Tim wrote:
Thanks for those leads. This was the one I would choose to fit my
fireplace
http://www.jotul.us/content/products...e____3098.aspx

It also led me to the Log Pile site which had quite a lot of
information on wood burner efficiencies:
http://www.nef.org.uk/logpile/faqs.htm

Plus pellet burners, they work like this:
http://www.buildingforafuture.co.uk/...ets_page_2.php

Particularly interesting was that they can be automated, which is what
I want. They claim to work at optimal burn efficiency and that the
the ash tray requires emptying only once a month. That is very nice!

It's also ********..to generate any sort of heat is about a cubic meter
of ash a month, in my experience.


I
have an abundance of wood but I would want to make the pellets myself.
If that isn't possible I guess I should go for a standard log burner.


Not a lot wrong with that - we use a couple of open fires and a
'highwayman' stove here..only one open fire is used consistently though.

The highwayman is definitely less draught inducing and more efficient
than the open fire..we have it in our bedroom for days when we have the
'flu...its brilliant.

A good wood burner kicks out an easy kilowatt, and can be persuaded up
to about 2-3. Our huge open fire is about 10KW, but a lot goes up the
chimney..it takes ages to warm the room as mostly the first three hours
its warming the brickwork around it. However it keeps the room hot all
night afterwards. We tend to light it about 2pm in the winter, so that
by 5pm its really well set up. It dies around 11pm which is a couple of
hours before we hit the sack.



The other high tech approach was using gasification of the wood, where
the flames burn underneath the logs. Can't quite fgure how that works
but their site is here fopr interest:
http://www.woodboilers.com/wood-gasification.asp