About to install a wood burning stove - advice needed

Dandelion wrote: She did say that he took the cover off the unit and there was smoke coming out....

It sounds as if the appliance may have failed its spillage or flue tests, both of which require the engineer to use smoke to test. A failure of either is an 'Immediately Dangerous' classification, so the engineer would have had no option but to disconnect the unit from the gas supply.

Dandelion wrote:I was interested by what you said FB about flue gases getting into the air, because I had noticed that my mother was far more vague and sleepy if the heating was on. I had assumed that it was because the heat was too high, but I wonder if she has been breathing in exhaust. I haven't noticed any effects myself while I've been there, but I'm only usually in there for an hour at a time.

That's worrying. If the new unit is also an open-flued appliance* (and it probably will be), I would strongly recommend that you place a Carbon Monoxide alarm ideally in every room - as an absolute minimum, put one in her bedroom and another in the room in which she spends most waking hours, and a third in with the unit. Additionally, it is absolutely essential that it is serviced annually (though it sounds as if the last one was) so that any problems are picked up before they become dangerous.
* An open-flued appliance is one that takes its combustion air from the room that the appliance is in. A wood-burning stove is an open-flued appliance. Because the air to feed the flames comes from the room, if anything blocks the flue, the gases come back the way the air went in. If you're not sure whether the new unit is open-flued, ask the engineer.

Thank you - that's really helpful. I think I'll get the number of the firm and ring them myself and find out what kind of appliance they're putting in.

Not a problem, Dandelion. If you want anything else clarified or explained, PM me.

I think I need some advice too.... We've been using our stove for a few weeks now. The wood is well seasoned oak, and seems to burn really well. But try as we might, we just don't seem to be getting any heat into the room. Any ideas?

Oh dear Freebird, even your dog looks disappointed !

What sort of stove is it ? It looks big enough to be well adequate. Dry oak should not lack energy. I know you mentioned it has a boiler. So, presuming heat is being generated, it must be either going up the chimney or into the water - are any connected radiators getting hot ? I presume you've figured out the air controls - usually you need the air supply to the bottom of the fire only when lighting, and the secondary air (usually comes in top/bottom of the door to keep the glass clean) adjusted down to get nice slow moving flames, not roaring or ragged.

I also presume that any baffle plates are correctly fitted.

I'm sorry CH - my idea of a joke. Every time we light the stove, the dog stands in front of it and blocks all the heat!

Oh dear. Please excuse me; in my defence I had been on the phone most of the evening trying to resolve problems of an engineering nature in Australia - I'd quite forgotten about humour !

Also, it is not that unusual a complaint from new stove owners - lack of heat often means that they have not so dry wood, but burning apparently well because they have all the vents open sending the heat up the chimney. As I was writing my reply I had a nagging doubt that you were not the sort to be making that mistake !

It seems pretty normal to be beaten to the fireside by pets too. It is surely no coincience that about half the photos of new stove installs have a cat or dog lounging in fromt of it.
You could get some holly in, persuade the dog to pose, take a photo and make your own christmas cards perhaps !

Oh dear - I thought you were having problems too, FB, and was racking my brains to be helpful! Must sit quietly and read posts thoroughly, and actually take it in more!!

Hooray, hooray! Our dog bur.... ooops I mean LOG burner is, at last, heating the rest of the central heating water. It should have been last weekend, but we had a few glitches with wiring and a dodgy pump. We still await a very clever control (usually used on commercial systems), so at the moment, electrically it all has to be switched on and off by hand. In the event of a power failure, we will be able to use it only as a room heater, with excess heat going to a safety heat leak in the attic. Still got pipe insulation to do, and chimney insulation. But it's working, and it's gooood.

for log burners!!

oooh, that's funny - the same post but with a different date. Will be keeping an eye on this.

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