Open Fire or Wood Burner for large victorian lounge

[whichonespink]

Hi all,

I am currently renovating my living room. It’s an old Victorian house with a large room (5m x 5m) and very high ceilings. I have just taken out the previous owners old 60's brick and gas fire and want to replace it with something fitting with the grandeur of ornate coving and door frames. The chimney breast is about 2.25m across so it needs something substantial to fill it. I was thinking of a large open fire place with grate and fire dogs etc but due to the limited efficiency of open fires, large single glazed windows, high ceilings and draughty floor boards. I am thinking of maybe a wood burner might be a better option for heating the room and maybe the adjacent hall. However, I just don’t think this would look right for the look I think want to achieve.

To be honest I am having trouble picturing log burner within a large Victorian fire surround. I imagine log burners more suited to country cottage that grand Victorian.

If anyone has either a large burner or open fire in their Victorian lounge then I would be very interesting in seeing some photos. Also how do you find it heats the place?

Thanks

Edited by whichonespink on Thursday 8th April 11:12

[E31Shrew]

We have the same problem. Our house, sadly is a 'listed' Arts and Crafts gaff. We ended up putting goppy open gas fires in, living flame type. The costs of putting flues in a three storey building would've meant scaffolding at a price of around £1000.00 plus the log burners. We also have to put up with windows that allow the curtains to fly horizontally when the wind blows and 1930's rads. Oh joy

[phib]

We have a 7m x 4m lounge and knocked the wall out and pit in a replica inglenook, the opening is about 1.9m accross and the woodburner is a hunter herald 14 it now heats half the bottom of the whole house 500 sqft. Its so hot half the time I need to wear shorts !! much much better than the old opn fire we had any questions ask away

Phib


http://www.harridgestoves.co.uk/prod/179/hunter-he...

[Dr_Rick]

We did the same in our current place. 4m x 5m x 3m room with large proportion of single glazed sash-case windows. We found the determining factor for insert or stove was the size of the flue. Having swept the flue we found that the required liner for an open fire was too big for the flue that was in place; 6" flue and the open fire required a 7" liner or thereabouts, the stove required a 5" liner.

So we installed a Scan 4-5 Anderson stove and have been merrily burning stuff over this last winter. You do pay for it though. Our install was about £700 for the liner, and about £1,500 for the stove and labour.

One point is that you can leave the stove unattended with no fear of your house burning down. On the other hand, there is something about an open fire. Our next place is going to have an insert as opposed to a stove.

Dr Rick

[whichonespink]

Thanks for the reply guys,

Ours too is listed (Grade2) and three storey's (or is that stories)high so inserting a flue maybe expensive. I have had the chimney swept and have just put a fire basket in the hole for the moment but this is just a temp measure. Sometimes it actually feels warmer without the fire due to the draughts that the fire pulls in across the living room when lit. Hense my previous post regarding floor vents near fire.

Looks like there is some thinking to be done but i am still not convinced a wood burner would look right in there. The picture above looks really cool (thanks for posting)but the house/decore looks a lot more modern that ours.

[zcacogp]

Good Q.

We have a Victorian terrace in London, and much as I would love to put a woodburning stone in I know it wouldn't suit the house.

Hence I am sticking with the current fireplace. It's great ... but not as great as a woodburner would be.


Oli.

[skeeterm5]

I think the choice can boil down to a simple question;

Do you want the most efficient heating in the room? If so, a woodburner is much better than open fire.

However, IMHO nothing beats an open fire for looks, sounds, feeling etc. Thats why we chose an open fire in our old geogian house.

We do have rads in the room too so absolute heat output isnt a major concern for us.

S

[Rotaree]

My last house was a huge old Victorian pile with 11' ceilings and we had open fires and found them very effective but only really with coal rather than wood - it was occasionally so warm we'd end up opening windows! However in the 'new' house (about 800 years old!) it has woodburners which I have to agree are more efficient - if nothing else we get through a lot less fuel than we used to. Perhaps an idea would be to have look through Google images at woodburners and see if any of them look like the sort of situation that you are looking for.

[sparkythecat]

Carnwood are a UK company who make bloody good stoves. Have a look at their website - they have an interactive planner that may help you.
Link

[rlw]

When did you last clean up coal dust and ash from your sitting room carpet? If you have a wood burner or similar, the answer is not for a long time. Coal is evil and makes a filthy mess.

[Mobile Chicane]

Aga (the cooker manufacturer) also makes woodburning stoves. Some of these are very 'Victorian' looking, and may well fit the bill from a design point of view.

[Rollin]

I'm currently fitting a fire surround and woodburner in my victorian house. It won't be finished for a couple of months, but I'll post some photos when finished. I'm picking a stove with the largest window possible to maximum view of flames and have a large antique cast iron fire surround.

I was going to fit the required vent behind the stove, but have been advised not to do so. Stove supplier said that cold air is sucked in against the hot stove which can cause stresses in the castings.