Top 10 tips for Reducing Your Heating Costs by Installing a Wood Burning Stove

On freezing winter days like the ones we have managed to almost dodge completely this winter, could there anything nicer than coming in from the cold and curling up in front of a wood-burning stove? Aside from the romantic vision of cups of hot chocolate in front of a glowing stove, did you know that installing a wood-burning stove could potentially reduce your energy bills?

Even with the recent gas and electricity price cuts that have been announced by some of the biggest energy suppliers this week (following their steep price rises last year), it is definitely worth considering alternative forms of home heating to reduce your energy costs and over-reliance on gas and electricity.

So, to give us the low-down on wood-burning stoves and how to maximise our heating whilst minimising our energy bills, the chaps at gr8fires have shared their top 10 tips, plus we have an exclusive offer for all Queen of Easy Green™ readers, see below.

Top 10 tips for Reducing Your Heating Costs by Installing a Wood Burning Stove

1.     Install a wood-burning stove
That’s the inevitable starting point for saving money with a wood-burning stove. This will reduce your heating costs by cutting your reliance on central heating. You can turn off the radiators in rooms that you don’t need to keep warm and use the stove as your main source of heat.
2.     Choose the right stove
Picking the best stove for your needs is essential in helping you to save money. If you don’t fit a stove with a heat output suited to the room, it will reduce your chances of cutting your heating costs. Opting for a more expensive model with a greater output to heat a larger room will pay for the price difference in no time at all.
3.     Consider a wood-burning boiler stove
Installing a boiler stove is one way of further cutting your heating bills. You can use the heat generated by your stove to also heat the water in your home. The dual use of your stove means you can cut your central heating costs even further.
4.     Use properly seasoned wood
The type of wood you use has a huge impact on the efficiency of your stove. Using seasoned wood -which has been cut, split and left to air for at least a year – is the best way to minimise your heating costs. Seasoned wood contains far less moisture, burns more efficiently and heats your home more quickly than freshly cut wood. Use a log store to allow your wood to season and to help you build up a supply that should last you all winter.

5.     Control your stove’s air supply properly
Both the bottom (primary) and top (secondary) air vents should be open when you light your stove. Once the fire is burning well, you should be able to close the primary vent and control the fire using only the secondary vent for a more efficient burn.
6.     Get your chimney swept regularly
As a minimum you should get your chimney swept annually before you start using the stove regularly. Ideally, it should be swept every three to four month when the stove is in regular use.
7.     Use dry kindling to start the fire
Using small pieces of wood to get the fire going will heat your stove more quickly and, as a result, your room will start heat more efficiently once you add logs. The sooner your stove is up to temperature, the sooner the convection process can have an impact on the rest of the room.
8.     Use free wood
One of the best aspects of installing a stove is that you can easily find a supply of free fuel. From saving friends and family from a trip to the tip to salvaging fallen trees from your nearest forest (with the landowner’s permission), there are plenty of opportunities to heat your home for free.
9.     Don’t be tempted to throw another log into the stove. Once you have loaded the stove with logs, don’t continually top up your stove as they burn. Wait until all the logs have been burnt to glowing embers before reloading the stove. Continually adding more wood is considerably less efficient.
10.  Keep the door closed
It is a simple tip, but one that causes unnecessary confusion for many stove users. Once the stove is lit, the door should be closed. This increases the efficiency of the burn by up to 60 per cent.

Hillandale Stoves Lincoln Range

The Hillandale Stoves Lincoln range is a stylishly crafted stove selection of conventional flue gas, balanced flue gas and electric stoves. Hillandale with the Lincoln have moved away from their conventional multi fuel stoves to now offer an even wider and better choice for the consumer.

The Hillandale Lincoln Slimline Gas Stove is designed for natural mains gas and unlike most other Hillandale stoves the Lincoln is suitable for class 1 flues as well as class 2 and can boast a stunning 80% efficiency and slimline depth of only 250mm

The Hillandale Lincoln Balanced Flue Gas Stove is more substantial in its proportions have a depth of 380mm. The balanced flue means that there is no need for a conventional flue; the stove is flued directly through an existing external wall to the outside. A superb invention that works similarly to many combination boilers, and allows many homes to feature a fire or stove when they couldn’t in the past. As all the Lincoln stoves this is constructed from cast iron and has eloquent styling details.

The Hillandale Lincoln Electric Stove is a freestanding stove with an overall 350mm depth and fantastic design. The electric version offers a 2kW heat output and benefits from the fact you can simply plug it in, turn it on, and start warming the room. The Lincoln electric stove does not need a flue; in fact additional ventilation is not normally required at all. The fuel effect can either be a realist coal or log bed .

The Hillandale Lincoln collection offers homes without a class 1 chimney the opportunity to have a Hillandale stove within them, to create a focal piece within a room whilst providing warmth as well, superb!

A closer look at Hillandale Stoves

As if appearing from the doldrums emerges Hillandale Stoves a well presented brand with stoves and cookers in its portfolio, but who is Hillandale Stoves, what products do they have and will they be around to honor the warranty? If you want to know the answers then read on.

Hillandale Stoves as a brand are fairly new, but this is no need for concern as the Hillandale brand hails from two very well known and respected companies, Brosely fires and Bemodern. The Hillandale stoves range is very similar to the Brosely fires range of stoves, and have the same superb build quality and design as each other too. 

Broseley became part of the Bemodern group in 2009, they added to the Bemodern Group by providing the stove element that Bemodern was somewhat lacking from their large array of products.
Hillandale therefore come from the best possible back ground, and have provided the stove outlet Bemodern desired, they are set to go from strength to strength, and have a stylish and functional range of stoves and cookers, some with boiler options  and are already on sale across the UK at the moment. 

It is pretty much guaranteed that Hillandale will continue to release stylish, functional and desirable products in the near future. Any concerns over warranties would be unjustifiable, and I look forward to seeing the future developments Hillandale Stoves provides in years to come.

Hillandale Stoves Multi-Fuel Collection

Hillandale Stoves have a superb collection of multi fuel stoves, which can burn an array of fuel and a combination of fuel effectively and highly efficiently. With energy efficiency in our thoughts, and the constant rise in electric and gas prices, many homes in the UK are becoming more energy efficient, because of this a recent interest in multi fuel stoves has arisen. Multi-fuel stoves, particularly cast iron multi fuel stoves, are not only having the option of burning a selection of fuels but can burn clean fuels and renewable fuels too, ensuring a cleaner environment and producing supreme heating to your home.

The Hillandale Stoves Multi Fuel collection includes the Hillandale Monroe, Hillandale Monterrey and Hillandale Hercules Boiler Stoves and they are available from a number of retailers online and in showrooms across the UK.

The Hillandale Monroe Multi Fuel Stoves are available in several sizes with differing outputs allowing a suitable stove for most room sizes. The Monroe 3, Monroe 5 and Monroe 7 have the potential maximum heat output as that number specified in the name, so the Monroe 7 has a heat output of up to 7kW. The styling of the Hillandale Monroe is one that would suit a more traditional setting and will create a feature in most rooms and homes.

The Hillandale Monterrey Multi Fuel Stoves similarly to the Monroe stoves come in three available sizes, the Monterrey 3, Monterrey 5 and Monterrey 7. The potential maximum heat output of the stoves also correlated to number in the name. The Hillandale Monterrey however has much simpler design and would lend itself better to be featured in a more modern or even contemporary setting. The large viewing window on the Monterrey stoves means that when the stove is rapidly burning a stunning and mesmerising focal point is created.

The Hillandale Hercules Multi Fuel Stoves are the largest multi fuel stoves that Hillandale provide at present. These are boiler stoves and provide heat to the room as well as heat domestic hot water supplies as well as radiators. Available as the Hillandale Hercules 12, Hillandale Hercules 20 and Hillandale Hercules 30, (like the other stoves the numbers in the names relate to potential maximum heat output) they power differing amounts of radiators depending on their size.

Hillandale multi-fuel stoves are made in the United Kingdom and have solid cast iron construction, and the stoves have many additional features like Primary, secondary and tertiary air flow control and riddling grate etc that make them functional, effective and controllable. All of the above stoves are suitable for class 1 flues, so if you have a brick built chimney in your home then these should be fine in them.

A general note on safety to any one considering one of these stoves is that they are extremely effective at heating, hence the use of cast iron, however they can heat up to very high temperatures and will hold the temperature for some time. Because of this it should be recommended that additional care is taken when children and pets are in the household.

Hillandale Stoves

Hillandale stoves have recently released two ranges of stoves into the industry that are proving to be very popular sellers, these ranges are the Monroe and Monterrey.
Hillandale have given the stoves a number in their title that corresponds to the heat output that they can achieve, for example the Monroe 3 emits up to 3kW of heat and the Monterrey 7 can emit up to 7kW of heat.
All of the stoves in these two ranges are constructed from solid cast iron and have viewing windows that allow you to watch the fire and flames in action. they all have fantastic but differing efficiency ratings too. The 7 models of the Monterrey and the Monroe have 76.3% efficiency, the 5 models have 76.6% efficiency and the smallest 3 models have the largest 81% efficiency. However the Monterrey and the Monroe 3's are not DEFRA approved. Defra approved means that a stove may be used in a smoke controlled area when using smokeless fuels, one of the most readily available and environmentally favorable smokeless fuels is wood, and many manufacturers achieve their output figures from using wood.
As all stoves in the Monterrey and Monroe ranges are multi fuel it means they can all burn solid fuels including coal and peat etc, however the 5 and 7 models are classed as defra approved and can be used in a smoke controlled area when only burning wood and other smokeless fuels.
As standard the Monterrey and Monroe stoves all come ash pans and complementary safety gloves and the stoves are sure to continue making a great impact on the fire industry for the foreseeable future.