Masonry Stoves

Beauty, History and Efficiency: the Masonry Stove

Masonry Stoves and heaters are originally a Swedish refinement of the fireplace, capable of producing even and long-lasting warmth for the home in a sustainable and beautiful way. This 300-year-old technology is astonishingly efficient – more so than even current wood burning stoves.

Masonry stoves come in different shapes and sizes, different finishes, different outputs. So there is a masonry stove to suit every property, modern or traditional.

A ec678 by Ecco stove with additional layer and a custom copper boiler. Weight around 720kg, hight of heater is 1.2m . Project by Glenkinchi, East lothian
A ec580 silicone carbide masonry stove by Ecco stove, installed in a low energy home in the Trossacks

Beauty: A part of your home

Masonry stoves are built rather than installed, this is because of the weight, our smallest masonry stove starts at 270 kg to climbs to over 1500kg.  Different products are built differently, some as dry stack products while others are bonded together using high temperature mortar.

A ec678 Masonry stove installed in Comrie. This one has 2 additional sections to raise the door hight and add mass. She weighs around 700kg

History: The 17th Century ecologists

The masonry stove and heaters was developed to improve the efficiency and heat storage capacity of the traditional open fire place. Masonry stoves originated in Sweden around the 17th and 18th Centuries, at that time, Scandinavians were eating through their pristine woodlands in order to heat their homes and realised that to keep as much of their forests as possible, fireplaces would have to become more efficient.

Stuart having a glass of wine after work in front to a ec678 with back boiler. Project is on Loch Tay
A ec678 with our custom copper boiler. The boiler heats a radiator in the kitchen.

Efficiency: 90% heat where you want it

The modern masonry stoves we supply and install at Gondwana Green Heat offer high efficiently and can give off heat for up to 20 hours after burning. This allows masonry stoves to be potentially the only heat source in a home or a supplementary heat source.

About Masonry Stoves

The secret to the masonry stove that differentiates it from the steel or cast iron stove is not simply the material but also the flue passages inside the stove , this extracts as much thermal energy as possible from the fuel making masonry stoves so efficient.

Considerations & Savings

Masonry heaters have significant advantages over other kinds of wood burning stove, and at Gondwana Green Heat we believe that more British households and business should consider opting for these beautiful, highly efficient heating systems…

Installation

Gondwana Green Heat has installed masonry stoves in many rural and city  homes across Britain, from Georgian town houses in Edinburgh to stunning villas in sea side locations  like Gullane and the Inner Hebrides.

A traditional Italian tile stove by La Castellamonte.

Masonry stoves are normally located on the ground floor ( because of weight) and ideally centrally located to allow heat to permeate equally throughout the ground floor before escaping to the next level.  There is also practical factors to consider, like hearth requirements and the chimney system for the masonry heater which is the same as standard wood burning stoves.

…Gondwana are proud to be authorised installers and retailers of the innovative and exclusive British made silicone carbide wood fuelled masonry stove.

These british beasts are made in the uk from refectory castable with silicone carbide chips, this enables them to absorb heat very well and push that stored heat to the extremities of the property.  Ecco stove has a range of models and colours to suit contemporary and traditional properties as well as different heat outputs.

Here at Gondwana we also produce a range of copper back boilers to fit the ecco stove range, this allows your masonry stove to heat water for central heating and hot tap water when installed in conjunction with one of our thermal storage tanks.

Gondwana Green Heat is delighted to be the first to offer the amazing La Castellamonte ceramic stoves in Scotland. This artisan company has been making traditional tile stoves in the hills of Piedmonte since 1975, building on a long tradition of this craft in the area.

La Castellamonte produce both traditional tile stoves and the” Stack stove” range which are contemporary Italian stunners.