# mchl



## mchl (Jul 9, 2011)

Hi - I live near Lousa in Portugal. I have started to look at wood burning stoves or pellet boilders to heat my house. The house has a diesel boiler, solar panel and a wood burning wall mounted stove in the kitchen. The wood burning stove is not efficient and so I am looking to replace it. I have details of a number of stoves Caldeira Argus, Solzaima (Acqua), Solargus recuperadores a fluido termico, and Aquecimento por pellets (which is very expensive) but am finding it very difficult to choose. Can anyone shed any light on these stoves or share any experiences they have had that might help me. The stove will have to heat 16 radidators. I don't mind spending more money providing the stove works well and is fairly cheap to run. Any information or advice would be really appreciated.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Pellet stoves are highly efficient although dearer to buy especially if you want one capable of C/H, so I think a pellet stove would be out just on cost, you'd need one of the larger models for 16 rads.
You don't say what your Diesel boiler does if it's hot water and radiators, presumably is, then consider a wood burning back boiler in lounge so when working replaces diesel for radiators, so you get direct heat in your main room and rads heated for rest of house.
don't quite understand wood burning wall mounted stove in kitchen, pointless really having a heat source in kitchen if your living area is lounge.


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## mchl (Jul 9, 2011)

*Pellet stoves*

Hi Canoeman - thanks very much for your response. The information was very useful. The diesel boiler heats the radiators and hot water and the double sided inset wall wood burning stove has one glass door in the kitchen and the other in the lounge. The wood burner is supposed to do the same job as the diesel boiler but it is *basic* and only has the capacity two warm the radiators so the rooms remain cold. If I opt for the woodburner with capacity to heat the CH system and water I would need to build a storeroom to house sufficient wood for a winter. I thought it might be better to invest in a pellet stove that will have the capacity to heat the system and reduce the storage problem plus it will be cheaper to run. I would appreciate your thoughts.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

C/H pellet stoves able to heat 16 rads are around the €5000+ fitting tend to be very industrial in look, yes efficient, economical and clean to use but depends on your pocket and how well the stove would fit in your house. For me as they produce a lot of radiant heat so need to be in a living area rather than a storage area.
Ok understand kitchen lounge stove now, it's more of a decorative item than practical, certain practical things that might help you make a decision, can you fit either a pellet or wood B/B about €2000 max fitted in existing fireplace, you could or should close kitchen side, and link either into your C/H system? solar panel you should have a hot water cyllinder, unless it's roof mounted, so you should also link diesel, pellet or B/B to that as well.
Log burner will require a wood store and ideally you buy this year for next year, so your burning dry and well seasoned wood which is more efficient than _green_ wood.


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## mchl (Jul 9, 2011)

Hi Canoeman - thanks very much for the information - it's given me much to think about. I appreciate the help you've given me. Best wishes mchl.


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