Winter is now with us and a wood burning stove will heat your homes to the maximum.

The trouble is with our busy lifestyles we tend not to check what is important to us until it goes wrong. Here are some very easy ways to ensure your stove is giving you maximum efficiency.

Check Your Door Seal for Leakage

Your wood stove door should fit tightly to keep the heat of the fire concentrated inside. To check it, you can lay a five pound note across the door gasket lengthwise and then close the door with the note still in it. If you can pull your money out with a quick tug, your door is too loose and you will want to tighten the latch described in your manufacturer’s instruction manual. If your gasket shows signs of wear or damage, you will need to replace it immediately. Read more

Beautiful stoves

These days they come in shiny red with curves; sleek stainless steel and angular; anthracite; oval or asymmetrical. There’s even one shaped like Darth Vader!

Others gleam in white enamel. You can have them installed in existing fireplaces, free standing with their own flue, even slotted neatly into dividing walls with openings both sides, to heat two rooms simultaneously.

Manufacturers of these wonderful new age appliances have seen the rapid growth in sales and have re-acted in a positive manner both in design and cost saving. The average price of a mid-range burner has in real terms reduced by 11.4% over the last four years. Read more

Simply an upgrade

Is this you?

Last winter, we spent our weekends alternately freezing, coaxing a reluctant fire alight, opening all the doors to let the smoke out, freezing, and finally giving in and turning on the electric heater. Our house stank of charred logs and wood smoke. The grate was a sad black hole. And it was cold, despite the central heating. Read more

Wood Stove or an open Fireplace?

Each unit uses wood as the fuel source, which is easy to come by and relatively inexpensive when bought, but there are major differences in the efficiency levels of fireplaces and stoves. Wood fireplaces are best used to heat a single room because during combustion, a fireplace takes in air from inside your home and may bring it in from outside to send smoke and CO up the chimney. This can bring a draft through the house, so you benefit from less of the fire’s heat. A stove, on the other hand, is potentially 50% more energy efficient and uses a third less wood for the equivalent heat output.  Read more

Wood burning stoves equal all round value

Buying a wood-burning stove is a relatively big decision, but besides the potential money-saving aspect, their legions of fans swear by the cosy feeling that one brings to a home. Not getting all romantic about it, we are drawn to an open fire and the there’s a different feel to wood-burning than there is to oil or gas.

Wood burning stoves have enjoyed a huge surge in popularity of late, becoming a must-have addition for chic homes and certainly, there’s a lot to love about them. They look great and, in addition to being a design focal point in any room, they run at an 80pc efficiency, which means lower fuel bills. Read more