When we first got the keys to our new home the log burner in the living room was a neat little thing, but it looked out of proportion with the room and also with what we were expecting from it.
We don't want to use the central heating unless we really have too, so with the warmth of the Aga permeating through the house we needed something that would quickly throw out large chunks of extra heat when needed and then settle down and keep the house at a steady warmth. As you can see from the picture above we had to stoke the little log burner high and keep feeding the tiny space with wood to keep an even heat. As soon as you stopped stoking the heat fizzled and died no matter how you twiddled with it's little knobs and vents. Not what we needed at all.
Step in our new super duper log burner, also made by Aga.
As much as I love my Aga Lovely Hubby loves his Aga, she's actually the Much Wenlock Classic Multifuel model.
She fills the space so much better and her controls mean that she virtually stays in all through the night.
Cue LH with the first lighting ceremony ....
.... kneel back and watch those flames shoot up.
Steady warmth and less wood used to get an even heat, and once it gets going it just takes a log or two every hour to keep the heat even and then before bed we fill it to capacity and close off the vents. In the morning it is out but the warmth in the room tells you it's not been out for long.
At the end of each painting day it was lovely to sit back on our 'sofa' with a good book and relax for an hour before bed ....
... yes, this was our sofa for almost all our two weeks of hard labour. The real sofa was delivered the night before we left.
Coming soon ..... chicks, chicks, and more chicks as requested.
Sue xx
i must admit that burner looked piddly small in the first picture. Wonder if the last owners had it more for ornament use than practical use?
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They did use it regularly but as you can see it had a flue pipe that was too big, in fact we were able to reuse it for ours with a new liner, so I'm guessing they lost most of the heat straight up the chimney. They also had a wooden ceiling to the chimney opening, a real fire hazard, so we had to change that for a steel one for safety reasons.
DeleteThe woodburners looking good, not so sure about the sofa though:)
ReplyDeleteHaha .... neither were we, we had square bums by the end of each evening!!
DeleteI am suffering from log burner envy. You need one of the little whirly things we had on top of ours, leave the door open and it will push the heat out as well as keeping the room warm.
ReplyDeleteI sold ours when we moved from the cottage, I do so miss our woodburner....sigh.......
We did consider getting an Eco Fan (a little whirly thing) but as the log burner is sitting slightly forward into the room most of the rising hot air does get into the room, and we tend to put our black Aga kettle on the ring at the back to give us extra hot water, so the back heat isn't wasted at all.
DeleteLeaving the door open is okay for a few minutes if you really want to heat the room fast, but it means your wood burns much too quickly, the principle of Log Burners is that the body of the stove warms up and this is what fills your room and house with a constant warmth, it doesn't do this as well or as economically if you leave the door open.
I meant the door to the room, not the stove door, heaven forbid, you would have a dead finre in no time!!
DeleteHaha .... I see :-)
DeleteWe usually do keep doors open to let heat circulate round the house, that way we can leave the central heating off, well that and the fact that if we don't leave them open there's always a cat or dog waiting to be let in or out!!
Hi Sue! I am enjoying peeking at your new home! We have a fireplace in our living room, but I may have to look into getting a stove like yours to put inside. It seems to me that open fireplaces radiates heat right up the chimney! Since I live in Texas, we do not get to use ours except for the coldest of nights, but on those few days where the temperature gets to freezing, a real fire sure is nice! Looking forward to your future posts as you get moved in and settled!
ReplyDeleteWe have a burner in our dining room - a huge thing with built in fans along the top that we can switch on as needed. When we first moved up here we had it in our temp accomodation on site and it kept the entire thing toasty in the winter - aint doing the same now though. I think our mistake was to set it back in the fireplace because it seems to lose all its heat despite having the right size liner and a hood as well. Wish it worked like yours :(
ReplyDeletelove our wood burner also, but ours is an insert. If we ever have to buy another one, I would buy a large free standing one.
ReplyDeleteWe went for a top of the range one as well (ours is a clearview one though). I figure if I'm going to be looking at it for the next 20 years then it better be a good one! You get so much more control and they burn a lot less wood for the same heat. You wont regret buying a good one!
ReplyDeleteDo you really need furniture in this room?! Here it has such a purist Japanese feel. Lots of relaxed Zen and certainly lots of heat!
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful, I'm so envious, I'd love a wood burner. One day... I remember when we bought our first flat, we sat on the floor for ages, and we even slept on the floor for six weeks. It's all worth it
ReplyDeleteOh I love the 'sofa'. At least it has a couple of cushions! Sue.
ReplyDeleteI remember a similar 'sofa' set up in our house a few years back when ours went for upholstering. Fortunately thus time round we has our fold up chairs, and very comfy they were.
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