No chimney!

[Timelord]

The 35% efficiency versus the up to 80% efficiency relates only to the fire being used in a fireplace with a chimney. An open fire in the centre of a room and in a building designed to be used that way has a different set of physics going on.

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To improve things even further look for a stove with an external air supply, this is a pipe from outside the house that brings the air needed for combustion straight to the stove instead of through the room you are sitting in. It means you can draughtproof the house really well.
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Hello Steve. What happens with one of these systems if you run the fire with the stove door open?? Would you not also be burning some of the air from within the room - AND with no ability to replenish the oxygen level if the house/room is draught proofed that well...? I know for a normal set up without the external supply - that you have to have adequate air vents or an old leaky house that flows enough air to not need specific vents in the walls... It is a wonder how safe these independent external air supply systems actually are... Regards, TL

(I know that stoves are not designed to run with the stove door open and I don't run mine that way - BUT my visiting relatives are always trying to use my stove this way and I suspect it is quite common practice...)