NEW SERVICE - Estimate request - Stove installation

We are trialling a brand new service.

Complete our online form - www.hwood.co.uk/estimate.html and we will give you an estimate of the cost involved in installing your solid fuel stove.

No obligation, no visit to your house, we just take some information and send you your estimate.

Give it a try ...

33% Discount - Solid Fuel Stove

FANTASTIC OFFER!

For a limited time only we are offering this super little Winther Browne Solid Fuel Stove with an amazing discount of 33% - that's £124.10.

To take advantage of this offer visit Fabulous Fireplaces - http://www.fabulousfireplaces.co.uk/winther-browne---solid-fuel-cast-iron-stove-2447-p.asp.

Stoves on Canal Boats (Narrowboats)

I've been working for a HETAS (www.hetas.co.uk) registered heating company for over 21 years now. HETAS are the regulatory body who govern, monitor and promote the installation and servicing of solid fuel appliances.
As with CORGI for gas, ALL solid fuel appliances installed within residential or business addresses within the UK, must be notified to the relevant authority (usually your local council) or certified as safe via a qualified engineer (HETAS engineer).
In previous blogs you will have seen that I have been bestowing their virtues of Green Dragon Fuels; a biomass fuel made from the co-products of biodiesel product. Completely green, completely renewable energy. Green Dragon Fuel is currently undergoing HETAS testing for their approval. We have tested it on a multitude of appliances and today we have fired and tested on an installation that really shouldn't work (More of this later).
Now, my Dad owns a Narrowboat. He loves his Narrowboat and having talked to a lot of "boaters", they all do! And I can't say I blame them. The ardent boaters, like my Dad, are out on their boats, rain or shine, wind or hail. Some may think them mad! I personally think it's a completely different lifestyle. You see parts of the world that motorways and dual carriageways thankfully haven't destroyed and at a leisurely 3-4 miles an hour travelling speed you have plenty of time to see the world gracefully pass by.
Many of these boats have heating stoves on board, fired by solid fuel, be-it wood or smokeless fuel.Which got me thinking, since we supply Green Dragon Fuel here, would it be a good idea to see if I can introduce it through chandelries throughout the UK to the inland waterway users?
This I have done, having had several very productive meetings with chandelries around ourselves, we have also contacted chandelries throughout Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire. If you happen to be reading this, and are a proud owner of a Narrowboat or any inland waterway craft that has a solid fuel stove, ask your local chandelry for Green Dragon Fuels. It will save you the postage costs and you'll be helping the environment.
But I digress, the point of this blog was to be stoves and Narrowboats.
To install a stove to regulation requirements usually requires a flue (chimney) of at least 4 mtrs high from the top of the stove to the terminal. The flue, where at all possible, if made of metal, should also be insulated.
There is every chance that if these factors aren't met, then the flue will "downdraught" i.e. smoke will come into the area where the stove is fitted.
All narrowboats that I have seen have an effective flue height of only 1.7mtr! More to the point they are uninsulated metallic flues as well.
In theory these flues will be problematic to say the least.
Yet, every narrowboat with solid fuel seems to work quite adequately.
So, I wondered how a stove would perform with reduced flue height and burn Green Dragon Fuel.
The video below shows this simply, "Heath Robinson" installation. It by no way complies with any regulations and was set up and monitored by qualified professional people. In other words DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!

You can see, not only is the flame picture wonderful with the Green Dragon Fuel, it is not smoking back through the door and more to the point, the flue terminal shows a lovely clean burn.

(I aplogise for the quality of the video, Mr. Spielberg I am not!)

So, although the installation does not comply with current HETAS residential regulations, it does work! More over, it works very well with Green Dragon Fuels.

Give it a try, I'm sure you will not be disappointed!!

Green Dragon Fuel

We are proud to announce that we will be stocking solid fuel manufactured from sustainable sources.

I'll let Green Dragon explain what and who they are. All copyright and source materials are used with permission from Green Dragon Fuels. All rights reserved.

What is Green Dragon Fuel?

Green Dragon Fuel is a totally new and unique solid ‘green’ fuel made from the by-product of Phoenix Fuel’s bio-diesel process. It can be used on boilers, stoves and open fires instead of wood or coal and burns three times longer than logs, giving off twice the heat!

• The solid ingots of the bio fuel are actually GREEN in colour as well as truly green in credentials.
• Formed from the remnants of Rapeseed which has been grown and harvested for it's oil, the stems and husks are processed to form a solid fuel block (ingot).
• This block is dried and contains a significant calorific value (it burns well!).
• Producing TWICE the heat of traditional wood, each 2.5Kg ingot can burn for up to 3 hours, drastically reducing the refuelling rate of your appliance.
• Each block is hexagonal in shape, each ingot can easily be split into four quadrants if you require a smaller "log".
• The shape of the ingot makes stacking of the product exceptionally easy, no more logs rolling off onto the floor!

There is the option of buying the ingots in 1.25kg (half ingot) form either individually or in box quantities. However, we suggest that you keep up your green credentials and buy the fuel loose; why have a box when you can simply carry the product in a re-usable bag?

Full details of Green dragon can be found here - http://www.greendragonfuel.co.uk/gdfuel.htm.

We are proud to announce that we are both a supplier and distributor of this wonderful new fuel. Our website http://www.hwood.co.uk/ will carry full details soon.

On a personal note I have tested this product fully at home, the video link here shows a 1/2 ingot burning ... in my humble opinion and I have burnt a full ingot ... 1/2 is more than enough for the average room!

My stove delivers 6kw at maximum burn. I do not have the tech to say what the stove is delivering when burning a 1/2 ingot, all I can tell you is that the heat is awesome ... way in excess of any wood burning or smokeless fuel burning that I have tried.

Living with a multifuel stove

They say a picture can say a thousand words. I'll set the scene, raining, dark, cold, central heating turned off.

Sounds miserable? Indeed it does.

Unless you have a multifuel or woodburning stove!

I'm lucky enough to have the fantastic Firebelly FB1 multifuel stove installed from our range of stoves. I installed it with my engineers (check out http://www.hwood.co.uk/).

I light it every night when I come in from work (5 ish), once lit and working (after 1/2hr ish) the living room is lovely and warm.

Our heating does not need to be on after that point... so for the rest of the evening the warmth from the stove permeates around my ground floor (some 720 square feet), it trickles upstairs ... the flue (chimney) naturally passes through my eldest daugthers room, this naturally warms the room.

So ... for the past four week since installing this stove I have not used my gas heating (high efficiency band A boiler) at all during the evenings.

We burn seasoned timber from managed sources and now ... well now, we have just found a fantastic supplier of biofuel logs form from the remenants of rapeseed oil production.

More about the biofuel in the next post.

The enclosed picture is untouched, enjoy :-)

Using wood for heating - Climate Change bill highlights this!

On the 14th November 2007, the House of Lords introduced the CLIMATE CHANGE BILL. This ensures that the Secretary of State has a duty to reduce the NET carbon emissions of the UK in 2050 to 60% of the "targeted" greenhouses gases measured in 1990.

PHEW!!!! Why, oh why, can't they use simple English?

Logically, it is now seen that wood based fuels (biomass, natural timbers) and hence wood burning appliances can be a major part of the reduction process.

Think of it this way, in an existing dwelling, usually pre 1950, you can normally find a traditional brick built chimney.

This chimney is sometimes utilised for an existing open flued, highly inefficient gas or smokeless fuel (solid fuel) appliance (PRIMARY HEATING). Upgrading this appliance to a NEW higher efficiency wood or wood pellet HEATING stove will both lower NETT carbon emissions, it is usually the EASIEST way to introduce RENEWABLE energy sources to the home and, with few exceptions, the picture from the firebox (flames) are a real heart warming sight!

If the chimney is utilised for a gas fire (SECONDARY HEATING), then testing and altering the installation to suit a wood or wood pellet NON HEATING stove can both aethestically improve the looks of the room in which it is situated and also, naturally lower the NETT carbon emission of the property.

Wood and timber is easily sourced for the majority of us. There are also a vast array of online suppliers of suitable fuels, should easy access to a local source not be available.. However, local sources are sometimes FREE, thus overall heating costs are also reduced.

Thus if wood or wood products are used, ALONGSIDE high efficiency gas (or oil) boilers and even possibly with other renewables such as AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMPS or SOLAR, the carbon footprint of the house can be dramatically reduced.

Our company specialises in SOLID FUEL, GAS and RENEWABLE installations. Just email me -

phil@ hwood.co.uk

I'll help wherever I can.

As a note I have an AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMP (ASHP) fitted at home, in tandem with a BAND A high efficiency gas boiler. I am also fitting a FIREBELLY wood burning stove to suppliment my heating. A further blog will be coming regarding the ASHP; it's installation and full running details.

Exciting new products - Firebelly stoves

We are currently in the process of upgrading our showroom and showhouse to accommodate two installations of fantastic designer stoves from the innovative GB company - FIREBELLY. These stoves are solid fuel fired, naturally suited for timber but multifuel options can be purchased.

We will be installing a FB stove in our showroom within a SHIRESTONE Large Wingfield Inglenook fireplace. This display will be a "standing display"; in other words it will not be working. None-the-less I think it will look fabulous!!

We will also be installing a FB1 (Hopefully, flue tests permitting) into our SHOWHOUSE. This will be installed in to a Fabulous Fireplaces custom built inglenook fireplace formed from Black Granite and pure white Agean marble. This will be a live display, demonstrating the heat output and operation of the FB1.

Photos of both installations will follow as soon as they are completed.

Watch this space.