Wood Burner

[Akela Ben]

We have just moved into a property with a wood burner that supposedly heats the whole house. There is a dial on the side numbered 1 -5, I am presuming this controls how much heat is allowed up through the chimmney or something like that. Can someone give me some idea as there is no instruction book around.

Thanks and soory for sounding like a spam.

[NOG]

Are you sure it not a Brayburn...ie a burner with a watertank behind? so the fire heats the water and you either use it as washing water or central heating?

[SarzWix]

We have just moved into a property with a wood burner that supposedly heats the whole house. There is a dial on the side numbered 1 -5, I am presuming this controls how much heat is allowed up through the chimmney or something like that. Can someone give me some idea as there is no instruction book around.

Thanks and soory for sounding like a spam.

Is there anything on it that says what make the woodburner is? Does it run radiators, or is it supposed to heat the house just with it's own heat?
It could be that the dial controls how much heat goes to the radiators if you have any? Have you tried turning it right down to see if the rest of the house/radiators get colder?

[scarey55]

I have woodburner in my house and it doesn't have any controls on it apart from the slider thingy at athe bottom to let more air in. As the others have said, perhaps it is also running the rads.

Can you tell us what make and model - perhaps someone will have a manual somewhere, or can get one off t'internet.

[Headfry]

can you post a photo if you can't find out what make it is? It's possible that it has some kind of damper in the flue?

[yoanbob]

my parents have a multi fuel stove that runs the heating and water, the actual water tank though is in another part of the house and they have a back up emersion heater for the summer when they dont need a fire but still need hot water.
so unless you knew which buttons worked what it would be hard to figure out.
so questons,
1, are there any swithches with or without lights that maybe look like single light switches or fridge switches near the burner? ( if you have radiators you will need a pump to pump the hot water around so there should be a switch)
2, does it power the hot water? ( if so there will be a second switch)
3, if it powers the whole house there will be a lever on the flu, usually behind the burner or on the flu (flu: its a visable pipe going up the chimney) this is the chimney air regulator, it controlls the amount of air and heat going up the chimney.) it is somtimes on the top of the back of the burner and somtimes on the flu.
4, are you sure its just wood buning and not multi fuel? unless its a small terrace it will proberbly be multi fuel. look it up.

Ok first locate the flu lever and pull it towards you, this is the open position,(usually but not allways you may need to experiment but its the usuall way) put in your fire lighters and wood, close the doors, leave till the flames die down but the fire is still lit, this will depend on the amount of wind, then open the doors again and put in more wood or smokeless fuel or coal, (if its multi fuel, if not more wood) then push the flu lever away from you, and this is the tricky part, then pull it back a notch, on most its about a cm or two but it depends on the wind and how sheltered your house is, less sheltered and less wind means the more you pull it towards you ( the wood burns faster and more heat goes up the chimney if you do it too far, it goes out if there isnt enough air)
then turn on the pump for the raidators and or the hot water.
and keep an eye on the fuel level, ( it may sound hard work but you will pick it up pretty quickly dont worry.)
every time you open the doors of the burner make sure the flu lever is open otherwise the house will fill with smoke, and make sure you close it after you shut the doors or it will cost you a fortune to heat the atmosphere.
the dial 1-5 is the air flow through the bottom and is a fine tuner to the flu controll, it usually means 1 warm 5 very hot.
we have had situations where the fire is so hot it has melted the bars and we had to shovel the coal out in a wheel barrow, but we are talking a big house and a big burner. in the 25 yrs they have lived there they replaced the bars twice, then they couldnt get them anymore and replaced the burner.

sorry if thats a bit patronising but I was just thinking of how I explained it to my Husband when he was put in charge of fire duty at xmas the first time.
my parents burner powres 8 big double radiators so yours may be a bit easier.

dont forget to empty the ash tray underneath in to the compost before starting a new fire, and it wont take you long to figure out how to keep the fire in all night and the heating on low in winter.