Off-Grid Heating for a Large Bungalow

The Background

Brian and Melanie Duncan had their E678 installed in December 2017 by Cambridge Stoves Installations as an alternative heat source for their large bungalow. Although Cambridge Stoves had installed a 580 model previously, Pete West from Ecco Stove also assisted with the stove assembly as part of the training made available to installers.

Now, a year into life with an Ecco Stove, covering two heating periods, Brian and Melanie were kind enough to send in an update, including some photographs of their transformed kitchen space.

The Experience

We shouldn't have worried; we have been able to get some great results in being able push the heat further into the property. At times we think the house is cold and then, when we close the stove down for e.g. cleaning or when we're away, you do really notice the cold properly and that, when fired up, that it's making a big difference. The point there is it's not an uncomfortable or in your face heat. It's subtle but very effective. It doesn't get to all parts of the house but we've still not fixed our doors or insulation properly so we still have the ice wall cutting the house in half but it's coping admirably.

In using the stove and getting the best and most efficient use out of it takes time to learn. It's not just a fire in the middle of the room. It's a clever piece of kit that, if treated half decently will give you very decent results. It is a big learning curve and we're very much wiser now to understand which doors need to be open in other parts of the house, how hot to run it, how much to keep it fuelled up, the type of fuel to burn, how to maintain it. All those things take experience to get the best out of the stove. But now, it's all second nature and easy, and fun, to run.

The Results

In short, we're really pleased. It was the right decision and in eventually understanding that this isn't a plug and play piece of kit, but requires education and patience, puts us in a better mindset and helped us improve its performance.

A final thing is that you can get away without having to spend very much at all to heat your house. We've found a local garden centre that begs us to take their pallets away to burn and it eats them up, leaves hardly any ash and does not clog the flue.

Off-Grid Capability

The info pack was sent prior to installation by the Ecco Stove team to show what the Ecco Stove can achieve in this property. Depending on insulation values and preferred temperatures the E678 can then be fired continuously or intermittently depending on the requirements.

The Ecco Stove provides not only an alternative heating solution but is also one of the few completely off grid options (requires no electrical connection or water supply). For rural areas this can be vital when power cuts or brown outs are a common occurrence.

Brian advised "My sweep had recently cleaned my chimney and only found a small amount of fine light grey ash, which he said was perfect. I explained this was due to how efficiently the stove is burning."