Gas Vs Wood Stove

Fishdoodle

I'm looking into getting a fireplace stove for the sitting room of a 3 bed semi.

Seems to be some fear-mongering re. future gas supplies and cost increases.

I'm wondering if Wood might be the better option? Costs and Convenience - the main descision factors.

Any advice - much appreciated!

The Continental Op

My first thoughts are if you can't cut your own wood then the price of wood is going to go through the roof like any other fuel.

Fishdoodle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119360481#Comment_119360481

Thanks! -Fair point! I can imagine that being the case alright - then it would simply comes down to convenience I guess, and that would be Gas.

The Continental Op

Wood maybe if its an occasional fire but not for one that is in regular use unless you have a good cheap source of wood. The dust from any form of solid fuel fire is unreal. Even with an enclosed fire you still have the clean out the ash and thats when it goes everywhere.

OwenM

A wood stove provides independence from the grid, both electrical and gas so if there are gas shortages and or power cuts you are not going to freeze. I have a wood stove, the dust isn't really an issue. I don't know anything about gas 'stove' efficiency but I do recall the gas open fires that were popular were savagely inefficient and cost a fortune to run. My wood stove is very cheap to run mainly because I buy wood in bulk.

Fishdoodle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119367121#Comment_119367121

Any open fire makes no sense. Glad to hear dust isn’t really an issue. Going with the wood stove. Haven’t lit the fire in years and stopped burning coal.

What type of wood is best for longevity/ heat output?

The Continental Op

I could name a good few but to save missing any I googled and found this list https://www.charnwood.com/news/best-firewood-to-burn-chart-uk/

Fishdoodle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119629203#Comment_119629203

That’s brilliant 👍 A pretty comprehensive list. Thanks a mill for that! 🙂

The Continental Op

The layout on Charnwoods site is a bit crap so I've reformatted in Excel for future use and it copy and pastes OK

Personally I'd demote Sycamore to Okay as its not that great when dried out properly.

OwenM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119630455#Comment_119630455

There is basically a small set of firewood species that are available in any quantities in Ireland and they either fall into hard or softwood types. The softwood will either be larch or spruce - these are cheaper and also easier / quicker to season or dry. Hardwoods tend to be ash/beech or oak, generally two years to dry these especially oak. Hardwoods do put out a bit more heat but the dryness of the wood is a much bigger factor - dry larch/spruce is much much better than wet oak any day.

If you put some logs into a hot stove and 5 minutes later they are hissing like a bag of snakes then it's a waste of money and you are producing loads of smoke and gunging up your stove glass door and flue liner with creosote.

For any new stove owners I highly recommend something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Proster-Handheld-Moisture-Backlight-Cardboard/dp/B09HJZ6VTJ/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=firewood+moisture+meter&qid=1663586320&sprefix=firewood+m%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-15

Fishdoodle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119630455#Comment_119630455

Fantastic 👍 That’s extremely helpful- you’ve made useful info even better ✨.

Thanks a mill!

The Continental Op

If anyone has any comments or updates they want to make to that list I still have the Excel file so its easy to update and post the updates here.

Fishdoodle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119637083#Comment_119637083

That looks like a brilliant gadget -very practical and v reasonably priced too!

Great feedback here and very much appreciated - thank you!

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119629136#Comment_119629136

We grew up with a coal open fire with a backboiler that heated the water beautifully. Now I have a solid fuel stove that heats the water and runs radiators. Avoiding being totally dependent on any mains supply. Turf not wood as we have it locally.

OwenM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119665062#Comment_119665062

Are you really though? Doesn't your boiler stove have a pump?

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119791783#Comment_119791783

The traditional method of heating hot water was by whats known as the direct system.

The hot water cylinder (HWC) is mounted slightly than the boiler and the boiler is directly connected to the HWC. The highest outlet on the boiler goes to the highest direct connection on the HWC and this takes hot water to the cylinder where the water stratifies ie the hot water rises colder water sinks and is fed back to the boiler on a lower connection on the cylinder.

Its all down to hot water weighs less and rises and cold water is heavier and sinks.

Modern plumbing should use a similar system where a thermosyphon runs when the pump is not running this allows excess heat in a wood stoves boiler to be dumped into the HWC (via the coil in this case). For this to work the HWC has to be mounted well above the boiler for the thermosyphon to operate. In Irish bungalows thats not so easy and plumbers often take the easy option and don't bother so when the power goes the pump stops and the stove can't be used.