Ranges & wood-burners

[greatbritishhoney]

I'm currently thinking about replacing my ageing range and wood-burner with something a bit more efficient and environmentally friendly.
We currently have a very old Rayburn Royal (solid fuel) and a Coalbrookdale Much Wenlock. Both are pretty inefficient and can only be kept going overnight with a lot of smokeless fuel.
I'd like to replace them with wood-only models. I've been thinking about an Esse W35 to replace the rayburn, and a Charnwood Cove 2 to replace the Coalbrookdale.
Anyone have any experience of these models or able to suggest any better alternatives?

Cheers
Andy.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

We use a Woodwarm fitted with water jackets on 3 sides and top, which feeds radiators in each room and the hot water tank.
Works very well and keeps the whole house warm and at night I fill the fire with wood then shut it down, the fire will still be in by the morning and just need to throw more logs on.
It also burns coal, but not coke, that burns to hot. Living in the middle of a forest, the wood burner works well for us and cheap to run....

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Thanks Bee-key-pur.
Have just had a look at the woodwarm website - are they still in business?
The website is a nightmare to navigate and the top news story on their news page is dated 2004 !!

Also, just to clarify, is your woodwarm a range or a stove? I can't see any solid fuel/wood ranges on their website.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

It's a stove....

 

[circe]

There's an Austrian range/boiler by Loheberger which seems very efficient and you can burn wood pellets as well as wood logs to fuel it. (I may have mispelled the name, but Google will probably locate it!!) I have no knowledge of it is use, but was thinking of getting one = the choice being between a wood burning rayburn or the Loheberger - and the pellets seemed a great advantage.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Thanks for the suggestions (and the ones via PM).
I quite like the idea of wood pellets but I am fairly self-sufficent for wood (as long as I can be bothered to get the chainsaw out!).
I've always liked the Rayburn but was quite disappointed with the current product range when I went for a look at the weekend. The latest model seemed to still have all the features that annoy me about my 40 year old Rayburn without many improvements! Bit like a landrover really.

 

[Arfermo]

Clearview Stoves, Ludlow do wood burners. Pricey but good. Our 5 kwh one heats the 2200 sf house well, though we only use it in the evenings, as we have filled cavities and the loft knee deep in fibreglass and we don't need a fire going too in the daytime. The house insulation qualified for a grant 4 years ago.

 

[Gardenbees]

Hi Gbh, I used to live on a narrowboat with a tiny Tor Gem stove, and can vouch for how efficient they are. I then graduated to a largeish Hunter stove (the sort with two doors at the front, and a nice, flat top that I used to put casserole dishes on when I wanted something cooked slowly). I now have a Morso Squirrel stove. So far, I would say that Morso are the best. They have a good reputation amongst boat-owners as well as householders. They have a very good airflow system, high-quality metalwork, good follow-up service and spare parts, and (I think) a pleasing appearance.

If you need a range/central heating stove/cooker rather than just a space heater, and you're feeling rich, then Esse Ironheart do superb cast iron woodburning ranges.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Thanks.
I suppose I should have given a bit more info...
The range (in the kitchen) needs to provide cooking, DHW and heating for 5 radiators. The wood-burner is just to provide heat for one (fairly large) room.

 

[theeggman]

We had a Esse range installed when the bungalow was built and after 2 years of grief it's now gone and been replaced by a Rayburn.
The Esse needs a very good draw on the flue otherwise it smokes like hell into the room. Cleaning the flueways is nearly impossible as well.

Tim

 

[bee ginnner]

hergom work well and are reasonably priced

 

[rae]

Both are pretty inefficient and can only be kept going overnight with a lot of smokeless fuel.

Something's wrong, because our Rayburn happily runs overnight (on tick over) when it is loaded with wood - in fact we haven't used any coal for about the last three years. Is your wood really dry? If you need a bit of air to keep it going early in the night, then by about 3AM it will really fire up and be out by morning. Literally 1/8th of a turn on the spinwheel, the damper fully in and the fully bypass fully open works for us. We're using a mixture of Ash (very good) and Poplar (pretty rubbish).

I'd not replace the Rayburn with anything. We have a big Clearview at the other end of the house and I'd recommend that as well. Note that the annoying traits of the Rayburn (tarring, having to clean the boiler tubes monthly) are present on any device that runs a boiler at 70C.

I quite like the idea of wood pellets but I am fairly self-sufficent for wood (as long as I can be bothered to get the chainsaw out!).

Also, don't underestimate the amount of sawing you'll need to do in order to go over to full wood burning.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Yes, the wood is bone dry. I'm fairly good at keeping on top of our wood requirements but have let it slide a little this year. I have managed to keep it going overnight with wood but only just - it takes a lot of coaxing in the morning to get it going again. I always bank it overnight with spinwheel virtually shut and slider on about 2 (any lower and it gets a bit smokey).
It could, of course, be a problem with the flue. It's a fairly old chimney and doesn't draw brilliantly (even after I swept it last weekend).

 

[rae]

I always bank it overnight with spinwheel virtually shut and slider on about 2 (any lower and it gets a bit smokey).

May well be the flue - our slider can be fully in, and the flappy thing fully open (so minimal draw) and there is no smoke at all. Ours is a 7" stainless lined thingy with insulation - so we get 99% of the tar forming in the cast section between the rayburn and the main chimney, then nothing further up. Makes sweeping somewhat easier.