We’re thinking of replacing our log burner in the house (an old Peak District cottage) as its cheap crap and the internals are now floating around (which intermittently blocks the door from closing) …
We mainly use wood but from January to March some coal over night so a multifuel type (with a vented grill)
The obvious choice was a Clearview Pioneer 400 but they aren’t really a multifuel stove and are a pretty old design…
Just wondering if anyone has experience of other good quality types ie something like a Morso 3112 Badger? Esse? or Aga?
We have an HWAM - it’s phenomenally efficient and will stay in overnight with just wood, no need for coal. No idea how burning coal would go in it either, it wasn’t a consideration for us.
We looked into this a while back, eventually got talking to a fitter who’d been fitting these things for about 20 years, in his experience the more efficient the stove, the more trouble it is in various ways - notably keeping it unblocked, keeping fires burning if you’re burning (as we do) suboptimal wood like willow &c, and suffering damage if you burn much coal. Coal is unpleasant stuff - gives off sulphuric acid when you burn it, as well as lots of tars, and the ash has to be disposed of carefully, where wood ash can just go on the garden.
In the end we parked the idea, as more ballache and cost than was worth our while for the occasionally-used room on the top floor that we had in mind for it. Admittedly that was several years ago.
I once lived in a house that had Neolithic coal fired central heating. It was a cunt. Lugging coal in to the house every few days, hours spent trying to start the testing thing, not being able to go anywhere for long as you need to keep moving the ash manually. Disposing of said ash. A
Give me a nice gas boiler. Anything else is pointless faff. If you want to toast marshmallows. Get a fire pit or a zippo.
I’ll have to see if I can find the make/model of my fire.
It’s pretty much my only source of heating (other than an electric towel rail in the bathroom) and it warms the whole house from cold within an hour of lighting it.
That looks similar to what I have, which I think was a Homebase model…its alright but the internal parts seem loose/to float around which can obscure the door closing…Having used a few newer wood only burners whilst on holiday its definitely not that efficient in comparison to a newer model…
