Wonder if anyone can help ?
I'm looking to install a woodburner or create a 'cheminée' in a room which has an empty wall in a living room with a flue which was blocked up 20 years ago when the previous proprietors took out the fireplace to install central heating. The chimney etc seems fine so it would normally be a case of connecting back up to the original chinmey flue (I would imagine).
I would like to know your advice on companies who supply & fit woodburners. I have a Brisach in my town as well as Cheminées Chazelles & others in Limoges. Just wondering if you could recommend a company as well as nice woodburners. I'm looking for something modern & stylish and not something like a traditional Godin-type system (done that & got the T shirt etc).
Many thanks
Just an update on the woodburner.
My new woodburner, the SCAN 1000 has been working a couple of weeks now and it is brill ! It's transformed my place into an oven. I don't really need the central heating at the moment as the heat permeates through the accommodation without a fan etc
Thanks for all your contributions to this topic.
I can let you have some logs if you care to fetch 'em ;-)
Just to thank everyone who contributed to my discussion regarding woodburners. All proposed avenues were explored resulting in a newly fitted woodburner installed by Rene Brisach who happen to have a showroom in town. They re-opened an existing flue and made certain modoifications to ensure modern safety regs are respected. Looking forward to some cooler days in order to try out the new beast !
I always reckoned a small generator would be a good investment. A 2KW machine would have been a godsend at times. The chances of power cuts in this area are almost zero (famous last words !) nowadays so it's always seemed a waste of dosh.
We haven't been sans electricité long enough to be cold, plus the last time we had a 17 hrs power cut it was end of July so no heat was needed at that time.
You could, of course, get yourself a 12v dc - 230v ac inverter to run it if power cuts were a regular occurrence. The 'leccy power requirements can't be that great.
Nigel is a bit too busy at the moment to talk to the likes of me :-)
Fire? What Fire? We never even had two sticks to rub together to make one!
Times must have been tough when you were young Vic ?
Sounds excellent value Marie-A. This is your only source of heating whereas I already have central heating which changes the criteria a bit. If I had no other heat source your system would probably be more beneficial to my property. Thanks for the info. The more I delve into this subject the more I realise I know very little about the subject ! All the feedback i'm receiving is a mine of information.
Thanks Alex, valid points about the electricity aspect etc. Never considered that side of it. They have some nice woodburners plus a shop in nearby Limoges which will be visited very soon !
Best wishes
We have pellet stoves, the brand is Ecoforest it is manufactured in Spain, it comes on by itself in the morning at 7 as we have programed it and shut off at 11 in the evening we buy bags of pellets at around 4 euros for a 15 kilo bag, they are available at many DIY stores as well as garden stores. We actually have 2 one is a poële and the other one is a fireplace insert.
We have had the poële for a couple of years when we decided to purchase the fireplace insert we have had no problem with either of them, the Ecoforest makes less noise than the other pellet stove, an Italian brand, available locally. The glass door allow viewing the flames, the thermostat allows settings for a week in advance, last year our total heating cost was 644 euros plus the electricity for running the fans for the 2 heating units, they are our only mean of heating for our 160m2 house and we have been very comfortable we live in an old wine pressoir with thick stone wall.
The installer cleaned the chimney and put a steel pipe inside .
They must have lost the hang of it- ask Nigel Farage to explain his theory!
They managed to light a fire in 1666 :-)
Yes- but bear in mind the high resin content of pine. I tried reconstituted longue duree artificial logs overnight in a very inexpensive stove and they were still glowing in the morning. A bog is about 6-7 euros. Chuck in a bit of paper and some kindling and away you go. I love it when we have visitors from London and they try to light a fire!
Peter,
You could try Wanders :
http://www.wanders.fr/points-de-vente/agences-wanders-dans-la-correze-19/?dpt=19
Although in the end, I didn't buy from them, they will fit and install according to the regs - in fact, they will be reluctant to sell you a stove if they don't then fit it, bceause of the implied guarantees, i.e. if a fault develops, or a fire is caused, who is responsible ? The device reseller, or the fitter ? By doing everything they cover both themselves, and by extension, you (at least that is what they told me). They have a reasonable range of modern, granulate-burning fires too. My main issue with that kind of stove is that it still requires electricity to run, the ignition is electronique, and when your power goes down, as it so often does here in the winter or during the storms (like yesterday), a stove that requires electricity to provide you heat (even if it is only emergency heat) is just a white elephant in my eyes.
Points well made! A brand new kitchen to one owner's taste is very frequently the exact opposite of the next owner's. In London we did up hundreds of houses ripping out perfectly good kitchens that would far exceed most seen in any French owned house (certainly here in Finistere)You can see amazing kitchens in London and all they do is heat up expensive takeaways. The old ripped out London kitchens are recycled by builders and others.
We used Stovesellers when we purchased our wood burner and they also swept and installed the new flue, chimney and stove. We got the Efel Stanford 12 and it is absolutely brilliant. Lights in just 5 mins, easy to control and always stays alight overnight (load with 4 logs at 2100 and top up at 0800).
http://www.stovesellers.com/woodburning-stoves/
Hope this helps,
Rgds, Mike L
Thanks Tony, the service sounds brill. Unfortunately Condom is about a five hour drive from me so I reckon their transport costs etc would be astronomical !