Wood burners

[How188]

Hi I am interested in having one installed in my home in an existing fire place.
Does anyone have any recommendations for make, suppliers and installers.
Also Things to ensure are done well and any other tips.
Thanks

[jllvehdist]

We had one fitted in June by Akinlar Ltd Tel: 0533 861 43 06.

You can e mail him at akinlarltd@hotmail.com just tell him the sort of thing your looking for and he will e mail back pictures and prices.

He then comes to see where it has to be fitted and gives you an all inclusive price. Ours was a freestanding stove so they had to construct a flue through the wall and a chimney outside it came to £900 stg.

Cheers

DL

[the butlers wife]

Hello There,

Yes I would agree that Akinlar do a good job and have a good selection of steel/cast iron stoves to choose from.
We also have a free standing Bohemia stove which throws out a lot of heat.

A few friends of ours have stoves inset into an existing fireplace, and they have commented that most of the heat goes up the chimney, so bear in mind that when considering installing one in an existing opening try to have the main body of the stove proud of the opening, with the flue going up the chimney, that way you will benefit from radiant heat coming into the room rather than up the chimney.

The Butler.

[come_on_aylin]

Butler's wife is correct. We had a multi fuel burner installed in our existing fireplace about 6 or 7 years ago but it never really heated the room and we were very disappointed. Last December we knocked out the internal fireplace exposing the burner and a good length of stove pipe. What a difference it made, the room at last feels cosy when the burner is lit. If you are going to get a wood burner installed make sure you have as much of it and the piping exposed as possible for maximum heat.

[sophie]

We had one fitted by Akinlar (free standing) and are seriously consiering having it dismantled and taken out. (Not akinlar fault - I don't think) The trouble being, the flue that goes up the chimney of an existing brick fireplace, had to be fitted to a 90deg angle i.e. from the back of the stove, bent 90deg and then up the chimney. However, because, even with the damper full open, on many occasion there isn't sufficient draft and as a result we have horrible blow-back of smoke and end up having to have the windows in the living room open, which rather negates everything. Plus wall became covered in soot. No-one including Akinlar seemed to have any idea of how to cure the proble, hence we haven't lit the stove for two winters now.

[deputydawg]

Sophie. Does your chimney arrangement have a cowl at the top ? If not, is it suitable to have one fitted ? A good quality cowl (not expensive) will fizz around in the lightest of winds and that combined with the heat it is subjected to should give you more than ample uplift of smoke in all weathers and also improve protection from rainwater going down the chimney. Worked perfectly for us for many a year.

[the butlers wife]

Hi Sophie,

Our flue has a 90 degree angle where it goes out of the wall and this is where soot and tar collects , because of this we have to have the flue cleaned on a regular basis. Also the type of wood you burn depends on the amount of tar collected. Yes it is messy and yes you do have to decorate more frequently. Having said all this, we wouldn't be without our burner. It is the best form of heating over here and is so cosy on a winters night having real flames.


The butler

[elkiton]

This is our second year with a log burner from Akinlar. Fabulous machine, a couple of points learned mainly from other owners and some supplements from ourselves.

Don't fit it in a recessed fireplace, build a plinth and make sure 75% of the metal is in the room and not under a chimney.

It's Ok to flue straight out the back for 0.7M and then up to avoid sharp rt angles at the ceiling if your chimney is integral

Seal the old chimney above the burner, with a metal plate completely airtight.

Add a 4" air inlet through the wall next to / behind the fire, this is a requirement for safety and stops your feet being cut off with the draft as these burners use a hell of a lot of air !

Fit an old fashioned cast iron damper in the flue behind the fire, this restricts the flue flow and makes the firebox hotter and more efficient, Akinlar does not know much about them, try ebay or a pro site like Stovax etc...better to fit during installation than retrofit later..

Run the fire HOT, mix softwood and Carob / Olive for best performance. - Its not like an open fire so keep the doors closed in use...unless toasting.

You can cook on them, almost too hot but it slow cooks very well with a trivet, and toast to die for !

Dry wood for 6 months before use.
TonyE

[sophie]

Deputydawg, we do have a flat tile like "thing" across the top of the chimney top which allows the chimney to have a 4inch gap on 4 sides where smoke escapes, which, when coupled with the fact that we're on the edge of a ravine and the wind is a howling gale off the sea or down from the mountains on many occasions, takes the smoke away. However we then have to play around with the old fashioed type of damper, to try and stop the wood burning away in minutes. As to decorating living/dining room, £400 each time was getting a bit much!! We used the burner for 3 winters only.