing stoves. Great heat out of them and a pleasure to keep the gaff warm! Had them for 2 years without any hassle though made in China as a lot of the other brands are Made also so not sure what the best option is!

therealmccoy

irishgeo wrote: »

a couple of questions

1. Any one heard of or have a Dimplico sotve?

2.The oisin stove from stanley looks like its got a very small firebox? Anyone with care to pass an opinion.

Hi there,

Dimplex Stoves are grand, more famous for Electric Heaters but have been manufacturing solid-fuel stoves for a while now. They stand over the product very well, offering a 10-year warranty (most others is a 5yr). Quality wise they are middle of the road, they wont let you down but there are better ones out there budget permitting. They are very reasonably priced. €400 for the 5kw and €550 for the 8kw.

The Stanley Oisin is a good stove, but the firebox is quite small in it. If you are cutting your own fuel you have to make sure its cut small (8" blocks). The Oisin is the same design as the Henley Aran, Mulberry Joyce and the Olymberyl Gabriel and these generally work out a bit cheaper.

Others worth considering in this heat output range are:
- Inis Airc 6kw. (Fantastically Irish built, but on the expensive side)
- Henley Druid 8kw. (Steel made, nice sized box. Reasonably priced)
- Villager Athlone 3 7kw. (Small and robust, but well built.

Hope this helps.

barryleonard79

Hi all great thread I am looking for a new stove for my house. The room is approx 50 m2 so reckon i need something in the 3.5 - 5kw range. Would like to get up to 10 rads off it as well so about 13 kw or so to the boiler. I am hearing good things about Clearview & Charnwood. Could anyone recommend any?I hear there is better value buying in the north but am reluctant unless they install as well. Thanks