A chap is coming around tonight to measure up and give us a quote for a small woodburner.
Even though most of the neighbours have them, we've just found out we're in a smokeless zone. So any recommendations please.

We've had a look at a 'clearview' multi fuel, but they are a little more than we wanted to pay.

must be multi fuel as wood is not smokeless take your pick they should all burn both both bot you need vents under for smokeless coal.

No you can get wood burners certified for smokeless zones. I don't have any experience of them though.

I can highly reccomend charnwood stoves. They are UK based if that's a pull and really well designed and made. With stoves you get what you pay for. Remember its going to be a focal point you don't want to spend your evenings gazing at a rubbish stove 🙂

Portway are worth a look, we're in asmokeless zone and they are approved, had it since Jan and has been quite good. Made up the road in Stoke on Trent as well.

donald speaks the truth.

Have a look at Hwam woodburners.

morsø

Morso 04 here, compared to friends stoves its easier to control the burn, and it gets bloody hot! Down side is it takes about 1 hr to heat up. A bed of coal and about 1 log every hour will keep it going all night. Think we paid about £700 for the stove, compared to some expensive, but its easier to use, much more efficient and looks good

Can any of you give me an idea of costs?

I've been quoted around £1,000 to line the chimney.
Around £1,000 for the building work and anything up to £1,000 for something like a 'clearview stove'. We'll be looking around for other quotes.

Thanks for all the replies

2 years ago, paid £2400 for chimney liner, pot, witness plate, hearth, all fittings, fitting of stove….. oh and the very lovely, very smokeless, Euroheat Harmony 13 stove.

By coincidence, had the line swept yesterday for the first time in those 2 years. Bloke said leave it a bit longer next time as there was very little for him to do. Result! 8)

and it better be smokeless! Turns out 1gm of soot is equivalent to about 1 tonne of CO2 🙁

What sort of liner Bunnyhop? If you are thinking about staying at the property long-term consider a concrete liner – more expensive, potentially messier (dependant on chimney and house design) but MUCH longer lasting. If they fit a cheap metal liner they can disintegrate in a few years due to the heat the stove puts out.

We have a Dunsley Highlander 5 multi fuel (not Defra approved for smokeless), and today work has started on installing a Charnwood Cove in the other room (also not approved for smokeless), but I think both companies make Defra approved versions.
We are happy with the Dunsley, but didn't want to have the same stove in both rooms. We did look at the Morso Squirrel, but it would have looked too small in position. (The Charnwood is on some kind of stand)
Price for the Cove, including ripping out the existing fireplace, lining chimney, new hearth, installing the stove and some sort of sandblasting type treatment of the existing stonework is going to be nearly 3 grand (gulp)!
Defra approved woodburners get the approval by not having a fully closeable top vent, so you have less control and can't leave it overnight and expect it to still be going in the morning.

Jane, same as Bristol Biker, we've got a EuroHeat Harmony
We paid about £2k for the stove (just short of £1k!!), stainless liner, pot and installation…
edit – that was about 4 years ago.

Edit#2 – Just seen your £3k figure – what sort of building work are they talking about – been a while since we had stuff done on our place but £1 would seem steep – or is that including a fancy fireplace etc?
We used these guys – dunno how far they'll travel for an install job but they've a showroom full of all-sorts of stove options and are very helpful with advice etc, just down the road from us if you fancy a ride over?

Thanks chaps, food for thought there.

Euroheat here too, can't remember the model – one of the small ones though (made in Belgium). It is utterly fantastic!

Had a metal liner put in (though a top end one) simply as concrete would be a nightmare to install in an ancient house like mine!

Defra approved woodburners get the approval by not having a fully closeable top vent, so you have less control and can't leave it overnight and expect it to still be going in the morning.

Yeah, I was worried about that, but was keeping our's going for a week at a time over last winter without too much effort.

I work (well for the next few days at least) for a Fireplace/stove shop.

Our best sellers, and ones that I would recommend are either Morso or (Chesneys – we have had a few quality issues but mainly excellent), or the Euroheat Harmony if you have deep pockets (around about £2k for the 33 model). As said about, many stove now are Defra approved to burn wood in a smoke controlled zone.

Make sure you get a reputable fitter or shop to do the work – there are SO MANY cowboys around, even HETAS approved ones, if you fancy a bit of light reading, get your hands on Document J of the building regs. It would be advisable to check whether the installation work includes back-filling of the chimney with leca or vermiculite to further insulate the flue liner, and also if the liner is properly fixed at the top with a new pot fitted rather than just using a hanger to support the liner in an existing pot. These are signs of a good installer if they will be done.

Edited for spelling and grammer.

Turns out 1gm of soot is equivalent to about 1 tonne of CO2

Equivalent on what terms? Global warming effect?

Ours was about £2700 as far as I can remember for stove liner back fill, registration plate and fitting etc.

Having said that the stove was about a grand I think..

I got a Clearview Vision 500 off Ebay a couple of months ago. Looked a little grotty but after wirebrushing and spraying in Clearview 'charcoal' paint, new firebricks and seals it litterally looks like new.
Very very happy with it. Heard good things about the Morso's also.

Morso are always highly recommended. I had a look at a Handol 51 last weekend – very nicely made and smokeless zone approved. Cost is about £950.

Anyone got experience of Stockton stoves? The room is quite small so we're thinking the Stockton Stovax 3 would be ideal – it's the smallest stove I've found

we put a clearview into our living room, £2000 for stove chimney lining and flue pots etc, absoloutley fantastic can't recomend it enough. the stove was £1000, kit was £500 and £500 fitting. well worth it and much more effecient than the fireplace it replaced.

Anyone got experience of Stockton stoves?

Stovax is the manufacturer and Stockton is the range. The number denoting the size and therefore the model.

The 3 is tiny. Really hard to get a bit of wood in. Even the 4 is too small for all but the most demanding applications. The 5 is a good small stove… if it fits! Stovax are a massive company and make decent-enough stoves. Very acceptable!

Yeah, good point there. My brother has a stove that, although it is the right size for his room, simply won't fit most (pre-cut) logs in so he spends much of his time cutting them smaller still.

alexonabike – Member
The 3 is tiny. Really hard to get a bit of wood in. Even the 4 is too small for all but the most demanding applications. The 5 is a good small stove… if it fits! Stovax are a massive company and make decent-enough stoves. Very acceptable!

Cheers for that. The 5 was the one recommended, but as I said it's a small room – not got the exact measurements but somewhere around 16' * 12' * 9' – so the 3 (rated at 3.75kw) seems to be a good size. Don't want to be sweating when the fire's burning!

It can be hard to get the balance too – don't think you can get a big stove and run it slowly – they are at their most effective when running properly so a big stove really could have you sweating.

No worries,

We hardly ever sell a stove smaller than the 5, most rooms can get away with a 5kw stove fine. The major issue is the need to provide a permanent free-air supply for stoves over 5kw, in other words – a hole in the wall/floor. The Stockton 5 is rated at 4.9kw so gets around this rule nicely.

Why the need for a tiny stove? does it need to fit in an existing chamber?

Can anyone confirm what size stove for what size room is appropriate? I've heard that a 5Kwt stove is comparable to 2.5 standard radiators. We have a large-ish front room (about 7m x 4m and about 3.5 high) so it takes quite a bit of heating. We currently have a gas stove which is fairly ugly and needs replacing.
Cheers!

exilegeordie – that's about the size of our living room as well and the (nominal) 5kW from our Harmony 13 covers that easily – in fact keeps most of downstairs warm on all but the coldest days.

The size of stove depends on so many other factors than just room size.

Insulation, double glazing, draughts, curtains, how many doors, how many external walls, thickness of walls, quality of fuel used, personal warmth preference! To name just a few.

Thanks bristolbiker…now we just need to find one that we like the look of. I'm guessing dual fuel would be preferable for flexibility? (Sorry to go slightly off topic).

Multifuel should be thought of as 'either/or'.

To burn wood efficiently you need to burn it on a bed of ash with the combustion air coming from above, coal on the other hand, need an ash-free environment so air can get to the fuel from below. So if you want to burn wood you leave the ash in (only skimming the top layer out when it gets too full, but if your burning coal (and smokeless fuels) you need to clear out the ash daily.

We hardly ever sell a stove smaller than the 5, most rooms can get away with a 5kw stove fine. The major issue is the need to provide a permanent free-air supply for stoves over 5kw, in other words – a hole in the wall/floor. The Stockton 5 is rated at 4.9kw so gets around this rule nicely.

Why the need for a tiny stove? does it need to fit in an existing chamber?

Currently fitted with an old open fire – Baxi, I think. That's got a sunken ash box and a flue pipe into the sub-floor crawlspace. That'll be ripped out and replaced with a proper hearth and the new stove fitted into the resulting opening

We don't *NEED* a tiny fire, just don't want to go bigger than we really need for the space, especially as the bigger fires cost more

NBT, fair enough. It's good that you are coming at this from the opposite angle that most people do – big is not always better! On the whole, with a stove smaller than the Stockton 5 (which is smaller in the flesh than it looks in the catalogue), can be a pain to live with. Having to cut logs to be extra small which also means you will need to refuel it much more often. The Kw rating given by manufactures are produced under lab conditions burning optimum fuel. You are right to say it is bad to run a big stove slowly – this results in greater tar build up in the flue, not a good thing. However under normal use a '5kw' stove will be putting out anything from 2-5+ kw depending on fuel.

Dunsley Highlander here, not the smokeless zone model, which I think they also do. We're pleased with it. We needed to chose a stove to fit the hearth, there's a specified clearance to back, sides and above. The fitter added a vent from the underfloor space to come out beneath the stove. We took the multifuel option, ie expensive liner, but have only burned wood.

I got a Morso, the 4Kw one. Been going strong for a few years and the glass always stays clean.

If I move house, I'll buy the same one again.

Tick