There are a few things to consider before purchasing a solid fuel appliance:

Firstly you need to consider where the stove can go and what work may need to be done to the fireplace and / or chimney in order to install. Older chimneys often require work to bring them up to the specification required for a modern solid fuel appliance and flue components are expensive as they need to be of a very high quality to withstand years of heat and acid erosion from soot. To help you with this stage we offer a free site visit from one of our HETAS registered surveyors who will be able to inform you of what works will need to be carried out and provide you with an accurate estimate of costs.

Once you have nailed down the installation details you will be able to turn your attention to the appliance. There are many makes, models and sizes available. A good place to start when choosing a model is the heat output. All stoves will have a temperature where they burn at their most efficient. The trick is to match this with the temperature requirement for the space where the appliance is to be installed. A rough rule of thumb you can use to calculate this is:

Max kW output figure = Room area in cubic metres / 10

This will give you a rough maximum space heating requirement figure although you can adjust this accordingly depending on factors such as how well insulated the room is and what open areas come off it such as staircases etc.

Do you want to get hot water or central heating from your stove? Many stoves have an optional back boiler to give domestic hot water and there are central heating models available also.

Quality, cost and aesthetics will be the other main factors to consider. We do take care to only stock products that we feel are of a good quality. You will generally get what you pay for with most stoves i.e. the more expensive stoves will be of a better quality and have more features, although the cheaper and simpler stoves can be advantageous in certain situations.

Take a look at our stove brochure for some further information or drop in and pick up further information and prices.

 

Very often, yes! We specialise in the construction of twin walled flue systems. You can run a twin walled system up through a house and out of the roof or out through an end wall and up the outside allowing a stove to be installed where there is no existing chimney, without major construction works.

There are many regulations to consider when installing such systems which will often govern where in a room the stove can be sited. If you are considering this option we would recommend that you book a free survey with one of our HETAS registered surveyors who will talk you through the finer details and give an accurate estimation of costs.

 

Older brick or stone chimneys will usually require lining for use with a solid fuel appliance. The best method for re-lining a chimney would be to build in sectional pumice liners. This is of course this is a major undertaking which is why many people opt for lining using a stainless steel flue liner. Stainless steel liners will perform well and last typically between 10 and 25 years when installed and cared for correctly. However, care must be taken to ensure the appliance is operating at the correct temperature as much of the time as possible and the correct fuel is being burned.

If you have a good flue to connect an appliance to we will be able to connect an appliance without lining provided the system passes sufficient tests to ensure that there can be no fume escape.

There are plenty of good stoves with back boilers for heating water. The amount of hot water you will get from a stove is governed by the size of the appliance and the size of the boiler.

There can be plenty of conflicting information from the manufacturers in relation to boiler sizes so we've made it simpler by giving a rough estimate of how many radiators you can run from all our stoves based on their output and 600x1000mm double radiators (5,900btu) which is an average radiator size. See our stove brochure for more information on this.

Remember to adjust your calculations for the space heating requirements of your stove as there will be no way of switching the hot water system off when the stove is running meaning it will always be taking heat away to the water.

 

You can although we wouldn't recommend it for two reasons:

1. We've had years of experience installing stoves and although it isn't rocket science there are a number of regulations and safety issues to consider when installing.
2. You have to register a new installation of a solid fuel appliance by law with a governing body such as HETAS or the local council. If we install your appliance we can do this for you, but if you do it yourself or have it done by someone who is not registered you will need to get an engineer from the county council to inspect the work which will actually cost you much more than we charge for full installation.

 

We're not going to make any empty promises that nothing unexpected will ever go wrong with your appliance or installation although we do try our best to avoid complications. We will however promise to be on hand to deal with any problems as they arise.

We take our after care service very seriously and believe in treating our customers honestly and with respect. We will act as your first and only point of call if you have problems and we will take responsibility for repairing any faults and chasing manufacturers if there were a problem with the appliance itself. All of our stoves will offer a warranty to cover any manufacturing defects for a set length of time which we will back up with our full aftercare service for the lifetime of the appliance. We try and give as much information and advice as possible with all new installations and we won't ever make a charge for visits or repair work unless we feel it's fair to do so.

 

If you really want to! Stoves without a heat convecting outer skin would be best if you're looking to heat water and cook things. They'll get pretty hot, we've had camping kettles boiling on display models quite happily.

Here's a Jamie Oliver recipe! (www.jamieoliver.com)

Jamie's mulled wine This is dead easy to make and tastes like Christmas in a glass. It’s a lovely celebration of those traditional festive spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. If you’ve got your own favorite spices, then feel free to add those to the pot too. Let everything cook away and warm up gently so the flavours have time to mingle with the wine. I like to leave my mulled wine ticking over on a really low heat and just ladle some into glasses as and when guests pop in. Peel large sections of peel from your clementines, lemon and lime using a speed peeler. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Throw in your halved vanilla pod and stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar. Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you’ve got a beautiful thick syrup. The reason I’m doing this first is to create a wonderful flavour base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine. It’s important to do make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you’ll burn off the alcohol. When your syrup is ready turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and both bottles of wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it’s warm and delicious, ladle it into glasses and serve.

ingredients • 2 clementines • peel of 1 lemon • peel of 1 lime • 250g caster sugar • 6 whole cloves • 1 cinnamon stick • 3 fresh bay leaves • 1 whole nutmeg • 1 whole vanilla pod, halved • 2 star anise • 2 bottles of Chianti, or other Italian red wine

 

Gladly. Let us know the price you've been quoted and we'll do our best to be competitive.

 

Unlike many other stove suppliers we are happy to re-install old appliances or ones that have been purchased elsewhere provided we consider them to be safe. If you've got an old appliance that is in need of some TLC we offer full reconditioning.

We would of course like it if you bought your stove from us as it makes things simpler if something were to go wrong with the stove in the future and we do like to look after our customers. If you have seen a stove elsewhere that you like the look of let us know and we'll do our best to source it for you at a competitive price.

Please don't be tempted by the dirt cheap cast iron imported stoves. They cause us nothing but trouble!

 

Us of course! We offer a full appliance servicing and chimney cleaning service and our office is open weekdays and saturday mornings so it's easy to make an appointment.

 

No we're not expensive at all, in fact our prices are extremely competitive. We are restricted from advertising our prices online by the stove manufacturers.

This is because the manufacturers don't want their products being sold over the internet without the proper advice, aftercare service and personalised information you can get from a local experienced retailer, which makes perfect sense. Unfortunately to try and stop this happening they choose to restrict us from advertising our prices which makes competing with online companies much more difficult for us.

We do not sell over the internet or supply stoves far outside of our area which we can't look after. Please don't be afraid to drop in to our showroom or call us for further information. We don't employ pushy sales tactics and will not pester you for ever more if you make an enquiry!

 

You will get many years use from your appliance provided you follow some simple rules:

Burn the correct fuel

Stoves are designed to burn a range of fuels as efficiently as possible. Pure woodburners will burn any type of wood provided it is properly seasoned and dry. Hardwoods will burn for longer and give greater heat but will typically also take longer to season. It takes a long time to properly season logs before you can burn them and you can never take it as a given that logs you buy ready cut are going to be well seasoned even if you're told so by the seller. If the door on your stove is blackening with heavy tar deposits and logs are not burning away to a fine ash it is likely the logs aren't seasoned well enough. The only woods worth avoiding completely are treated or painted timber off cuts.

Multifuel stoves will burn wood and anthracites. You can purchase varying qualities of natural anthracite and anthracite briquettes which tend to be more expensive but will burn for longer and produce less clinker in the firebox. We sell extremely high quality anthracite in two sizes and a high quality anthracite briquette called Homefire both of which are suitable for stoves. Bituminous coal or Housecoal is not permitted for use with closed door appliances as it will burn too hot and cause heavy soot deposits in the flue which can catch fire.

Burn the appliance at the correct temperature

All stoves will have a temperature range where they are burning at their most efficient. It is important to burn close to this temperature range as much of the time as possible to prevent dirty burning of the fuel.

Dirty burning can be a problem particularly with stainless steel flue linings as tar deposits and acids can form in the flue under low temperatures which can significantly shorten the liners life expectancy.

You can buy stove thermometers to indicate correct operating temperature but you will generally be able to see how well a fire is burning. Keeping you fire in overnight is not recommended as this is a classic time when dirty burning can occur. Instead we recommend loading the fire up with fuel last thing at night but leaving the air dampers in the normal operating positions. This will cause the fuel to burn out by the morning but you will have gained more efficient burning overnight and the fire should be easily brought back up to temperature with some paper and kindling.

Although it is important not to burn you stove too low it is also possible to cause damage to firebox components by burning it too hot. Be sure to regulate the appliance temperature after establishing a fire and remember to dispose of excess ash regularly to prevent build up.

Have your appliance serviced regularly

Your stove and chimney should be cleaned and serviced at least once a year to prolong their live span. The best time to have this done is after the burning season in the spring. This will ensure that there are no corrosive soot deposits in the flue during our warm and humid summers. We offer a full appliance servicing and chimney cleaning service for all of Pembrokeshire and the surrounding area.

All grate components and spares should be available for your stove for a number of years after the model has been discontinued. Door seals and firebricks will be the most common components to require replacement which is normal after 3 - 5 years. If you are finding the temperature of your stove difficult to regulate then it is likely the door seals need replacing. Don't worry too much if your firebricks are cracked but do watch out for them falling away from the sides of the stove.

There are a number of polishes and cleaners available to keep your stove looking smart. Generally though we would recommend keeping the stove clean with a dry cloth and if after some years the paintwork is looking dull you can purchase heat resistant paint in spray tins which is very easy to use and brings the stove back up to looking like new.