Removing gas fire with open fire

I fitted a wood burning stove myself, after removing a totally dangerous Calor gas fire. Built the fire surround etc too!. You really do need to get a chimney specialist out to check that (ours was perfectly ok), but the rest was fairly easy for anyone with any good D.I .Y skills. My builder s.i.l was extremely impressed with ours.
Only other piece of advice is that you should find a source of good HARD wood for burning. Pine logs are not to be recommended. The tar in them very quickly blocks up the chimney. We have just had a trailer load deliverd for £70 for sycamore. This will have to be stored undercover for NEXT year to be dry enough to use so plan well ahead. Also the chap was saying that he is finding it increasingly difficult to match supply and demand. Everyone seems to be going for an old fashioned log fire!

 

PS. Forgot to say that the ventilation required for a gas fire is also sufficient for ann open fire.

 

Interestingly, I caught a news item on the car radio yesterday - this chap (and many of his friends) had a permit from the Forestry Commission to go scavenge for wood in his local forest. He'd done it for years and found it a very economical resource. But now there are so many people wanting to do it, seems the FC have realised it's "a valuable resource" and won't allow anyone to collect wood anymore. Instead they gather it up and sell it to a vendor! Comes to something when even a few fallen branches and twigs are a vaulable resource!

 

How do they square this with the old forestry laws, where you may gather dead wood "by hook or by crook". These laws were made by the Norman invaders.

A word of warning, be careful what wood you buy for open fires. When I worked for the Forestry Commission, my Forester asked me to load his van with logs. I didn't know the difference between the species. Next morning he said "the logs kept me warm all evening, getting up and stamping the sparks out". They were chestnut.

 

Apparently they were rescinded many years ago when FC made it necessary for people to buy a license to collect wood on their properties.

 

Hi Loofah. I don't know if this helps, but we had a multi-fuel stove fitted in Jan this year at a cost of £2,100. This included everything. The hearth, the flue, everything. It kicks out around 5kw's at full throttle and is very efficient. Cheers...freddy.