woodburner stoves/inserts.

[maude]

Has anyone experience re free standing woodburners against an  (elderly) insert which we find very dirty with the circulated air outlets.We are thinking of removing the insert and replacing with a free standing stove.  Not much point if there are no benefits,but we do find that the heat output seems to disappear upstairs from the high level air outlet.Just had to redecorate the stairwell-and not to be sneezed at due to height and  access .Finances certainly have to be considered.Have thought about a replacement insert with turbo air blowers to distribute the heat,but again not much point if it only distibutes muck.Any answers- very welcome.    Maude 

[alnmike]

It depends on how big your chimney opening is - if you have a good gap around the edge of a woodburning stove then there will be room for the heat to circulate and warm up the room. We've just installed a Jotul, and were advised that free standing was much more efficient than insert - we find it so!

[Dennisj]

Hi,

Picked up your comments from the search facility, do you know if the Jotul is available with a back boiler as i would like to use it as a circulator for the hot water and to run a couple of towel rails.

Have been looking at the Villager but it costs approx £1,100.00 and would love to spend less but do want reliability and performance, would be grateful for any information you can provide including suppliers.

Regards,

DennisJ

[Deimos]

I cannot offer a comparison as I have no experience of

inserts.  Early Jan I had a free

standing woodburner installed and it is excellent.  Replaced an open fire which used to create such a updraft (up the

chimney) it would take all the heat from the fire plus all the warm air from

the house up the chimney.  Woodburner

chucks out loads of heat.  I have

about60cm each side of the woodburner so I guess there is room for air to

circulate.  Also, when its going well I

always use the side door to put in more logs. 

On mine, for some reason (maybe to keep the glass front cleaner, double

burn the smoke or whatever), the incoming air comes in and down just in front

of the glass so opening the front door tends to let more smoke out into the

room.

When it was installed they also installed a tube in the chimney.

Well impressed with it.

Ian

[fcr]

Hi

We installed a large cylindrical freestanding wood-burner brought with us  from the UK - Machine Mart. Very cheap about £300 in the sale

Sealed the large chimney opening with a large metal plate, custom cut for £20 at home and ran a tube up the chimney. Miscalculated the stove size for the room and it is so hot we sometimes have to open the window. It can be attached to a back boiler but no idea how to do it. I am paranoid and so keep a carbon monoxide detector as well. To many safety lectures in my career!!!!

Fi

[alnmike]

I believe that you can get some models that will take a boiler. http://www.jotuluk.com/Content/StartPage____3249.aspx 

[LesFlamands]

Inserts with ducted air heating rarely work well. You are probably better off with a free standing stove and if you need to heat other rooms fit a water heating system running off a back boiler. Villager also have a stove with an integral wrap around boiler. You need to sure the stove you choose will stay in and you would be well advised to avoid the cheapos in the Bricolages.