Cast iron or steel?
Once you’ve installed your stone fireplace and decided on what type of fire you’re going to have, you need to decide which particular model. Dog baskets are relatively easy to choose as most are very similar, and once you’ve got a roaring fire going it doesn’t really matter. If however you intend to have a Wood stove in your stone fireplaces, then you have a bewildering number of options. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of manufacturers and designs, and choosing the most suitable can be a real daunting task.
Most people want a stove where they can see the flames, so that at least they have some of the effect of having a roaring open fire. this is catered for by most stove companies, but incorporating some sort of ‘air-wash’ system into their stoves. Air-wash is basically a system where some air is pre-heated by the stove itself, and then directed down over the inside face of the glass. This has the effect of providing a barrier between glass and smoke, and thus largely prevents the glass getting sooted and tarred up.
It isn’t a fool proof system, as if you use very wet wood, so much vapour is released that it cools the fire, and thus the inefficient burning will still cause soot. It can be stopped by making your stove really ‘roar’ with all the air vents open, but then you are really wasting all your fuel.
In the end, the most efficient method is to burn dry wood; in stove; housed in a beautiful stone fireplace: What more could you want?