What stove have you got?

SEE

What stove have you got and how does it perform?

I got mine 15yrs ago to save on energy costs and apart from the ash emptying part of the operation, I love it.

I have an Agatar 912 multi-fuel running hot water and 4 radiators.

SEE

Do you know, I must be getting old, my hubby has just told me its been 19yrs! How time flies when you're emptying ash pans

Greenfires

Morso Squirrel 1430 - never any problems at all - and only take an inch of ash out of it every month or so.

Williwoodburner

Yeoman Exe 7kw, great stove.
Cat likes it too. :money:

A._Badger

Lovely cat, Willie!

Ectophile

I've got a Stovax View 5. It's a modern design and one of the few 5KW stoves that would fit in my fireplace and still have clearance all round.

They are a bit awkward to get up to temperature. Most stoves have a big vent on the front to let lots of air in. The View ones don't and you have to leave the door slightly ajar until everything's burning fiercely. But the air rushing in from one side only sets up a whirlwind that doesn't encourage the flames to spread across the width of the stove.

Once it's up and running, you can just use the smaller air vents and it works fine.

On a moderately cold day, I can keep the whole house warm just with the stove alone and leaving all the doors in the house open. It's a 1960's 3-bed semi with a some insulation.

A._Badger

I have a 14kw Hunter Herald multifuel in a large inglenook. It isn't connected to a boiler.

Hunters have their detractors (mostly retailers who want to sell more expensive stoves, in my experience) but I've met lots of happy owners locally and I've been very impressed with the build quality of mine. I have suffered no mechanical issues whatsoever in around three years of ownership and daily use.

I would say, however, that like most stoves that can burn both wood and smokeless, the wood burning function is compromised by the smaller size of the firebox. If the space in the Hunter currently occupied by the rocking grate were free for logs, I'm sure wood would burn better than it does.

On the other hand, as a multifuel burner it is splendid and the only problem is that, again, space constraints mean it has quite a small ash pan, which needs emptying more frequently than I would like. If Hunter would drop the baseplate by a couple of inches, it could go a lot longer between emptyings - never a pleasant prospect while the stove is roaring away!

That said, it has been a very good buy.

Foggster

I have a 9kw Evergreen stove.

Cheap and cheerful, it isnt connected to any central heating. It has got me through some cold winters. It is the poor relative to many stoves but for what I want it does the job. Cost less than £350 to buy, kicks the heat out throughout the downstairs and it ticks the boxes.

Skulls

I used to have a Villager A flat top roughly a 14kW. Now been replaced with a Burley Hollywell 5kW, fitted with the room sealing kit(cold air supply direct into the fire)

I've had the Burley about 3 weeks and have yet to empty the ash! Today I lit the fire at 7.30 am and managed to burn 10 kg of briquettes by 10 pm. I loved the Villager but, the Burley is in another class, the glass door, one of the biggest I've seen, is even double glazed.

I paid £780 cash and just put it in the back of my Citroen C1 and drove home with it. Same size flue as the Villager, so took about an hour to fit.

My lounge is about 110 cubic Metres, by around 6 pm the lounge door is opened and the rest of the house gets some hot air.

If anyone wants a Villager A flat top get in touch!

YORKSHIRELASS

Ours is a 5kw Farndale from Town and Country fires in Pickering, North Yorkshire, bought 10 years ago when we knocked out the awful 1960s fireplace in our kitchen diner.

I love it. We put the last lot of fuel on at about 6pm and its still warm next morning. First job when I get up is to get the stove fired up again.

Up until this weekend we have only been using the central heating for an hour a day. We do spend a bit on smokeless fuel for it but I would rather do that that burn the heating oil.

Williwoodburner

In my opinion more important than the make/model of stove is the quality of the wood or fuel.

Keep warm.

willie.