It is important to have a stove that is the right size for the room it is going into. Too big can be just as bad as too small. It is often better to have a smaller stove working hard than to have a larger one that is just chugging away.
You can calculate the size stove needed using the link here: Stove Size Calculator
This will depend on the current construction of your chimney. We assess each job individually. We suggest lining the chimney to improve your stove efficiency. If you have a large brick chimney, it is often advisable to line it. This increases the draught, which in turn makes your stove work better and lowers the risk of tar and soot build up (which can cause chimney fires).
Absolutely! Burning the wrong fuel is not only bad for the environment but can damage your stove. You should only burn approved fuels. Wood should be dry, which means less than 20% moisture content. You can season your own wood for 2 years before burning, buy kiln dried wood or buy seasoned wood that has been certified "dry". Look for the Ready to Burn logo on the packaging.
From our experience, one stove heating a room for a year will consumes roughly 15 cubic meters of wood. Most merchants sell by the load, and of course that can vary.
One of the most critical factors in wood burning is the moisture content of the wood. This is where wood seasoning comes into play. Freshly cut wood will contain a moisture content of around 65-90%. This wood should never be used. Apart from producing very low outputs this wet wood will also generate large amounts of soot and tar, which can potentially lead to chimney fires (as these particles will coat your chimney and are combustible). For best results wood should have a moisture content of less than 20%. The process of removing the excess moisture is called seasoning. Seasoning is air drying the wood and can take up to two years. Wood should be stored in a well ventilated, (but covered), structure outdoors. You can buy kiln dried wood but this is not as environmentally friendly as air dried wood.
You can test wood by using a digital moisture meter. You can buy digital moisture meters from The Fire Place Chesham. These will give you a moisture content reading in % good enough for you to reject a load if it turns up wet.
Ask us about recommending a local wood supplier.
No. Wood burning stoves are a genuine renewable and very low carbon method of heating. Modern stoves also have low levels of emissions.
A key aspect here is the low carbon nature of wood burning, as the trees remove as much CO2 during their lives as they produce being burnt in a wood burning stove. A tree left to decompose in the forest will produce more CO than when it is burnt in an Ecodesign compliant stove or fireplace.
All wood combustion will give off some particles but a modern stove burning the right fuel has very low levels of emissions. A modern Ecodesign Ready stove will produce 90% less emissions than an open fire and 80% less emissions than an average 10 year old stove.
Yes but you will need to make sure your stove has been defra approved for burning in a smoke control area. Fortunately there is a growing supply of these from various manufacturers.
There are no proposals to ban wood burning stoves, despite what some media headlines may have portrayed. Wood burning stoves are included in Defras Clean Air Strategy published in 2019. The Major of London and Defra advise installing an Ecodesign ready stove and to use Ready to Burn wood fuel. You can be confident buying an Ecodesign Ready stove that you are buying the latest stove technology and an appliance that meets the government's emission requirements.
Wood is a great renewable energy resource, making it a sound environmental choice. There is enough home-grown wood to ensure it is sustainable. Wood is plentiful, especially from one of today's sustainable resources from managed or coppiced forests, and its price is stable unlike some of the other limited resources in the world such as gas and oil. Furthermore, new Ecodesign Ready stoves are more efficient than open fires or older stoves. They therefore require less wood to generate the same heat output.
If you need a stove over 5KW in output then it will be necessary to have a permanent vent in the building to assist with flue draught and to make sure the fire has enough oxygen to burn safely. Anything under 5KW can be installed without need for ventilation.
There is the option of having a stove with a back boiler. This can provide hot water or link into a central heating circuit to distribute the heat around the house. You must take care as there are safety implications. You can imagine the damage that an exploding back boiler could do. However a good plumber or heating engineer will install a safe and very effective system that will give you years of cheap heat.
Yes, you may notice lower temperatures from the stove, or that you need to use more wood. You don't get something for nothing.
Always burn dry wood, never fresh or wet wood. Wet wood will create slow combustion exacerbating tar and soot build up and creating noxious fumes.
Every time you use your stove burn it hot with ample air to heat up the chimney and crystallise the tars.
Build a well ventilated wood store. Buy your wood at the beginning of the summer and store it for the winter. Wood that has been drying for 2 years is ideal. Make sure you buy seasoned wood from a reliable woodperson.
You can buy electronic moisture meters from The Fire Place Chesham to assess the relative moisture in the wood. Some folk even weigh the wood before and after drying to compute the percentage moisture. Of course old scrap wood is ideal, it has a second life keeping you warm.
Regular chimney cleaning will maintain the performance of your woodburner stove, and ensure that you do not have a buildup of soot and tar. Where possible, look down from the top and up from the bottom of the chimney for creosote deposits. A depth that exceeds 1/8 inch should be cleaned. We recommend that every homeowner have their chimney inspected, and swept if necessary, when they move into a home before using the chimney. Annual inspection and cleaning (as necessary) should be undertaken to ensure safety, optimum effiency and to validate your insurance cover. It should not be difficult to access the chimney via the access plate and sweep the chimney with a stiff chimney brush.
If you can't do it yourself The Fire Place Chesham can provide a complete maintenance service for you.
Most wood stoves burn on the ash and should only need cleaning out when the build up of ash interferes with the burning.
We will advise you the best way to tune up your new woodburning stove. When firing a new stove gradually acclimatise the cast iron to the demands of the fire. Too much heat too quickly can harm your stove.
We are pretty sure we can, just ask!
We created this easy guide to lighting your new stove
