Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a victorian 3 bedroom house that has no central heating. There are fireplaces in 2 of the downstairs reception rooms and 2 in a further 2 bedrooms. I have been very interested to read about the wood burning stoves in some of the many discussions on this website. Due to the fact that I am planning to restore the house on a very tight budget and also carrying out the majority of the work myself, I'm looking to heat the house, in the most cost effective but at the same time efficient way as possible.

I have a couple of thoughts so far, firstly buying a Wamsler 1100 series central heating cooker stove which I could link up to a radiator directly above the kitchen, and to a second radiator in the adjoining room which would require limited plumbing. Also connecting it to a hot water tank? Would the hot water tank need to be on the 1st floor or could it be housed on the ground floor.

Would this provide enough heat for the whole house? Or would I need further radiators in each of the bedrooms? Is there a cheaper product that would do the same job, but of a similar quality?

As yet I don't have a cooker which is why I'm considering the all in one.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be much appreciated. Open to all suggestions.

I would try and avoid a gas fire as they are very inefficient - most of the heat goes straight up the chimney!

Open flame effect gas fires are inefficient at about 25%. Radiant gas fires are relatively efficient at about 85%. Coal and smokeless solid fuel open fires are only 15% and so is wood. Tony is right but the capital cost of draughtproofing and insulation is high. Stoves are in the region of 60 - 75%. Having open chimneys is a mad idea.

It might be sensible not to invest in kit which makes you rely on a fuel that you won't be able to afford in a few years time.

Thanks Simeon, that surprises me. I didn't realise the efficiency can be that high.

all fuel will go up, unless you have your own supply of wood. As energy prices go up, wood will be in greater demand, pushing the price up.

re heating, what about a thermal store (plenty threads on this here - do a search) cost a bit now, but gives you flexibility for the future. eg adding solar for summer hot water etc at a later date.

I think mains gas should remain the most affordable of the main three but I'm expecting mains gas to rise another 40% by next summer unless oil prices fall noticably.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: mattstan51</cite> But you can size the rads to suit your temperatures - I spec'd mine to 18 deg C in the bedrooms and 20 downstairs with 15 for the utility areas - cuts down on wasted heat and reduced gas consumption.

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I'm not sure about this - might it not be better to oversize a bit to allow faster warmup times or extreme cold spells? You can always regulate the room temps by regulating the flow temp to the rads, or by room stat, or less effectively by radiator valves.

Wiser heads than mine on this forum will know.