Stove owners often make mistakes when selecting wood to be burnt in their living room pride and joy. If you have paid out good money for your new stove plus having it fitted you will want to get the best results.

If you burn softwood as opposed to hardwood the heat you will achieve can be up to 50% less. Burning softwood can be expensive in the long run and your burner will not be working to its full capacity.

If you are contemplating installing a new wood burner do check in your area wood suppliers and what timber they normally supply.

The best logs are

Oak     –           Very dense, long burning, minimum drying 18 months 5*

Maple  –           Hot burner, long-lasting, efficient, minimum drying 18 months 5*

Cherry –           Medium hot burner, good starter log, minimum drying 18 months 4* Read more

If you’re considering creating or redesigning your home this year, have you researched which features are essential for you? Apart from the appeal of a super new home do think about how you could improve the heating and in turn reduce costs.

There is nothing more magical for the family than gathering up the wood and settling down on the sofa, feet up, as the fire burns long into the evening.

Already you can see the benefit, but you will also save money by turning down the central heating that is for certain. Another hidden benefit is that your home will become more valuable with a professionally fitter burner, in some cases adding up to £10,000 in value!

As well as providing ambiance, a wood burner is a great aesthetic feature for your lovely abode, adding a quintessential charm.

In addition, they serve their fundamental purpose of providing warmth. The British weather can be unpredictable at times and the evenings can be known for being a little on the chilly side. The lure of gathering around a warm wood burner and being cuddled up with your loved ones could secure the conversion for newly designed home. Read more

Wood-burners have risen in popularity for the last ten years as more homes discover the benefits and beauty they have to offer.

One benefit that always goes unnoticed is how the value of your home will increase after you have installed the burner. Ask any estate agent and they will tell you a home with a wood stove that has been professionally installed is far more desirable than one without. The value of your home could increase by as much as £10000.

Wood-burners not only look fabulous, they have plenty of practical benefits too. They provide a great deal of heat for relatively little cost and are highly efficient in comparison to open fires. With energy costs rising daily it is little wonder these super forms of heating continue to rise in popularity.

If you are reviewing alternative forms of heating in your home you should most definitely give wood burning stoves due consideration.   Read more

If you have as log burning stove you will no doubt see the full benefit this form of heating has to offer.

Wood burning stoves are becoming more popular by the day as sales increase on an unprecedented scale. More households around the country are trying to reduce their heating bills and installing a stove can certainly help towards this aim.

One very big mistake a lot owners make is not using correctly matured timber to burn, damp logs can be dangerous and cause chimney fires.

Nothing will cause your stove to function less efficiently than to fill it with green wood, so to avoid the problem you should begin the seasoning process in the early spring if you want your wood to be ready by the next winter. If you plan to use any wood that is larger than normal, you will need to set it out to dry even earlier than that. Essentially, you should be harvesting your wood about a year and a half in advance of when you actually plan to burn it.

Seasoning.

Wood being dried should be stacked in open areas under cover where it will be exposed to the sun and the wind. If you put it in a shed, garage, or outdoors in the shade, you will inhibit the seasoning process significantly. Having said this if you are buying pre-seasoned wood from a supplier then any form of dry storage will normally be fine.

Can we help?

If you are thinking of installing a new wood stove please do get expert advice as fitting the incorrect stove could prove costly. Should you require assistance please do make contact and one of our fully qualified fitters will be happy to assist.

 

 

 

 

Heating your home is a very costly exercise and the likelihood of it reducing in the near future is almost nil. Here’s a story that may inspire you.

“Last winter’s gas bills meant it was time to act. An engineer from Kent Stoves confirmed the idea was going to work well for us. We got the old gas fire and pipework removed, measured up our fireplace and started looking for a stove that would fit our relatively small fireplace”.

“We did our homework and got Kent Stoves advice as to the correct wood burner we would need to heat our living area”.

“Three months on, we have slashed our gas and electricity consumption. Although it is a bit early to say with certainty, I estimate we will have cut our bills by £300-£350 this year. We should recoup the cost of the stove and its installation in under three years. Crucially, we have found a local joinery from which we source our wood, so we are now burning waste wood that would otherwise be destined for landfill”. Read more