More and more Grenadier users are converting their open fireplaces to install wood-burning or multi-fuel stoves. While these stoves visually can have much in common, they do have their own differences and advantages.

With an open fire in a hearth, up to 85% of the heat will disappear up the chimney. It also consumes large quantities of oxygen, sucking air through the house and creating draughts. It is no wonder people snuggled up around their open fires in large high back chairs!

With a stove, the flame is locked away in a metal box, usually visible only through a glass screen. However they generate significantly more warmth out of the fuel by burning the fuel much more efficiently and retaining a high proportion of the heat to radiate into the room.

As the name implies, a wood burning stove is designed to burn wood in the most efficient way and this affects the design of the grate and how the air is supplied. Wood burns most efficiently when it is sitting on a bed of ashes with its primary air flow from above.

Multi-fuel stoves are designed to burn a wider range of materials, typically firewood, smokeless fuels, anthracite and peat briquettes. Some of these fuels, such as smokeless fuels, require their primary airflow from underneath through the grate. The stove’s grate design therefore needs to allow de-ashing for efficient combustion, so some stoves may have a riddling grate and removable ash pan. As wood and peat require air from above for efficient combustion, a multi-fuel stove therefore needs a flexible design to be able to burn the different fuels effectively with minimum compromise.

Local availability of fuel will often guide the choice between a woodburner and multi-fuel stove, as there is often little or no disparity in efficiency and heat outputs between a wood burning stove and its multi-fuel equivalent. As some multi-fuel stoves are approved for use in smokeless zones, where use of open fires and traditional woodburners is prohibited, they are definitely more popular in towns and cities.

Whether you choose to install a multi-fuel or wood-burning stove, you can rest assured that the Grenadier Electric Firelighter will help you light it quickly and efficiently.