Info & Guides
Choosing The Right Stove
With so very many stoves on the market, it can be daunting at first wondering how to choose the right one. Like many before you, you may have taken to google to start your research. Wood burning over multifuel? What regulations do I need to consider? Do I need a certain size stove? What is Eco Design? So, let’s answer as many of these for you as we can.
Regulations
- First and foremost, let’s talk regulations as you may be seeing a lot of “Eco Design 2022 Ready” articles and information. The bodies that govern our industry, DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), HETAS (Heating Equipment Testing and Approvals Scheme) and SIA (Stove Industry Alliance), have introduced stricter guidelines. This concert efficiency levels and particulate matter by which a multitude of appliances manufactured after January 1st, 2022, must adhere to. These appliances are known as Eco Design Ready. Any stove that is manufactured before this date, may not meet these new regulations. However this does not mean you cannot have the stove, it simply means that if the manufacturer wishes to continue making this model, any manufactured after January 1st, 2022, must now be compliant. For a deeper look into Eco Design 2022, check out our regulation post here.
Eco Design
- The Eco Design regulations are not to be confused with DEFRA approvals. If you live in a larger town or city, you may live in a smoke control area and so if you were wanting a stove in your home, there is 1 extra criteria you must abide by, the stove must be DEFRA approved, but don’t worry as many are. To meet these standards, you will need to consider what it is that you are burning also. If you purchase a multifuel stove, you can of course burn wood and smokeless fuels but not coal. If you purchase a wood only stove, then as per the name, you will only burn wood. You can easily check if you live is a smoke-controlled area by contacting your local council or of course your local HETAS installer may already know from experience.
Fuel Type
- This brings us nicely to fuel type. The main thing we ask our customers is “what will you be burning?”. Some may answer with just wood, but others may go for a variety. It is important to consider this before purchasing a stove to get the best efficiency from the stove you buy. Multifuel stoves are certainly the most versatile and when used correctly you can get great output from whichever fuel you decide to burn. If you are solely going to be burning wood then you my prefer a wood only stove which is designed exactly for this purpose.
Size
- A big factor that will influence the stove you choose is the size you need for the room. This is both in physical size but also and more importantly kilowatt (kw) size. The output of a stove is measured in kw’s, much like radiators and electric heaters. This is a guide as to the power that the stove will put out each hour into your room – therefore a 5kw stove for instance will deliver about 5kw’s of heat per hour into your room. There is a simple calculation that can be done to work out what kw you need but, to simplify this even more, we have created a calculator for you below. It is always best to confirm with your installer what kw size to go for and do note that if you opt for a higher kw stove than what you need, this is not actually a benefit to you. 5kw stoves are the most popular stove size in the UK as this is generally what most spaces require and is more than sufficient to heat your room to a comfortable temperature.
Find our output calculator here.
- The physical size will also matter to where you are installing your stove. If you have an existing fireplace, this will help to limit the options you have but you may also be able to open this wider or place the stove more into the room. Both options you can discuss with your HETAS installer.
Are you replacing a heat source?
- Will the stove you purchase replace your boiler to heat radiators and hot water? Boiler stoves are generally wood burning stoves with a water boiler at the back of the burning chamber. This allows some of the heat to be used to circulate through to your central heating system and hot water system; they really can heat your whole home at a fraction of the cost of gas and other forms of heating. Sizing a boiler stove can be trickier to gauge, as you will also need to factor in how much heat goes to your radiators and to water, and so is best left to an experienced engineer. As an estimate a 120L hot water tank will require around 3kw and a large radiator (600x1200mm) would take around 2kw each.
Where to get advice...
- Once you have considered all the relevant factors you are left with a heavily reduced search criteria leaving only the style, efficiency and price. This is where you will find the help of our website and our team to narrow the search down from the 1000 or so fires we feature, we can work with you using our stove search to find your perfect stove.
Contact us to find the right stove for you.
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17th October 2022
