Franco Belge "Lorraine" Stove

JennyNanson · Post by **JennyNanson** » Mon. Sep. 17, 2012 5:33 pm

We live in Florida and have a house in England with a Franco Belge "lorraine" stove which is 12 years old and still going strong. The plate behind the stove and the control lever do not work properly having been forced out of shape accidently by our son. Reluctant to replace this stove as it seems that someone with experience could fix it. Is there anyone in Cumbria, UK willing to try? If you can fix it, we will pay 500 GBP cash.

Post by **ONEDOLLAR** » Mon. Sep. 17, 2012 5:45 pm

Jenny

Try this site

http://www.stovespares.co.uk/23-stoves.html

Looks like they carry parts for your stove and you never know you may be able to fix it yourself. 500 GBP isn't anything to sneeze at! They also might be able to help you find someone in the area to help you as well.

Good luck and let us know how you made out.

ciao!

SteveZee · Post by **SteveZee** » Tue. Sep. 18, 2012 9:25 am

I agree that's allot a dosh! Looks like a nice unit. I really like that allot of the UK and EU stoves have a "boiler" option on them. They heat water and circulate it through a radiator in another room or above. Pretty cool.

Post by **ONEDOLLAR** » Tue. Sep. 18, 2012 9:36 am

Steve

Not only the "options" they offer but Euro Manufactures make a whole host of stoves that are never sent over here. I truly love looking at the stoves from Europe. Don't know if it is our EPA regs that limit the imports of just a lack of market. Though I always thought EU Environmental regs are more stringent than the EPA's.

Jenny please let us know how you make out

SteveZee · Post by **SteveZee** » Tue. Sep. 18, 2012 11:50 am

I'm not sure OD but I am sure your right about the EU restrictions being tighter. Many of the UK stoves have the boiler to a radiator option. It might be cost prohibitive due to weight and shipping or it might be trade agreements or lack of?
Thing is, they live (on the whole) in allot less space then we do here. My significant other is a UK gal and we have a home here in Maine and over there in Wiltshire county. That place is tiny in comparison to the Maine house, yet would probably sell for twice or more the money the stateside house would even though we have 4 acres on the coast here and a postage stamp (relatively speaking) in England. Supply and demand I guess. There is only so much space on an island.

firebug · Post by **firebug** » Tue. Sep. 18, 2012 2:25 pm

SteveZee wrote:Thing is, they live (on the whole) in allot less space then we do here.

you´ve got a point there! houses & appartments tend to be much smaller, yet - on average - better insulated than what I´ve seen in the US so far... (though my personal experience is limited to Reading PA and Athens OH, to be honest)
so I´d suppose stoves produced for the european market simply wouldn´t have the capacity you´d need to keep an average american home warm at single digit-temps. An example: friends own a 180sq meter (approx. 1900sq ft) bungalow here in Germany and their 8KW (27k BTU) stove heats the entire house EASILY, it actually has more of a sauna-feeling to it most of the time we´re there

Post by **ONEDOLLAR** » Tue. Sep. 18, 2012 2:54 pm

1900 Sq Ft is relative to what part of the country you live in. 1900 SqFt in NYC would run you 7g's+ a month in rent and would be a good size aparment. My brother lived in NYC and was paying $2500+ a month for about 400 SqFt. I have seen walk in closets bigger than his apt was. The average "CapeCod" style house in the New England area is between 900 and 1200 SqFt. Our "Chalet A Frame" comes in at about 950 SqFt and was heated for years with a tiny Morso Squirrel and it kept us nice and warm. (Mid 70's 2 adults and a dog) The house I grew up in the middle part of the country was close to 4000 SqFt and was typical for the area. Average house size varries widely from one part of the country to the next. Heck even from City to City, Town to Town things can change.

My experiance (just me) is Euro stoves pack more bang for the size than American made stoves. They also have better exterior designs as well from my point of view. And I use our little Morso as a prime example. New England can get pretty cold and no matter how cold it was that little stove kept us warm and while our house is less than 30 years old which is new by N.E. standards I would say it has fair to just above average insulation and we are always going in and out with the dog. (Except on Sunday afternoons during football season!)

My point being those small Euro stoves pack a great punch and I wish more of them would be sent this way. One of the problems I see is overcoming the idea that many have is that to heat a large area you must have a big stove and that isn't always the case.

Any.. That is my ramble for the day!

SteveZee · Post by **SteveZee** » Tue. Sep. 18, 2012 5:40 pm

I agree that it really depends entirely on the application. The house here in Maine is right on the coast and is 226 years old, build it several different "add-ons" and probably fairly leaky as that goes mostly the old windows. It's a good 2500sq and in a "normal" circumstance could be heated totally by the Glenwood MO116. The kitchen and sunporch were added on and tend to be colder so I use the Glenwood cookstove in there when it's really cold just to even it out some. The main house with a front and back stairs and floor registers, heats and circulates quite well. It's all about design and where the chimneys are for optimal placement. Generally speaking, older houses heat better with stoves because they had too back then.