wood burner condemned

aliby21

Wow, Alleycat, thank you, that is incredibly helpful, and ABadger too. I think with ABadger's car analogy I'd like a Golf - don't want the jaguar of stoves, but good quality, works well, reliable, easy to use, will last. Useful to know that steel is in many ways better than cast iron. As I'm completely new to woodburners I am going to go and have a play with a few this afternoon.

it is difficult, the sweep seemed fine, but when it is someone you don't know and the first thing they do is tell you 'you need a new one of those and I can sell you one' you do sort of wonder. But yes, I do think the stove I have is genuinely not fit to use, and from what he showed me (and my experience of other things the previous owners did in the house) I can believe it was not fitted well or looked after properly.

(oh, and I did ring the person who installed the stove, to try and find out if there was any guarantee. He offered to sell me a new part for 600 quid. I don't think I will be going down the repair route)

really, really useful to get some info from people who know - thank you again!

alleycat`

Whilst i tend to agree with a.badger about steel stoves there are some cast makes that are very good, and have existed for a long time.

If you want something that is intricate you'll almost always end up having to go cast.

The Morso Squirrel as an example, i'm told, is a very good stove from a very good stove maker.
It is, however, Cast and not Steel.

I had a look at one that was running as a "display model" at a local stove place and they'd been using it for years without issue.

It didn't float my boat but to compare it to some of the cheaper "knock offs" on the market would be to do it a disservice.

aliby21

ok, thanks, point taken re steel vs cast iron. I'm after something simple, not too many twirly bits, so guess I will have options.

greyteam1959

I put a Clearview Vision 500 as a replacement for a Mini Dovre 2000 that was nearly 25 years old.
http://www.clearviewstoves.com/vision500.htm
Beautiful simple to operate stove.
Kicks out loads of heat.
My installer said the biggest problem he came across was people installing stoves that were too big & were only running on 'tickover' .
This was causing problems with flues getting gunged up.

A._Badger

alleycat` wrote: »

Whilst i tend to agree with a.badger about steel stoves there are some cast makes that are very good, and have existed for a long time.

If you want something that is intricate you'll almost always end up having to go cast.

The Morso Squirrel as an example, i'm told, is a very good stove from a very good stove maker.
It is, however, Cast and not Steel.

I had a look at one that was running as a "display model" at a local stove place and they'd been using it for years without issue.

It didn't float my boat but to compare it to some of the cheaper "knock offs" on the market would be to do it a disservice.

I agree - and there are cast stoves and 'cast stoves'. Morso is a great brand and you can assume their cast iron is high quality. Then again, Morso stoves certainly aren't cheap. Some of the Chinese makes, on the other hand, are just... nasty.

Good quality cast iron is a great material and I have had excellent service from a cast iron stove in the past. However it can (and does) crack if subjected to serious thermal shock, or even on severe impact (I've even seen that on a Jotul!). It's not surprising that the most advanced stoves (including the well regarded Clearview range) are made of steel. They do look plain, though and certainly wouldn't suit my house.

It's a shame Esse dropped its wonderful 'Dragon' model!

muckybutt

And just to add Morso Squirrels suffer a lot with cracked bricks as well as warped internal baffles, and they aren't particularly cheap to replace either.

A._Badger

muckybutt wrote: »

And just to add Morso Squirrels suffer a lot with cracked bricks as well as warped internal baffles, and they aren't particularly cheap to replace either.

That's very interesting, Mucky and the first negative comment I've heard about Morso. Cracked bricks can be a real nuisance, as well as an unexpected expense. The Little Wenlock I had a few years ago was forever needing replacement bricks. Aga (then in the process of destroying Coalbrookdale), couldn't have cared less - which told me enough about their attitude never to want another of their products.

Have you any idea why the Squirrel suffers that way? I was never able to get a satisfactory explanation for why the Little Wenlock did.,

muckybutt

A._Badger wrote: »

Have you any idea why the Squirrel suffers that way? I was never able to get a satisfactory explanation for why the Little Wenlock did.,

I haven't the faintest, I first thought it may be over-firing that was causing it but two of my customers have stovepipe thermometers so that that wasn't the cause.

It nearly always seems to be the front of the baffle that goes, ive had ones blister - ones that de-laminate and ones that warp completely. They always warp in the same place so might be a problem with the combustion design, sending too much hot air at a certain point of the baffle ?

Greenfires

Boat dwellers seem to have a lot of trouble with Squirrels - we have one at home and though there are cracks in the bricks, they've been there for over three years, and as long as the brick as a whole is more or less intact, cracks are not a problem you should be over worried about. My father in law has one too - different model - and we stuck his rear brick back together with the stove rope glue I use day to day for customers stoves. It was in 14 pieces at the start - still in use today more than two seasons later!
I've come across several boat dwellers using petcoke in their stoves - might be a big part of the problem!
Our baffle plate is original and apart from a little flaking, which is common with all sorts of stoves, it's as good as new. The Squirrel is one of the most popular stoves in the country and has been for a number of years, so can't be that bad!

aliby21

thank you everyone, huge amount of useful information here. I am realising it is going to be worth taking a bit of time and doing some research so I know what I am getting.