Decide Why You Want To Install A Wood Burning Stove
It might sound obvious, but before you get to the “how” part, you really should sort out why you want to install a wood burning stove in the first place. Many folk overlook this and in so doing lessen their chances of an ultimately satisfying outcome.
Knowing more precisely why you want a wood burner will greatly help when it comes to sorting out the logistics of how to set about installing a wood burning stove. Otherwise, prepare to become swiftly mired in the bewildering and apparently endless range of choices, options and features that await the novice to the world of wood burning stoves.
There are two main areas to consider, and most people who are new to the idea of installing a wood burner start with the wrong one, namely appearance.
It’s understandable, because after all that’s what tends to draw most folk into the whole wood burner concept in the first place – they’ve seen one at a friend’s house, or on the TV or in a glossy magazine and thought “That looks wonderful, let’s have one!”. And indeed the style and appearance of a wood burning stove are very important factors to consider, not least because it’s going to end up installed in a prominent position and act forever more as a focal point.
Decide How Much Heat You Need From A Wood Burning Stove
But as is so often the case, going by looks alone is not always a reliable guide. The other central aspect to consider is arguably more important and will help steer a path through the minefield of choices yet to come; and that is heat output.
Heat output can be represented in a number of ways (here we go again – more choice than you might either need or welcome), amongst them being Joules, Calories and Kilo-calories, but the most common in modern parlance are Btu (British Thermal Units) and kWh (Kilowatt Hours). For reference, 1 kWh is equivalent to 3,413 Btu. In reality all you need to understand is what size area you intend to heat and from that simply calculate the required wood burner heat output.
That said, there is more to take into account than size alone. Much depends on where you live and thus how mild or harsh conditions can be, and also on the number and quality of windows, and standard of insulation and draft proofing in your house. As a rough guide though, you’re probably better to err slightly on the side of under rather than over specifying the heat output of your wood burning stove.
This surprises many people, as the natural assumption when considering any kind of wood burning stoves installation would be to opt for one that is more than capable of delivering the required heat output. The reason is simple enough though; wood burning stoves function best when run at full rate and combustion is optimal, resulting in better fuel consumption, greater efficiency and reduced soot.
When run at below its normal nominal output, a wood burning stove will deliver much reduced efficiency, possibly cause problems such as condensation within the flue, and will appear less visually appealing due to smaller flames and poor airflow. The better option is to specify a wood burner with heat output slightly below what you need so that it works hard all the time, resulting in more efficient combustion and thus more flames (and cleaner glass).
Hopefully, by first setting parameters such as heat output and type (is the wood burning stove intended as a space heater for a single area, or to heat hot water and/or central heating radiators, or to include cooking capabilities?) the remaining choices will be more manageable.
Set Your Budget For Installing A Wood Burning Stove
At this point it’s time to consider another crucial factor. Cost. You now know how much heat output you will require, what form the heat is to take (stored as hot water and/or radiant heat) and quite probably where to locate the wood burning stove. Now you need to consider how much this is going to cost.
This is rather more complicated than simply checking the purchase prices of suitably rated wood burning stoves. You will almost certainly have to pay for specialist installation and there may be further costs if for example a chimney liner is needed or there is no obvious existing flue. Don’t forget also to check compliance with local planning and environmental control policies and to ensure you have access to a reliable supply of suitable wood fuel plus the wherewithal to properly store it.
Much of this can be easily sorted out at this stage by consulting a HETAS approved wood burner installer. As a rule of thumb, expect to pay as much again as your chosen wood burning stove costs for installation.
So after all that, back to the fun part: style and appearance. The limiting factor here is likely to be how long it takes before drooling over catalogues and visiting showrooms starts to lose its appeal and the urge to finally settle for something that ticks the right boxes kicks in.
