Create an Energy Saving Home with a Wood Burning Fireplace

Wood burning fireplaces and stoves are a great way to avoid ever increasing energy bills and make your home more sustainable for the future. All Contura wood burning stoves operate at over 70% efficiency to ensure you get the most from your fuel – saving you money and helping the environment.

What to Look for in a Wood Burning Fireplace

Now you’ve decided to buy a wood burning fireplace there are a few things you should look for before deciding the type of stove you want. First of all you need to consider whether you want to heat just one room or a larger area. Most wood burning stoves are designed to heat just one room; however there are optional extras available that makes the heat from your stove go further such as fans – which circulate the heat more effectively – and olivine heat tanks which make it possible to store heat. If you want to make your stove multifunctional you can install a hotplate or baking oven!

Do you have space to store fuel?

Although our wood burning stoves include storage space to keep your logs and pellets safe and dry you’ll still need 3-4 cubic metres of space to store additional fuel. The actual amount of space you will need depends on how much fuel you use and how much you want to have readily available.

How much space do you need to heat?

The wood burning fireplace or stove you buy needs to provide adequate heating for the size of your room. There is a formula you can use to identify the minimum kW your new stove needs to supply:

Divide the cubic metres (length x width x height) of the room by 14. Then add 1 for each door and window. Remove 1 for each radiator you’ll be using. So if you have a 200 cubic metre room with 2 doors, 1 window and 1 radiator, the formula would be: (200/14) = 14.2 + 3 = 17.2 – 1 = 16.2.

Therefore you would need a wood burning stove that operates above 16kW to heat your home. Always choose a stove that has a greater maximum capacity than your heating requirements, so you can have extra heat in winter and when required.

Choosing a Wood Burning Stove to Suit You

At Contura our wood burning stoves are Swan and CE marked – guaranteeing your safety. Designed and manufactured by NIBE Stoves, our wood burning fireplaces and stoves are stylish yet versatile enough to suit modern and traditional environments. The design of the stoves and fireplaces ensures that the glass is kept as clean as possible and that there is minimum ash buildup.

We have a fabulous choice of wood burning stoves and fireplaces to choose from in a variety of materials included cast iron, sandstone and soapstone – all of which have unique insulation properties. Contura stoves are flexible; we want you to find your ideal stove or fireplace so please take a look around our website to learn more about our innovative products – and if you would like more information please feel free to contact us – we’re here to help!

*The main picture is from an article in "HOME" from The Sunday Times. The article is about the house and have nothing to do with Contura. Read the article here: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/homes_and_gardens/Move/article1383422.ece External link, opens in new window. The wood burning stove in the picture is a Contura 586 External link.