advice please

[daveymac55]

hi everybody, just a wee bit of advice please regarding heating my wee house, currently relying on a wood burning stove for heat, hot water etc, only problem is the fumes/smoke are killing me, I have both bronchiectasis and asthma. So now my query is, do I go for oil fired or gas fired heating? As I live in the middle of nowhere town gas is'nt an option, it would be Calor or similar, any suggestions as to which will be better for my long term health please? Thanks in anticipation

[onamission]

hi Daveymac I know how you feel l live in a village not far from a coal mine.

Mr m is the best one to advise but I think you can get smokeless coal

[daveymac55 in reply to onamission]

Hiya, yes I never even thought of smokeless coal until you mentioned it! So thanks for that, will try it for a week or so and see how things go.

[onamission in reply to daveymac55]

Mr m has just had a log burner fitted it is his only source of heating. He did lots of recherché on fires chimneys and coal

[Hidden]

Hi daveymac. I had to stop using my wood burning stove because of the increased reactions that I was getting to it. I have bronchiectasis. My central heating was oil and hot water, electricity. I then moved to a bungalow and joy of joys! town gas central heating and water. The issue with both oil and Calor is the price. Oil can go up but can also go down and there are some very efficient boilers out there now. Calor has always been expensive.

[daveymac55 in reply to Hidden]

Hi, yes everything is so damn expensive it seems, I am going to try smokeless coal for a week or so to see if that changes things, if not probably oil fired, thankyou for taking the time to reply.

[stone-UK]

Hi

Price comparison.

nottenergy.com/energy_cost_...

Calor seems a cleaner option. Health wise.

Installation cost and delivery are options to consider.

[daveymac55 in reply to stone-UK]

Hi, thanks for that, I am going to try smokeless coal for a few days (cheaper option) but if needs must I will probably go for oil fired.

[fastball]

My daughter has a wood burner she has no fumes or smoke. The only thing i can think is have you got a chimney. My daughters was put in at the same time as her wood burner. It is also a duel fuel so she can smokeless coal also.If you are using an existing chimney it could need sweeping. More info needed.

Chris

[daveymac55 in reply to fastball]

Hi Chris, yes I do have a chimney and it is lined with a stainless steel pipe fitted when the stove was installed, I sweep the chimney several times a year to prevent buildup of crap. I have just checked the info on the stove and it is multi fuel so I am going to try the smokeless coal and see how I get on.

[Hidden]

Know when you lght the fire do you use a fan to get rid of the smoke when you first light it as that was what my father and gran used when they first light theyer fire just to get rid of the smoke

[mmzetor]

hi Davey I just as onamission said I have just had a multi fuel stove fitted this summer I have a council bungalow with electric heating that cost a fortune to run , the stove heats the whole bungalow I have always had stoves or open fires if you are getting smoke or fumes into the house there is either a problem with the stove . chimney , or the wood , I read you have the chimney swept regularly so that should be clear do you have sufficient draft to take the smoke away and push it up the chimney , part of building regulations say if you fit a stove over 5 kw you have to have a vent from out side to get sufficient draft didn't use to need it before the days of double glazing and houses being insulated , also you could be getting a down draft blowing down the chimney a cowl on the top of the chimney will fix that , is your wood well seasoned moisture content needs to be ideally 20% or less you can buy a moisture meter for a few pounds to check logs are dry enough . if they aren't dry that can cause smoke ,do you have a carbon monoxide alarm fitted in the room as that is also part of the building regs since 2010 , I burn both logs and smokeless coal I use taybrite smokeless coal good heat out put and last for hours , I think before I went to the expense of fitting other heating I would have a hetas engineer come check the stove to see why you are getting smoke and fumes as this shouldn't be happening , you can find a hetas engineer in your area by going on the hetas website hetas.co.uk/find-installer/ they are fully trained and certificated as competent to do the job , best thing we done was having the stove fitted its toasty warm and no smells , hope this help you , by the way we had oil and open fire before we got the bungalow found oil was ok with the copd but the price can varies a lot , if you do decide on oil ring round suppliers check boilerjuice.com/ get a quote of there tell the companies you ring round then they will normal beat it , we used the same supplyer but from the first call to them and their first quote then ringing round we could get upto £40.00 knocked of the quote when we rang back again and told them what we could get it for from other people ,

[JP1954]

Well we live in a house away from mains gas and the houses here have, for central heating:

Oil

Calor gas

Warm air pump (have no idea how that works)

Economy 7 or is it 8 with solar panel for hot water.

If your planning to use your stove and if it is compatible then it would have to be smokeless coal and maybe solar panel for hot water.

Difficult though.

JP

[Hidden]

I ment to say an extrator fan by a window or a window fan

[mmzetor in reply to Hidden]

don't what to sound critical david but an extractor fan isn't a good idea with a fire as it sucks the air down the chimney causing more smoke you need the air coming in to push the smoke up the chimney that's why they fit air vents in now ,

[Hidden in reply to mmzetor]

Car still off the road i was saying to the wife the other day this is the second citroen we have had and borth been no good i did find out one thing that when you change the fuel injctors you got to change all of the studs as well as they are strech ones as i remember you told me your son had a citroen i thought i just tell you

[mmzetor in reply to Hidden]

ok thank you david , he is still using it his sounds rough when on tick over but once it gets going its not to bad he has another engine to put in his , he had clutch cable go the other day , you don't sound to be having a lot of luck with yours what year is your car

[Hidden in reply to mmzetor]

Well did get it going for about 5mins but smoke you could not see the street what so ever then it cleard up but one injector was puffing away like a train which was number one so loseing compretion so had to stop could not find out why it was doing it so i teixt citroen in france as my local dealer did not know and that is how i found out about the studs so waiting for them to come if it dos not work then may be time to send to the breakers .as do every thing to it new this new that cheqec timeing over and over so this is the last straw

[Hidden]

Yes you are right but the only time you get smoke in the room were the fire is when you first light the fire as if it is a log fire and most people keep the logs out side they get damp and some get wet and people still try to light them same with coal that is why if you got a open fire or a rayburn fire you should allways keep at lest two suttels of coal by the side of the fire so you have allways got dry coal or logs but people do not do that the extrator fan is only put on for a short lenth of time like 5 or 6 mins if you get to much smoke in the room the same as if you use a fan in your kichen and you use gas as if you yous gas for cooking and you have the fan on you will see the flame change that is because you are drawing the air out same thing happens when i go on my neb so before i can cook any thing i got to go on my nib then wait a few mins before i can cook .

[Bwebb]

Hi Davymac,

My two cents worth. I've heated with wood for over fifty years and the main problem, so my doctors say, is that it dries out the air too much. I have copd pretty bad. In the states we have natural gas or liquified petroleum along with oil and electricity for choices. Gas seems to be the cleanest. We do much better with several humidifyers running in the house all winter. Maybe, with whatever else you choose could see if that helps.

Good luck, hope you get some relief.

B.

[Petto]

Are you Registered Disabled? If so, in England, you can get grants for new boilers visit

topboilergrants.co.uk/ I think there's something similar in Scotland

So whether you go for oil or gas, I would investigate getting the boiler on a grant That'll help wont it?

Good luck

Petto