Wood stove recommendation

[R D S]

We are looking at woodburning stoves, around max 5kw would suffice.

The guy who is going to fit it likes Esse and I quite like this,

Cheapest I can see it for is £670 quid.

I don't want to save money buying something cheap and naff but don't want to spend more than necessary.

So general opinions would be appreciated on stoves and prices.

[Tim Streater]

We had an Esse 100 installed about 4 years ago - nice wide window which doesn't soot up. I'd buy it again.

[harry]

If it's located on and outer wall, get a room sealed one. Draws combustion air directly into the stove from outside so increasing ove rall efficiency. (No cold air drawn into room.)

[damduck-egg]

Are you purchasing as a main source of heat or as a fashion item that looks nice? I installed one of these

and am quite pleased with it. smaller than many would consider but I wanted minimal disruption to the existing fire place. It was also the smallest I could find that still had a back boiler option which the previous open fire had,something I was loathe to lose in a rural location with overhead lines which sometimes get damaged. We now retain the abilty to heat some hot water and cook can on top of it if the electric goes off. in fact in winter we do a lot of casseroles and stews on it anyway. Keeps the room it is in really warm with the door into the hall left open but this is a small bungalow, might struggle in a bigger place.

G.Harman

[Mark Allread]

Which is a steel one and

that is a cast one

Our existing stove is a cast one but we are looking to change next year and cannot decide whether steel or cast is better.

Gut feeling is to stick with what we know and go for cast - but these seem to be getting less common.

In addition to the OP request can I add a supplementary for views on cast vs steel.

[harry]

Cast Iron is more expensive than steel but won't burn/corrode away as gradually happens with steel. Some steel stoves have vitreous enamel to try to prevent this. Steel is more prone to distortion if it should overheat.

[David]

We have used Stovax Stockton stoves for our last two.

They are steel, and seem to work well.

Morso were a good brand for cast iron, but I understand that cast iron is more fragile than steel if mistreated, and steel stoves are also cheaper to produce these days so there seem to be more of those especially at the budget end of the market.

We did want a particular Esse stove (as seen on River Cottage) which included an oven but we found (by talking to retailers) that there were design problems.

We use our stove for fun - that is we have full central heating but we also like a wood fire and often run it in Autumn/Spring while the CH is still resting.

One small point - you usually have a choice of top or rear connection for the flue. A rear connection pushes the stove into the room a bit more but it does give you the entire stove top for cooking should you be so inclined. With a 5kW stove you may find that there isn't enough room around the flue if it is top connected.

Cheers

Dave R

[harry]

A rear connection is used where the flue is external to the building. A hol e is made in the external wall behind the stove.

[harry]

You may well find the chimney/flue arrangements costs more then the stove.

[Clive George]

A rear connection is also used for a conventional chimney if you want.

[Davey]

Agreed. The cost of upgrading our chimney was so much that we didn't install the woodburner.

[Huge]

Quite so. Harry full of shit, as usual. We have 2 wood burners, one of which has a rear connnection to a conventional chimney.

[DICEGEORGE]

The chimney will be more expensive than the stove, selkirk 6" is about £100 a meter (a bit cheaper one ebay but i accidentally bought 5" flue) (but better than burning your house down)

A glass front so you can see the flames.

A separate air intake will mean much less draughts.

[g]