Gas Fires V Wood Burners

[steve]

It is the Centro de Lareiras next door to SACL. I bought both my fogo montanhas there. The newe models are much more efficient and when installed are properly insulated to minimise heat loss.

[EMM]

Last year we paid between 12-15 cents kilo for first quality wood subject to quantity. It lasted a hell of a lot longer than the supermarket bag stuff or from those in carvoeiro we used. It also did not produce the soot that you get burning pine.

One real benefit we find from our wood stove is that the flue warms up the surrounding brickwork and meaning that the bedroom wall that is passes through is warm enough for us to not need the underfoor heating in that room It also gives us in effect an airing cupboard as our linen store in off a wall behind the stove. We did not think of this when designing the villa but the benefit is obvious as we do not have the " damp linen " problem that many talk about during the winter.

[maccasa]

The builder took us to a place near Rameiras restaurant in Guia - on the main rd just past the island.
The unit we chose was a very attractive glass fronted unit, which had 2 built in fans - they come in at a preset temperature and blow air around the outside of the burner and the exhaust duct - and then through a grill into the room so you get hot air circualation as well as the radiant heat through the glass.

It works well and heats our open plan lounge/hall/dining area and kitchen using about 7 kg logs/night (dec/jan)

[EMM]

Lets say an average of 1euro/day from mid Nov- early march 120 days = 120 euros = £105. + cost of elect for the fans.
Compare this to the UK ( gas or electric ).
To me that is very good value. It obviously pays to invest is a good burner system.

[maccasa]

Photo of unit mounted in the marble frame and onto the wall - grill where heat comes out is at the top.

[maccasa]

hi rampage - I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that stuff, but you have to admit - that's pretty aesthetic

[Rampage]

Very pretty and unobtrusive I concede. But with the entire combustion chamber encased in the wall it potentially suffers from the inherrent inefficiencies of all similar designs - the only 'natural' heat is the radiant heat from the glass front, the design needs electric fans to force convective heat into the room otherwise it would be going straight up the flue. The Bullerjan design (I know it looks like a hot-rod engine but it appeals to the engineer in me - Vorsprung Durch Technik and all that!) has the entire combustion chamber in the room and most of the heat is by natural convective transfer to the outside air - very efficient and ideal for a big room as it does not concentrate the heat in one small area. Aesthetics are great until you have a power cut or the fan bearings seize!

[Sandy]

Lurrrve our Bullerjan.

[maccasa]

hi Rampage - the unit is not actually built into a wall - it is a plaster board box so it allows the air to circulate inside and transmits the heat through the wall - the fans only come on when it really gets hot - otherwise you just get a natural convection effect. Not as efficient as a unit thats sitting in the open obviously.

[pickwick]

Hi,

Look at this web-site! http://www.fogo-montanha.com/homepage_uk.htm

These are made in Portugal by a British engineer and can aslo heat up to two additional rooms.

Very efficient and the largest model chucks out up to 12kW of heat. I have one and it is fantastic!!

Pickwick

[steve]

I have had two of the E704 models and can confirm that they are excellent.