Bricodepot insert woodburners

[smiley]

Bricodepot Bricoman and others have an economy range of woodburners which offer a considerable saving on the 'big name' makes.

Does anyone have any experience of a budget insert and would they recommend one?

How reliable are the rated output figures? I do wonder whether these are actual measured outputs or simply a formula based on the parameters of the burner.

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="smiley"]Bricodepot Bricoman and others have an economy range of woodburners which offer a considerable saving on the 'big name' makes.

Does anyone have any experience of a budget insert and would they recommend one?

How reliable are the rated output figures? I do wonder whether these are actual measured outputs or simply a formula based on the parameters of the burner.[/quote]

Guesstimates at best I would suggest.

I suppose you could say that an insert of these dimentions, under the best possible conditions, burning seasoned hornbeam, might possibly produce this amount of heat.  However - in reality - it means about as much as the stated mpg of a car doing a steady 56mph on a rolling road. In other words, it probably bears little relationship to the real world.

As to whether the cheap stoves represent good value for money...

I have an expensive cast stove which is over 25 years old, and the only problems we have had with it in that time have been cracked glasses, replacement rope seals, and a twist thumb-screw which held the door closed eventually rusted tight and then sheared off. We also have a cheap Italian stove (roughly 1/3rd the price) of roughly the same dimentions made of 1/4" plate. Only 5 or 6 years old but so far no problems. Heats up quicker than the cast, but shows no sign of bowing, cracking or deteriorating wealds which I though might be the case, so - from my perspective - there seems little point in paying over the odds.

I should point out these are both free-standing stoves rather than inserts (can't see the point in them myself: I like the stove to radiate heat from 5 sides rather than 1), maybe others have different experiences.

p

[Pierre ZFP]

A work colleague recently got one of these.  He made a complete pig's ear of installing it and I have to say it looks terrible, not the woodburner itself but the surround.  If he'd just taken more care and perhaps a spirit level ......

Ah well, he's happy and I have to say it burns and heats well, as for long term reliability I can't say but it looks well made and its cast iron not plate.

A point to note is that if the outlet from the stove is large (say 180mm) then the chimney tubing is very expensive even if you use reducers. The tubing and bends for my colleague's stove cost almost as much as the stove itself

[Théière]

The flue tubing is usually expensive if done properly, people just forget about the bit they can't see and only focus on the bit they can. It's the same with swimming pools.

[clarksinfrance]

I have a BD insert (which is not built in), which has been in place and used for over 7 years, I replace the door rope every year, as well as sweep the flue every couple of months, I tinkered with it when new, to reduce the amount of air entering in round the door, glass and joints. The reason I haven't "built it in" is so that, with reflective foil insulation behind and to the sides, it allows much more heat into the room. In fact the €150 fire, rated at 11kW is our only heating in a 360m3 longere, granted, every wall, floor and ceiling is well insulated, but glad we made the effort, and spent the money on insulation, as our wood used each year is about €100 only. Many say this isn't possible, but I and others know it is.

A photo to show the installation: http://www.gite-maintenance.co.uk/Portals/63/IMAGES/HOUSE/Lounge.jpg

[smiley]

Thanks for all your advice and particularly the photo in the last posting. We are considering replacing a very ancient and inefficient insert. There must be something wrong because the insert in the other part of the house is so effective we sometimes have to open the window to cool down!