Would a boiler stove be perfect for your home?

Would a boiler stove be perfect for your home

If one of your main reasons for installing a wood-burning stove is to cut your reliance on the electricity, gas or oil companies, then it is well worth considering opting for a boiler stove instead.

The stove function of a boiler stove is no different than any other wood-burning stove. You load the fuel just as you would with a wood-burning stove and lighting the stove is exactly the same. Continue reading

Which wood-burning stove is right for you?

Which wood-burning stove is right for you

Put Gr8Fires in front of a sweet shop pick’n’mix stand and we don’t know where to start. We’re spoiled for choice. There is so much to consider:

  • Which sweets are to our taste?
  • Which sweets offer the best value for money?
  • Which sweets will our companions like?

We know our way around wood-burning stoves far better – we know exactly what we’re looking for. But we understand that, for some people, it’s like the sweet shop.

Here are a few questions to help you narrow your search… Continue reading

Chimney sweeps

Mention Chimney Sweeps to one of your more animated friends and they’ll probably break into a little dance and begin singing ‘Chim Chiminey, chim chiminey. Chim chim cher-oo!’ and doing an impersonation of Dick Van Dyke’s own brand of Cockney. They have a reputation for being lucky, as the song says, which apparently began when a sweep saved King George II from being run over by a horse and cart.

Chimney sweeps Continue reading

Before you start using your wood-burning stove regularly again… call the chimney sweep

All wood-burning stove owners should get their chimney swept at least once a year, preferably more regularly. With our poor excuse for a summer starting to draw to a close and poor weather seemingly never to far away, now’s a good time to start thinking about calling upon the services of a chimney sweep.

If you think it won’t be too long before you’ll be wanting to light the stove fairly frequently – perhaps you already are – then don’t delay getting your chimney swept. Continue reading

Five uses for your wood-burning stove ashes

‘No hot ashes’ is the traditional message provided by dustbins to their owners. But once our ashes have cooled down, most of us throw them straight into the bin.

This is a bit of a waste really, so here are five examples of ways in which you might like to put your ashes to better use.

1. On your garden

Wood ash contains lots of goodness for your plants, including potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. Someone more green-fingered than Gr8fires will be able to tell you which plants will particularly benefit from your ashes. Continue reading