Willow and Wood Burner

Here is a picture of Willow giving her seal of approval to our woodburner.  This is one of those instances where we find ourselves repeatedly saying, ‘Why didn’t we get one of these sooner?’ or, ‘This is revolutionary!’  Before getting our Hunter stove we hardly ever used this room.  We had an open basket type fire which didn’t draw well, the room would usually fill with smoke straightaway and we all had to evacuate until it got going.  Once going we seemed to be burning an awful lot of stuff without the room ever really getting warm.  The other downside is if you have a dog that’s in the habit of sitting as close to a fire as they can, even though it’s obvious they are scorchingly hot and can’t stop panting, their fur tends to set alight – not a good smell! 

So here is Willow, fur intact, enjoying this piece of kit.  Of course, in some respects it’s old fashioned technology, the new bit is the clean burn system which means they always look pretty and the windows don’t blacken and fuel burns slowly and efficiently.  This particular model the Hunter  Herald 6 has an output of 6.5 Kilowatts, more than enough to keep us warm in here.  We chose this particular model because it comes with the option of a back-boiler which can heat a further two radiators and we like to keep these sorts of options open.  They come in a variety of styles and sizes according to your needs, there are also some different, but not radical, colour options.  When costing them you need to bear in mind that the stove pipe is usually sold separately (due to variations in length, width needs etc.) and you may also need a flue liner for the chimney.  Buy them in Summer, long before you need them, they tend to sell out like hot cakes just before Christmas.

I’m going to be looking at wood management and the potential of woodburners in a sustainable lifestyle in my next post on this topic.  Please remember to be responsible firestarters and keep your chimneys swept!