Wood stove in sitting room

Gas central heating on low at 14°C throughout winter

objectives

• To find a woodburning stove that would fit inside existing Victorian fireplace – previously the small open fire didn’t heat the room and was rarely used & room was very draughty

• To find a heating solution that makes the house comfortable without using lots of gas

• Energy security – to have a source of heat during power cuts

• Environmental values - demonstrate the values of the family

The small wood stove in the sitting room is used to provide a comfortable temperature of 18-20°C for sitting around watching TV, reading etc. The gas central heating radiators provide a low background heat of 14°C throughout the winter all day and all night. This uses the thermal mass of the thick stone walls of this Victorian 3-bed semi to maintain a comfortable temperature. The winter of 2010/11 was very cold but the house was always comfortable and less gas was used than the previous winter of 2009/10 which was also cold but where the CH thermostat was set at 16°C and was only on for a few hours in the morning and evening of each day.

The owners have lived in the house since 1987 and the house is occupied all day. Hot water is provided from spring to autumn by solar panels on the south facing roof - in winter they effectively only pre-heat the water. In August 2011, solar PV panels were fitted to the roof and electricity consumption from the grid has been reduced.

The woodburning stove burns seasoned logs and requires logs of less than 25% moisture content. Ash seedlings are allowed to grow in the garden to provide a home-grown wood supply and trees are also scavenged from neighbouring gardens – these are cut and stored until they are dry enough to burn. Commercial logs are also sourced as locally as possible to reduce the road miles in transporting them. In a few years it is hoped to obtain firewood from the local community woodland which will soon require thinning – this woodland is predominantly ash which is excellent for burning. Waste ash is composted or spread onto unsurfaced road in front of house when icy.

actions • Local woodburning stove shop opened up in the town, so called in to find out if anything would fit inside the existing fireplace

• Fireplace would have to be dismantled first in order to fit the flue and the stove

• Due to regulations, the hearth had to be raised 25mm above the surrounding wooden floor and the wooden parts of the fireplace had to be 300mm from sides of the stove

• Prospect of major disruption meant installation delayed a year while other work done to the sitting room and adjoining kitchen – suspended wooden floors insulated with Ecofirst 140mm thick sheep’s wool insulation and also treated with Borax for woodworm

• The stove was fitted March 2009, stove £500, flue & installation £2,500

• A wood shelter to dry scavenged green wood was built in the garden from a discarded shed found on the allotments

achievements • Have reduced gas consumption each year for the past two years and have achieved a comfortable house 24 hours a day throughout the coldest winter for 31 years. Gas bills for 6 month period November 2010 to April 2011 totalled £300. Three truckloads of wood cost £200. Have also changed electricity supplier to Green Energy UK.

September 2011

Contact: Woodland Officer (Woodfuel) 01296 696543 Southeast.fce@forestry.gsi.gov.uk www.forestry.gov.uk/england

key facts

• The stove is a matt black 3.75kW Stockton 3 woodburner from Stovax, it was chosen because it was the only stove that could be found that fitted within the Victorian tiled cast iron surround.

• The stove can only take small logs, maximum 20cm (8”) long so bought-in wood has to be specified to be short 6” long logs only.

• The CH is from a condensing gas boiler in the ground floor bathroom. There are two heating zones within the house with the bathroom having an independent thermostat set at 18°C with the rest of the house set at 14°C. The thermostats can be set for different temperatures at different times of day but currently from November to March they are set at a constant temperature 24 hours a day and the thermal mass of the building is kept at a constant temperature. The stove raises the temperature of the sitting room and the adjoining kitchen to a comfortable 18-20°C.

• There is an old stone-built pig-sty at the bottom of the long garden for storing bought-in wood with a capacity of three truck loads - enough for a single winter - logs have to be wheelbarrowed to the store. There is also a wooden open-sided shelter for drying locally scavenged green wood and several sheltered piles of small branches suitable for kindling around the garden.

• Each day, logs and kindling are carried inside using a wicker basket, the stove is laid, the glass cleaned and the stove is lit about 4pm and is kept in until bed-time, it needs a new log every hour. The log capacity of the stove isn’t big enough to be banked up to keep alight all night.

• Ash trees naturally spring up around the garden and these are retained in convenient locations with the intention of coppicing them for a secure supply of good firewood. Ash can be successfully burnt after being stored for only 1 year.

• The local Centenary Woodland is a community woodland owned by Oxfordshire County Council and will soon be ready for thinning – this will become an excellent source of local firewood.

• There are 20 Kinspan solar thermal tubes on the south-facing roof that provide good hot water from spring to autumn and pre-heat the water in winter.

• There are 7 Sanyo solar PV panels on the south-facing roof, these have a peak generating capacity of 1.68kW connected to a Power-One Aurora inverter.

partners funding Stove owner Private family

Stove installer: The Heat Store Ltd

Project cost: £3,000 Funded by family

quotes “I love our woodburning stove – it is like another pet in the family which needs feeding and gives us love and warmth in return, you nurture it, you learn its foibles and it brings the sitting room alive” Stove owner

“I also love my Celtic Sheepskin boots – I have indoor and outdoor ones – and my merino wool vests - these are really soft, not scratchy at all and are like putting on a layer of fur - last winter the house was so comfortable at 14°C that I didn’t need to wear the long johns like the previous winter unless I was going out into the snow – maybe we could reduce the house temperature further still?“ Stove owner

“I use the Carbon Account website www.thecarbonaccount.com to monitor gas, electricity, and travel and it can show very effectively the impact of changes you make on your carbon footprint” Stove owner

lessons learnt • Chimney needs sweeping prior to installation of stove and each winter – cost £45 a year

• Need to find a good supply of dry wood close to home to avoid fossil fuel being used to deliver it – the local sustainability group helped locate a supply of local Cornbury wood

• Had to move thermostat for gas CH from kitchen near sitting room door to back hallway, now the stove can warm the kitchen too without turning CH off for the rest of the house

• Houses require different temperature zones - bathroom temperature needs to be high enough all year round to avoid dampness and condensation

• After solar thermal installed discovered the dampness problem in the bathroom, previously the towel rail had been heated at the same time as the hot water by the gas boiler. Had to replumb the towel rail to be heated directly by gas boiler, also installed a Ventaxia single room heat recovery fan in the bathroom to avoid losing heat via the fan

• Before investing in solar thermal you need to consider when you use hot water – new washing machines and dish washers are cold fill, so can’t take advantage of solar hot water, need to use water when it is hot i.e washing-up and bath/shower in the evening and probably none left for the morning. In winter stove useful to boil a kettle for washing-up.

• Solar thermal incurs additional electricity consumption due to pumping hot fluids around. – this can be offset by having solar PV panels which will be working at the same time