Indoor Multifuel Heating/Cooking Stoves

[Setfree]

With the price of oil rapidly rising was thinking of investing in an indoor stove that you can cook on and also heats the water - does anyone know or have a view on what the cheapest solution is?....

[janso]

Aga stove - not the cheapest, but theres a reason nearly every farmhouse has had one from the year dot

[cavealaska]

I have used one many times at my friends house in canada they are great, he does however have to option to use bottled gas on a ring that is fitted to his, this can save time waiting for the plates to heat up whilst the wood gets it to temperature. I have a wood burner for heating, one of my friends has one and also another for doing the central heating. one thing to take into account is, if you live in a smoke free zone it will have to be DEFRA approved,

[Setfree]

Yeah Id love an Aga but infortunately cant afford one! Was looking at these cheap polish stoves;

http://www.whichwoodburningstoves.co.uk ... ilers.html

[Red Doe]

For anyone who does get an Aga/Rayburn, don`t, for gods sakes, get it for oil! I have an oil fired Rayburn. In the good old days when I could afford to buy heating oil, it was fabulous..kept the whole house warm and there is something so very comforting about cooking on and in it.
But I can`t afford heating oil now and it sits there like a very pretty but useless ornament!
When it was fired up, it ate oil like a hungry beast.
With the cost of gas I imagine it`d be the same. Get a solid fuel one.

[Panther]

We bought a brand new wood/solid fuel Rayburn a couple of years ago. As well as providing heat for the kitchen (it used to be the coldest room in the house but now is the warmest), it also heats the water and radiators. They are expensive to buy and you can double the price by the time it's installed. (We incurred extra expense as we kept the oil fired system as a back up.)
We are now regularly involved in plenty of wood chopping/carrying/emptying of ash pan etc. It has a voracious appetite and requires a VERY large amount of wood and solid fuel.
Is it cheaper to run than oil fired heating? Yes, IF you can source a free supply of wood, but if you have to purchase it from a local supplier there's really not much saving.
Is it worth the large initial expense? I'm sure some people would say no, but:
The whole house has been much warmer since it was installed.
We are not going to be held to ransom by the oil companies and the impending peak oil crisis; so yes, despite the huge expense it is probably worth it.

[jansman]

We bought a brand new wood/solid fuel Rayburn a couple of years ago. As well as providing heat for the kitchen (it used to be the coldest room in the house but now is the warmest), it also heats the water and radiators. They are expensive to buy and you can double the price by the time it's installed. (We incurred extra expense as we kept the oil fired system as a back up.)
We are now regularly involved in plenty of wood chopping/carrying/emptying of ash pan etc. It has a voracious appetite and requires a VERY large amount of wood and solid fuel.
Is it cheaper to run than oil fired heating? Yes, IF you can source a free supply of wood, but if you have to purchase it from a local supplier there's really not much saving.
Is it worth the large initial expense? I'm sure some people would say no, but:
The whole house has been much warmer since it was installed.
We are not going to be held to ransom by the oil companies and the impending peak oil crisis; so yes, despite the huge expense it is probably worth it.

That's why I like my solid fuel stoves-I decide what burns on my terms.

[clearthedecks]

Cheapest solution - pick up a solid fuel rayburn on e-bay - £50 up depending on location, condition and colour. Moved mine this weekend with a pallet truck, mind that was £55 to hire!

[pgfireplaces]

I am looking to buy a multi fuel stove to also heat radiators, I was initially looking at a Stanley Erin, but are there more cost effective brands out there? Ha anyone any experience with these?

[synonym]

Hi all
good thread.
I live in rented accomodation in an very urban area (i sold my house some time ago, when i saw the real estate crash coming). Unfortunately for the time being this is where i need to live for work.

Being very urban area, self sufficiency is not a concern of many people. So the vast majority of homes are completely reliant either on mains electric and/or mains gas. I am trying to find off-the-grid cooking and heating solutions, which i can take with me from one home to another. As i rent i cannot start making any major changes to the house.

Where i live in the winter it is cold and often very wet. I was looking at the frontier stove, http://www.campingsolutions.co.uk/stove ... ier-stove/ as it seems to have pretty good potential for a solid fuel cooking option, which could be used to give out some heat too. Trouble is what you do with the flue!

Has anyone any experience with solid fuel stoves like this (i haven't any with any kind of solid fuel stove) and if so can anyone tell me if it would be possible for me to make some kind of flue fitting that i could fix to an open window or something, given that i can't start making any changes to the house i live in?

If not, i'd really appreciate any other ideas people have for off grid heating (the hardest problem to solve) and cooking in the kind of position i've outlined.

Here's another, more expensive though this one - http://www.ozpig.co.uk/

Thanks
Syn