Thatās an interesting idea @Wozza . We havenāt done that. Did you insulate immediately above the throat plate (hope Iāve got the right word here) and what did you insulate with?
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Yes, a tad over our budget.
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Good idea @Stella Weāre all having a get together this weekend so Iāll definitely tap them for info 
. (adding log burners to the growing list of things to ask them, like a recommendation for a local plumber, window companiesā¦)
Thanks @Wozza . We used a few online calculators to get the KW output. It will likely be a secondary heat source but weāre fortunate enough to have an unlimited supply of wood so it may become our primary. Iām not intending to cook on it, but having experienced two (almost) week long power-cuts in Scotland with sub-zero temperatures and several feet of snow, I know the merits of being able to cook on a wood burner so would prefer a flat top to accommodate a pan in an emergency (although we now have a gas camping stove too!). The bathroom can wait but the double glazing definitely canāt
Yes - excellent idea about the insulation @Wozza - we will do that.
Above an insert or wood burner is the first place to insulate, heat rises, a 1/4" of steel plate doesnāt give very much isolation with a void above ā¦ I did mine with sheets of fire-resistant fireboard, basically high-density rock fibre with a reflective aluminium sheet (the reflective sheet isnāt necessary but is part of the product). I pushed it up 3ā foot into the chimney space, do this and youāll notice the difference, especially in the morning when you come down to a warm living room.
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Just glanced at leboncoin and spotted this ā¬1 for a s/h Jotul - whatās the catch?
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Good spot, but at the bottom of his listing he says āmake me an offerā so I guess the ā¬1 was to get attention. 
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The person quotes 3700ā¬ in the ad, to at least set expectations for an offer 
certainly not giving it away.
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Just skimming through leboncoin it looked as though one could get a reasonable s/h poĆŖle for well under ā¬500.
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Dont forget that the kW rating of a woodburner has nothing (much) to do with its heat output,. That primarily depends on what you are burning, well seasoned oak will deliver a lot more heat than dry silver birch for example.
Having owned a few over the years, I prefer welded steel (boilerplate) to cast iron
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Does make a big difference though.
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Yes, though very very minimal with 3ā of it. If I calculated the reflectivity heat the thermal mast would always be greater and the reflectiveness be insignificant
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Would you agree with the following information? Obviously it works better at some frequencies than others.
Does aluminium foil reflect heat? | Homework.Study.com.
Above a fireplace or in the chimney no, itās just thermal mass, alu in fire board is very thin so basically nothing to add with its own properties
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Thatās why we got a flat top and it has proved extremely useful in power cuts (which we used to have here quite a lot, although they have diminished.) I even got into the habit, in the winter, of doing pot-roasts and stews on there as the kind of temperature variations you can get seem (in my opinion) to improve the flavour.
The other thing we have started to do recently is to cook inside it (with the door open) as a kind of barbecue in wet weather. Making a normal wood fire and letting it burn down gives excellent barbecue coals.
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Then I shall agree to disagree, thin foil based insulation boards reflect around 95% of the infra red whereas bulk insulation works by conduction but the sum of the two parts is greater.
Iām surprised. For me, oak is a cold sulky burn.
We burn oak exclusively and have done for 16 years. Perhaps your oak wasnāt dry enough?
Certainly wouldnāt describe it as cold and sulky.
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With a log burner the heat we get seems to depend a lot on how it burns. With everything open and lots of flames much of the heat goes up the chimney. With the stove closed down a lot and the wood glowing there is much more heat. It often needs a big load to get to temperature at first, but once properly hot needs less fuel to maintain the heat.
Taking the comments about oak, this is particularly true for that, where it seems best as glowing charcoal rather than brightly flaming.
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