Mike installs the wood stove that's burning his own wood

The story so far: three years ago Mike Pepler, our UK Awards Manager, and his wife Tracy, bought an eight-acre wood. This year they bought a house. Now they are going to heat the house with the logs from the wood.

Mike explains here how he and Tracy plan to be almost entirely self-sufficient in space and water heating. In a series of other posts, that appear on his own blog, Mike also gives step-by-step descriptions about how to insulate the cavity walls, sweep the chimney and install the stove.

In this latest instalment of his guide of eco-refurbishment, Mike writes about the plumbing and testing of the wood stove.

It was, he says, "quite an involved job". What it involved, exactly, was:

- removing the gas boiler

- connecting up the wood stove

- running the pipes from the wood stove to the connection to the hot water cylinder and the radiators (the gas boiler was on the other side of the house...)

- replacing the cold water tank and the feed and expansion tank in the loft (they were very old)

- and replacing the hot water cylinder for one that could take solar input as well as the wood stove.

Full details and photos.