Fireplaces: Tulikivi or Kermansavi?

network_engineer · Post by **network_engineer** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:52 pm

Hi all,

We were planning to have a fireplace installed and we are trying to make a decision between these two.

Any recommendations or warnings?

Kind regards.

PS: Yes, we know that Kermansavi is part of the Tulikivi, but with regard to the above, we are talking about the type of fireplace!

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Juha H. · Post by **Juha H.** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:07 pm

I have a house being built right now. A couple of months ago, a cousin of mine (bricklayer) recommended that we both bought a Hopealoimu fire place. He wanted to have his for his summer cottáge. He already had one at home and had recommended these for a number of neighbours. After a few weeks I am very pleased.

Note that Hopealoimu is a so-called "varaava takka", which keeps it hot longer.

http://www.hopealoimu.fi/

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:06 pm

We have one of those grey stone fireplaces. At first I hated it, looks like a mausoleum in the corner of the living room but having stared at it for many hours over the past five years I suppose I've got used to it.

My tip would be.... check out how to clean it. The design of ours is such that it is impossible to remove the ash without getting on all fours and using something like a small trowel to scoop it out. Usual fire-irons are too big. In the UK most wood-burning stoves or fireplaces would have some kind of a slide-out tray which catches the ash, making it really easy to clean.

The other problem is that the stone radiates heat long after the fire goes out (maybe 12h or even more!). So, assuming you light the fire in the evening (cosy, nice) most of the heat effect will come through once you have gone to bed. Bit stupid really. Make sure the one you choose is not too big for the size of your house, otherwise you will have to sleep with the windows open

And you will get through a ton of wood so make sure you have access to a forest.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:27 pm

penelope wrote: The other problem is that the stone radiates heat long after the fire goes out (maybe 12h or even more!). So, assuming you light the fire in the evening (cosy, nice) most of the heat effect will come through once you have gone to bed. Bit stupid really.

And there was me thinking that throwing out heat for hours after the fire has died was an intentional feature of something with so much stone in it's construction.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:02 pm

Yes, of course that's the whole idea. But where I come from we usually turn the heating down at night. So, I find that when we light a fire in the chimney (usually in the evening when we have a sauna) the house gets too hot and I have to sleep with the windows open. The sensible thing would be to light the fire in the morning and then let it burn out midday, so the heat warms up the house when you need it most, in the evening.

Donpeblo · Post by **Donpeblo** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:29 pm

My dad used to tell me stories about how it was his job as a child to light the stove in the morning (which was coal fed and made of metal) and how it provided heat for the whole house the whole day. Then when I first got a job I used to have to light the fires in the Pub. Since then I managed to cope with central heating until I moved to Norway. Then I had a job keeping my better half away from the fire as it "was sooo cold in the house".

So the trick appears to be a) employ someone/emotionally blackmail them or b) get any little people in your house to light it for you early in the morning

Which brings me to my newby questions:

Where do you buy wood and how much does it cost? Is it sold by the litre? Can you get a guy to dump a load to cover the whole winter on your driveway?

I'm moving to a house which has a fire with a ton of stone on it so am very much looking forward to being very toasty night and day. All I need now is something to burn

Have a nice weekend
Donpeblo

raamv · Post by **raamv** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:29 pm

Well
we went with Kermansaavi as they had better choices...and we also liked the color of the tiles offered.
Unfortunately, The corner model we got did not come with a "baking oven"..but definitely, I suggest that you look into it.
As for the kermansaavi, we went to the one is Espoo and ordered. It was all done is 1.5 months and very professionally.
and I would also recommend a Varaava takka IF your house is able to have it.

karen · Post by **karen** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:52 pm

Speaking of wood, we are going to cut down some trees in front of our house. They aren't very thick, but quite tall. Are any of you interested in coming to haul it away? I want to cut them down this weekend, but could wait until next weekend if someone wants to come then. PM if you're interested.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:05 pm

Wood.... which....

Some burns MUCH better than others.

karen · Post by **karen** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:44 pm

Dh calls them vaivaiskoivu, but according to Wikipedia those only grow to about 1.2 meters. These are much taller. I guess it's some kind of birch that gets red berries and grows several meters tall.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:18 pm

My dh says vaivaiskoivu are dwarf birch which grow in the Taiga.
And if they have red berries they are not birch.

Mystery. I was just wondering though.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:30 pm

karen wrote:Dh calls them vaivaiskoivu, but according to Wikipedia those only grow to about 1.2 meters. These are much taller. I guess it's some kind of birch that gets red berries and grows several meters tall.

Sounds like rowan (maybe pihlaja in finnish), but no idea if they are part of the birch family.

karen · Post by **karen** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:08 am

I think the rowan berries are smaller and more orange, but these do remind me of rowan berries.

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 6:07 am

There are different types of Rowan, also with more reddish berries.

network_engineer · Post by **network_engineer** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:07 am

Hi all,

The question still remains: Should we opt for the soapstone fireplace (i.e. Tulikivi) or Kermansaavi (tiled stove). Both of them are heat-retaining, i.e. varaavatakat.

We were specifically wondering - which one retains heat better and for a longer period of time. It is kind of pointless to have a fireplace that heats up too hot and then cools down too fast, ain't it?

About using the fireplace, i.e. leaving it burning unattended, I am not sure is allowed by law.

Kind regards.

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