How to choose a Wood Burner?
One of our Clients expressed a wish to install a beautiful Wood Burner into the house. We saw a great opportunity for an interesting interior design proposal and started our research on different Stoves.
A wood burning stove can be a great focal point in your living room, creating a warm, cosy feel. It can also be a practical way to cut or avoid rising heating bills.
Stoves are generally used to heat one room, but you can attach it to the central heating system to heat other parts of the house. But you will need to keep in mind that a lot of towns and cities in UK are smoke controlled areas, meaning you will need to get a Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) approved stove or only burn smokeless fuels.
When choosing a space in your flat for a wood burner, also consider space for the fuel. You’ll need plenty of room to store fuel, especially if you will be burning logs. Based on the average statistics results on amount of logs people use per year, you might need three to four cubic meters of space - and it will need to be a dry area that is easily accessible for deliveries.
Do not forget about Building regulations, which all stoves in UK must meet. For example, there are specifications around how the flue is fitted, the size of the hearth or the distance of the stove from combustibles. Get and advice from a local authority and stove supplier before getting one.
It is very important to calculate the right heat output before getting a wood burner. Heat output is measured in kilowatts (kW) and ranges from 3kW to over 15kW. Calculating the right heat output will allow you to get the right stove, which will provide your house with the right temperature.
Generally speaking you will need 1kW of heat output for every 14 cubic meters of space to make your room 21°C when it’s 1°C outside. As a rough guide, which I found online, you could try multiplying the height, width and length of the room and divide this by 14 in order to get a gauge of what size stove you need. However, please always consult with a specialists :)
