Wood Burning stoves

[Shayman]

Hi, I am planning to install a wood burning stove just for additional heating in what is currently a large open fireplace with straight chimney flue in a room approx 4m x 5m. I have read as many threads as I can find on this topic and its obviously a complex area. Does anyone have any companies they could recommend in the Normany Calvados region or experiences they could pass on to me ? One point I'm unsure about is any impacts on house insurance, is there a need for a certification from the installer ? Do I need to inform my insurer ? Also I gather well seasoned oak may be the best fuel source, any info on costs would be helpful. In the UK I would pay about £80-£100 for a load delivered on a flat bed transit size van but that would be mixed loppings. Regards,

[Ford Anglia]

Ours was exported from the UK on a large trailer. Mistake. If I had my time again, I'd buy French, save money and save aggro.

I won't name ours, but suffice to say, every time you open the doors to restoke it, embers, large and small, fall out all over. Our floor is pocked with burns. You also need THICK leather gloves to open the doors once it's going.

My mate has one that has a top hatch for stoking, FAR better. He also has a tool to lift the hatch, no gloves needed.

Last year, a local farmer sold us a mixed load of chestnut and oak, well seasoned, for €52 for 2 cu m. Seemed a good deal. Haute Vienne, 87.

[Monika]

I am so pleased that another discussion on woodburners has started. This topic is very dear to my heart and I have done lots of research into it.

I agree with Ford Anglia I would buy French too. I won't name ours either but we had so much tar coming out of the flue joints (on the outside!!) because the installer used a French Flue (smaller than the English) on an English Stove, so somehow he had to turn the flue upside down for it to fit (I am still in discussion with him and we have not resolved the problem yet) I also have to admit that to start with we burned the wrong wood and now only burn well seasoned hardwood.

Regards insurance: I have gone over our insurance and can't find anything about installation of woodburners and their cleaning or also if it needs to be installed by a registered chauffagiste?

Can anybody install a woodburner? Or if you don't have the relevant guarantees of installation by an expert does this make any insurance claim difficult or impossible?

I am going to ask the farmer down the lane, if he could sell some wood to us. What is the translation for well seasoned hardwood? Somebody on this Forum once told of a "secret Code" the farmers have: they display something at the roadside to tell you that they are selling wood. But I can't remember exactly what?

[f1steveuk]

Best thing we ever did getting one. We have to keep a certificate once a year to say it's been swept, but the do it yourself "cleaning logs" come with a certificate that is apperently acceptable. We have cold winters, but the heat from the log urner travels through the house, and we use no other heating, and on boxing day, it got so warm, we had to open windows!

The most useful thing I got was when looking around for which one we wanted, I picked up a brochure, and it the back is a list of all the woods you can use, and which burns best, slowest, creates the most heat, and even which one smells best!! Oak is the best general wood to burn, but Hornbeam, you could melt stone with it!

[Robina]

...but we had so much tar coming out of the flue joints (on the outside!!) ...

We have a lot of tar coming out of the outside of our flue joints as well.  What is worse is that the flue is not straight but has a right angle bend to meet up with the chimney.  (It is a free standing stove that had to be positioned a couple of feet away from under the chimney to make room for a staircase.) The problem is that when we damp the fire down to keep it in overnight tar falls from the flue joints and lands on the top of the stove overnight.  When we build it up again in the morning the tar burns and makes a terrible choking smell.  Also, as it boils on the top of the stove it splatters all over teh wall behind. 

The installer said it was due to condensation causing the tar to run down the flue and that the joints could not be sealed as they had to expand with the heat.  He said the solution was to have the flue lined as the tar was from the old chimney but I can't see how that would work - surely the tar is in the wood that is burning at the time.

Any suggestions?

Robina

[Gemini_man]

excessive tar is due to burning green wood ie. not seasoned - logs that have been stored three years are considered to be ready for burning and produce less tar and a lot more heat. the problem is how to obtain seasoned logs, usually what is sold has been cut the same year so shouldn't be used for a couple of years if possible.

[P]

Following a posting that I placed here due to the door of our burner going black the reply was that there are burners that pass air across the inside of the door and keep it clear - go for one of these if you want to see the fire.

Paul

[Suandpete]

    It's very easy to clean the inside of the door if it gets brown/black - I do it each morning and it only takes a couple of minutes.  Get a piece of damp kitchen roll or an old damp rag, dip it in the ash from the fire and rub across the glass, then polish up with a clean dry piece of kitchen roll or rag - easy peasy, no need to use chemicals and best of all you can see the fire!

[Andyphilpott]

What a good idea Suandpete! I will try that next winter as at present I use the spray on cleaner (which is a fraction of the price in France that it is in the UK)

I have a woodburner in my house in France which is fairly unsophisticated. It is only a back up for our oil fired central heating but it makes a huge difference to the oil consumption. I buy in well seasoned timber - usually oak or chestnut which are plentiful in the Var. I store them in my cellar to keep them dry and do not get much black on the fire glass when I burn them. I will need a fresh supply this year and will let you know what I pay - a group of us usually get together to buy in bulk. My French neighbours are permanent residents so use quite a lot but my share of the supply will last a couple of years easily.

I always had just an open fire in the UK, but came across Barbas stoves - made in Holland - which I had installed last winter. These are much more sophisticated and as well as the 'air flow' system to keep the glass clear (only succesful if you have really dry wood) it has a couple of fans at the base which draw in cool air into the chamber above the stove once it reaches a certain temperature, and blows the heated air out into the room. Highly effecient. I only empty the ash can once a week and have it on most evenings in the winter.

I use all sorts of wood on this fire - some are better than others but I just take whatever I can get! I now use my greenhouse for storing timber so it dries out more quickly than just leaving it outside. I can manage without greenhouse tomatoes!

Andy

[Ford Anglia]

Another method of cleaning fire-glass is white vinegar. It fetches off the brown/black deposits and no chance of scratching the glass. I use paper towels soaked, then a dry one to polish it.

We do have one of those fires that passes air down over the glass, it's called "Airwash" on ours. But if you have that system "on" it burns too fast sometimes. Switching it off leads to slower burns, but deposits.

 

[Monika]

...but we had so much tar coming out of the flue joints (on the outside!!)

Our installer is going to come back and look at the problem. After doing a lot of research and talking to lots of people, I think our flue is upside down and needs to be turned around, i.e. the female sockets pointing upwards. I hope this will do the trick!

[Marcelliere]

Going back to part of Shayman's original post ....

Has anyone had experience of the following companies in the Villedieu area (for buying the burner/insert and installation etc)?

Gitem (Villedieu)

Cheminee du Bocage (Coulouvray)

Rene Brisach (Villedieu)

Regards,

[Dave&Olive]

hi

 ok try this guy  http://www.woodburner-stoves.com/

 dave

[Robina]

I'm glad you said that Monika- the same thought had occurred to me but I just assumed the installer knew best as to which way up the sockets should go!  I will get him back when we're there later this  month and let you know.

Robina

[clarksinfrance]

Some useful info here, with regards to wood.

http://tinyurl.com/yvwu9r