Advice on buying multi Fuel Stove

A question about : Advice on buying multi Fuel Stove

Hi, this is my first post so bear with me
I presently have an open fire which doesnt give off enough heat for my liking & everyone raves about multifuel stoves. I am looking at buying upto 6 -7kw stove. I have been on websites galore & am left completely baffled. Prices vary from Ј300 - Ј1500 and apart form some being cast iron /steel; some having combination grates; some having fire bricks, I am left none the wiser.:confused:

Can anybody please recommend a stove, what works best, is effective as well as traditional looking.
Many thanks for any help

Best answers:

• Hiya. Can completely understand why you're feeling confused! My suggestion is to perhaps start with prioritising the reasons/qualities of solid fuel stove:
  * better heat output
  * cheapness/availability of fuel
  * cost of stove & installation & maintenance
  * aesthetics
  You might think about contacting local CAB for advice - there are lots of organisations that are governmental, independent or quasi-indie....
  If your situation allows, you might be able to make use of the flue pipe itself to radiate more heat, too....
  Good luck! I'm thinking about doing the same.
• Sorry, Poppycat, I'm afraid you are wrong about the problems with some Chinese stoves. Most cheap Chinese stoves are made of cast iron and that is the trouble, with them - poorly cast iron is prone to cracking and other problems.
  Steel is a perfectly good material for a stove, as long as it is correctly chosen and it is a feature of some of the best stoves made in the UK - for example, Villager, Hunter and others.
• Found a pertinent on Navitron with links and all sorts.
• You probably dont need your chimney lining as you've already got a class 1 flue, sweep will inspect and confirm that if you dont want to take the risk.
  Which one? Take your pick off the HETAS list. Personally I went for a Villager stove. Price was good its a UK firm and the local supplier was reccomended to me the previous year.
  I'm more than happy with it, heats a tank in 20 mins and a lot more efficient than the open fire was. Also burns a lot cleaner and chimney only required sweeping once instead of twice a year and there wasn that much soot either
• Thanks folks for your information.
  I am going to a showroom 'fair' with lots of big names atending in September so hopefilly I can also ask lots of questions & possibly get a good deal.
  I will definitely contact my local sweep before then for any further advice.
  I liked the look of the Hunter Herald 6, Villager Bayswater & Stovax Huntingdon - (its easier choosing a car).
  This is now my second time on the site, so if I am doing or not doing something reight please let me know.
• Those are all good stoves, Country Girl - especially if you are looking for a no-nonsense, British-made, reliable model, without the decorative qualities of some of the more costly cast iron types.
  If you get the chance, you might also want to have a look at Yeoman stoves. They are made by the Stovax group and, again, offer excellent value for money (I speak as an owner of one - not the manufacturer!).
  Please let us know how you get on.
• Ive read this thread and can anyone advise me please? I too am after installing a 4kw multi fuel stove. I have an existing real fire place (which I've never used in 9 years) but am thinking of installing a multi fuel stove to save on gas consumption. I've been quoted a cost of Ј1395 for the stove, the chimney lining and to "make do". Installation charge is free if the work is carried out in April. Is this a good deal?
  Looking on line, it seems the stoves can vary in price but most 4kw stoves are about Ј350 Ј500 in price, so the cost of Ј1395 seems a bit steep to me.
  Will the chimney need to be lined? If not, is the stove still as efficient?
  The stove the guy quoted is a Firewarm 4 stove made of cast iron.
  I have absolutely no idea if the Firewarm 4 is a good make. I have no idea of how to install this myself so need to pay someone to do it. The house is a link detached with the fireplace on one gable end. The idea is that using the fire would save on gas. Last year's gas consumption (march 08 to Mar 09) was Ј720. Are these stoves worth it? Is the heat output worth it?
  I'm a total novice so any help would be greatly appreciated.
  Beatrice
• Don't assume solid fuel will be much cheaper to use than gas, Beatrice. The vast price hikes in the cost of gas and oil have made a lot of people look for alternatives - but both coal and smokeless fuel suppliers have (shamefully) floated their prices up accordingly and it cannot be assumed they are cheaper to use.
  If you factor in the cost of the stove and the fitting, even if solid fuel does work out cheaper, it might take you a very long while to get your money back - let alone save any.
  There are lots of reasons why stoves are fabulous things to have. Sadly, saving money isn't always one of them.
• My partner and I are in the process of buying a house which currently has a Jotul 3 woodburner installed - however we have just found out they are taking the stove when they move.
  Does anyone know what we will have to pay for? Obviously I am assuming the price of a new stove but wasn't sure what installation we would require as I am assuming the chimney is all ready to go as it has been used with a woodburner before?
  Also, the current one is only a wood burner and we would want a multifuel - would this mean having to change the flue?
  Any advice appreciated!
• Ask the sellers when it was installed - if they had it done properly since 1.4.2002 there should be documentation and a data plate which would give all the details of the lining.
• The current stove was installed recently so I'm guessing the chimney and flue are in good condition.
  I think it will just be a matter of attaching another stove.
  The main heating system in the house is night storage heaters, so we are also contemplating whether to get the a central heating system with backboiler installed?
  Does anyone know how much installing this system would cost?
• If you look at spending approx Ј100 per kilowatt output of the stove then you should stay safe with a reasonable quality stove. When it comes to a quality British stove look at Dunsley, Charnwood.. Also check out Morso....they foreign but very good quality......Stovax are pretty good and also Franco Belge, Jotul......there are plenty of good stoves out there. My personal view on Hunter and Villager is that they're pretty poor for the money. Hunter are mostly made in China by the way.
• I wouldn't take to much notice of stove salesmen, some of whom seem to hold the most curious beliefs. Check out user reviews online. If you have a sweep, ask him (he probably sees more stoves actually in day to day use than anyone else) and speak with owners, if you can.
  www.whatstove.co.uk is a useful source of user reviews.
• My OH does not like woodburners fitted with back boilers, he says they become neither fish nor foul.
  He loves the Clearview range, also woodwarm, lower priced stoves he is happy about are Stovax, Yeoman, Jotul, Charnwood, Morso, Dovre. Avoid Villagers and Aarrow (and a number of recent indian/chinese imports).
  Trouble with asking the opinion of people who have bought a stove is often they have not experienced another one or only a bad one so wont know what a difference a good stove can make in output and controllability.
  Problem you have becs is that HETAS dont allow fitters to connect to a lining that they have no knowledge of as they will be taking responsibility for the whole installation, not just the new stove.
  Take it you dont have gas?
• If you want multi-fuel, that reduces the range of stoves. Many are just wood-burning, particularly the ones from mainland Europe.
  We're in the process of getting a stove from Clearview. They've been highly recommended by a lot of people.
• My OH has been fitting stoves for 30 years and we have a Clearview ourselves
• Hope I'm not butting in here...
  Our living room is really hard to heat (despite putting in cavity wall insulation etc) and so bedrooms overheat while we sit shivering in here (literally, I can usually see my breath on a winter's day!) the kitchen is also exceptionally cold but the rest of the house is fine, so last year I was intending to put in a woodburner/multifuel in the living room to heat that and trickle through to the kitchen. But then we got quotes (about Ј1k for installation and liner etc, Ј1k for building work and hearth, plus however much for the stove itself and then a wood store and new carpet on top and fuel) and then the recession hit us hard jobs-wise and so we didn't do it. But it's getting cold again already, so I'm thinking of raising the money (savings and selling some stuff) and doing it anyway (think I can live with the gap between the hearth and the old carpet for a year or two as long as I'm warm) We intend to stay in this house long term, so I'd rather have a larger initial outlay by buying the best most efficient fire I can, and have lower running/maintenance costs as a result, having said that, I don't want to spend money that I don't need to, iyswim.
  Questions:
  1) I think I want multifuel because someone told me coal is a lot cheaper than seasoned wood to burn, is that right?
  2) I've noticed that steel stoves are cheaper than cast iron. So, is a cast iron stove better than a steel stove? I see Morso, for example, make both.
  3) The dimensions of the room would suggest a 5kw output stove (and I understand that a stove should work at its maximum output to be efficient) but this room is an ice box, and I would like the heat to go through to the kitchen, so should I go up to 7kw?
  4) Approximately how much do those of you with 5kw/ 7 kw fires spend on fuel each year?
  Thank you in advance Oh Wise People!