Mark_Hu

Good website, thanks

Rural Hungary

Grants ended a few years back.

Peter_in_Hungary

To put a back boiler into a tile stove will require the tile stove to be completely dismantled and rebuilt. This will be a messy and expensive job. Also as far as I know the regulations do not allow conversion of tile stoves to gas any more for safety reasons, although a new build might be possible. Tile stoves were converted to gas to avoid the problems with wood (availability, cost, carrying it up to the flat, dirt involved with burning wood....... the list goes on) Gas is not a good fuel to use with a tile stove as a tile stove performs as a storage heater and with out a cheap rate gas time (as with night rate electricity) there is no point and the efficiency will be low so expensive to run compared to a modern gas heater. Tile stoves were converted by putting a gas burner in as a cheap (installation) option for alternative heating when wood became too much trouble. Wood needs to be seasoned for 2 years to produce good fire wood otherwise burning it will result in tarred up stoves and chimneys. In a flat firewood storage will be a problem. Don't believe anything you are told by the seller about fire wood being seasoned - it isn't!! You can buy 'pelleted logs' made up from wood manufacturing processes, but these are expensive.

For a flat I would advise a gas combi boiler and conventional radiators and if you want to keep the tile stove for the weekends then use pelleted logs, but have the tile stove and chimney flue examined for suitability before going back to wood burning. Also investigate the local rules about chimney sweeping as required by the law.

Insulation is difficult in a flat as internal wall insulation is beginning to show more and more problems with condensation between the insulation and the wall and consequential damage to the structure and requires very careful attention to detail and expert installation to do it properly - which your typical builder (here or in the UK) does not do. However attention to doors and windows will pay dividends when it comes to fuel bills.

Mark_Hu

I think you have pretty much hit the nail(s) on the head. I would go along with with this. I buy two years wood supply every other year in February so it has 9 months to season the first year and 21 the second. The wood will have been cut maybe a couple of months before but little real seasoning takes place until it is split. I have a stack that wind can blow through, but even then there is still some moisture in the first year. It is a bit of a compromise but seems to be generally OK re soot etc. I think when wood is stacked against a wall etc, then possibly less seasoning occurs. I did in fact have a friend who had to take down his stack as he stacked straight after splitting and it started to go mouldy! So leave it in a pile for a month after splitting and just stand there with a beer and look at it occasionally before stacking!!

Rural Hungary

Depends on the type of wood and when it was felled. Winter felled wood has less moisture content that summer felled. You should also be careful not to over season as unlike a good wine, it doesn't necessarily improve with age and over seasoned wood will have lost much of it's energy.

richardmc

Other than OBI, Practika and Bricostore are there any other good outlets to buy woodburners. cheers

Peter_in_Hungary

Try
www.fireplace.hu
A good range, (oops wot pun) we went there because we wanted a woodburner with an external air feed so that it does not take air from the room / house. This feature stops drafts and makes the stove independent from the house, important if you have new windows and doors that have rubber seals and a reasonably air tight house. (UK regs require a +5kw stove to have a permanent ventilation hole in the wall or external feed. Hungarian regs have not caught up yet).

richardmc

Thanks Peter for your reply, i will have a look.

fidobsa

My woodburning cooking stove draws air from the kitchen which I guess ultimately comes into the house from the other chimney, as there are no obvious airbricks etc. I regard this as a good thing, as you do need fresh air through the house and it helps to take away cooking smells in the kitchen itself. My kitchen is open plan so exchange of air is not a problem.

Peter_in_Hungary

Fidobsa
If your cooking stove actually does draw its air ultimately from the other chimney and this created a down draft then if you used the other chimney to support a stove or alike you might be in danger of pulling the products of combustion (smoke or CO) into the house which could be dangerous. One reason I wanted an external air supply it to avoid pulling air from other rooms and creating a cold draft that chopped you ankles off. You are right that you need fresh air and ventilation but I prefer to control this rather than have uncontrolled demand from a stove, hence the combie boiler has a balanced flue and the wood stove has an external supply.
With older houses that have leaky windows and doors the problems of getting combustion air was not an issue. As windows and doors are replaced with modern better sealed units then air for combustion can become an issue, and a potential danger, if a stove is inadequately supplied.

Rural Hungary

My leaky door provides all my ventilation The windows are often opened on even the coldest nights due to the heat from our tiled masonry heater and the majority of people who visit us in the winter comment on how warm the house is. Personally, I would be hesitant to put double glazing in whilst using our current set up - I already have CO detectors despite an ample supply of fresh air. Been in a couple of double glazed houses and on entering, it was evident the ventilation wasn't sufficient - one literally had no draw at all, scary......

fidobsa

Yes I would certainly have to do a rethink if ever I decided to use the other chimney but it seems unlikely, as it is between the 2 main bedrooms and I would not want a solid fuel fire in a bedroom. I'm certainly never aware of drafts, even on windy summer days with the 2 big front windows wide open! This can be frustrating in hot weather when trying to sleep.

richardmc

Had a look at the site and was a bit technical for me but got the idea. I did notice however that OBI is an authorised retailer, ours is in Kesthely but this time of year they have mostly summer stock in place of burners so will buy and have installed end summer when they appear again at discounted prices, unless someone knows different

fidobsa

The current OBI leaflet has a Wamsler 8KW one for 90,000 Ft but I don't know how that compares to other places. It is probably better quality than the stoves they sell in Tesco.

Peter_in_Hungary

When we were buying last year I also saw that OBI was a retailer however the OBI in Veszprém knew nothing about the products of Fireplace, so we finished up by going direct to Fireplace.hu and brought direct.