We had an excellent cast iron efel for twenty years and will replace with a clearview. we inherited a yeoman and I would not recommend that to anyone. Secret with all woodburners is how effectively you can control the airflow to obtain the highest temperature.

Hi Wyeman

We are just launching a stove review website http://www.whatstove.co.uk - unfortunately for you there are of course no user reviews on there yet - but as and when you get a stove please do review it after you have used it for a while of course. The idea is to have lots of independent stove reviews from people who actually own and use the stoves and are 'free' to say whatever they want (within reason).

Steel stoves used to be no good - the steel used to warp and bend. Now steel is better made so there is really not much in it in terms of metal type between steel and cast. Having said that some cast iron stoves are better made, have better detailing, better door mechanisms, - this is really down to design rather than metal type.

I personally rate Morso and Clearview very highly - people who own these stoves generally have very few negative comments to make about them. The Saey Scope is also another stove I could recommend. A bit more expensive these ones though,.
I have a Hunter myself which might not be as good quality as these ones above but it is a workhorse and has a big backboiler which is what I need.
In terms of value for money I'd probably look at Hunter, Aarrow, Villager, Stovax Stockton, Franco Belge....do bear in mind that as with most things you do largely get what you pay for...
After these I would look to Morso, Town and Country, Clearview, Saey scope, Dovre...

There are of course lots of makes of stove out there - post something here and I can let you know what I think if you want....

CWatters - yep it's a nightmare cutting enamelled with a hacksaw - use a thin metal disc on an angle grinder. Use masking tape to mark the line to cut. Using extra masking tape also covers the enamel and stops hot bits of metal from the grinding fusing into the glass - otherwise it can look a bit speckled afterwards. Wear goggles.

Hi Wyeman,

We have run a 650 clearview for 20 years and it is superb at burning efficiently. Initially, it had a medium boiler, but we now run it as a room heater only as we installed an Esse Ironheart wood burning cooker with boiler which was plumbed into the original primary and secondary circuits. The Clearview will easily burn any wood to hand but any woodburner really needs dry wood (minimum of 2 years air drying). This needs forward planning and storage space. It is more of a hobby than a heating solution so is not suitable for everyone. However, it suits our lifestyle, and is very satisfying to prepare and store the wood for the year.
Some of our friends have cast iron stoves, but none are as efficient or as interactive as our Clearview. There is very little smoke or ash. We generally empty the ash pan every 6 to 8 weeks!

Posted By: ps_mrwonderfulSune,
as you appear to be an expert on all types of stoves, what do you think of the Town and Country Little Thurlow stove? I am considering installing that or a Clearview Vision (with attachment to make it suitable for a smoke-free zone) and can't decide. The other option was the Clearview Vision Insert as it will sit in a fireplace.
Any advice would be welcome.

I can give a glowing report of the Little Thurlow, had one for 2 years now, the only downside, it is difficult to keep in overnight.

I am hearing mixed story's that you now need a chimney liner (circa £800) to install a wood burner and building regs.

Can we cast any more light on this?

Posted By: wyemanHi everybody,
I want to buy a good quality wood burner about 7.5-10kw but with all the choices and apparent snobbery attached to these things and every supplier pushing their own brand I can't seem to find any sort of independant reviews of wood burners.

We have a black cast-iron Jotul F400. This is rated at 8KW. It is fairly large (70cm wide) and has a flat top that is useful for warming plates and dishes. Alternatively you can put the kettle on it to either "pre-heat" the water or - when the fire is burning hot - boil the kettle. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I like the look of the stove, which is elegant rather than boxy.

The stove starts effortlessly with newspaper and bits of kindling. My mother has a lot of experience with stoves and open fires and she says it's the easiest she's ever used. When it gets going the F400 puts out enough heat to warm a very large open-plan room (about 8m by 5m) and also the two rooms that lead off this room if you leave the doors open. If we didn't think before stoking it the stove got too hot and we had to leave the doors open simply to cool off. Over the course of the last winter the stove really warmed the fabric of the house and we found that we didn't use the radiators on the ground floor. The F400 produces surprisingly little ash, about a bucketful every 2-3 weeks. Average wood consumption was about two large baskets in 24 hours although that was with the fire in ALL day and we were not trying to economise so you could probably do better. The logs were a mixture of various kinds of wood and had been well-dried under cover in an outbuilding.

If I remember correctly the F400 in theory has a "glass cleaning" airflow or what have you but if you are burning wood slowly then it will not be able to cope with all the smoke and the glass will become dirty. It's better to fire the stove hard then damp it down. If the glass does become sooty a good burn will clean it up. We have had no problems with the draw and control is simple as there is only one damper at the bottom of the stove. The single door is large and opens easily now but we had to have the installer come along to make an adjustment a few weeks after purchase as it was initially quite stiff. You do not need a special tool to open the door as the handle is a plastic knob on the end of a metal lever. The firebox can take logs of about 16" long and 10" thick although you would need smaller pieces than that to fill the firebox completely.

At night I used to fill it with logs and turn it right down last thing (typically 10pm) every night, which would leave glowing embers in the morning. A bit of kindling had the fire right back up in minutes, but I suspect that if you didn't fill the stove right up the night before it would be out. Although experimentation and better management might pay dividends here my feeling is that you will struggle to get more than embers in the morning unless you go to bed late (which for us would be 11pm) and get up by 6am.

Incidentally I would advise buyers to think very carefully about the size of stove they need. Judging from the output of the 8KW F400, unless you are running a back-burner a 14KW or even a 10KW stove might be overkill and lead to uncomfortable levels of heat. Our house has very thick walls on the ground floor and that no doubt helped but it is otherwise not particularly well insulated and it is certainly not draught-proofed. On the other hand the house is in North Pembrokeshire, which has a mild climate, and its location only two miles from the sea takes the edge off the cold in winter. (I have noticed when driving on cold mornings that just 5 miles inland you often see widespread frost despite there being none around our area.) What I'm trying to say is that if you live far from the sea in a thin-walled and poorly insulated house on an exposed site halfway up a mountain in Scotland then maybe you will need 14KW - ask around your area to see what other people are using.

We bought the stove from our local supplier, who also installed it. I wouldn't say they were cheap at £1,155 including VAT but we try to support local business and the owners are knowledgeable and conscientious people who by reputation provide good support. Labour was a few hundred quid on top of that. The final bill came to much more in our case because we needed new flue components that required some carpentry work (don't ask) in addition to which we splashed out on a large slate hearth and so on.

In conclusion we are very pleased with the stove. I note that numerous people at www.hearth.com have said very positive things about it. This is an American site but which has reviews of the apparently identical Jotul Castine. I would consider buying another Jotul although in the UK I would also look at the Clearview stoves, which seem to get rave reviews. I would also like to try a Tigchel stove or some other kind of masonry heater but these seem to be very thin on the ground.

Dan

We are looking for a stove for our new-build. I was originally looking at the Jøtul F 373 but am being pushed toward the Contura 580 by a local stockist. Has anyone any experience of Contura stoves - how do they compare with Jotul or perhaps even the Morso 6148?

PDobson - Contura are good quality stoves - very well made, nice door and mechanism - I'd put them on a par with that Jotul.
The Morso 8100 series is also very good.
Think about firebox size - depends what you want it for but you might want to get more wood in if you are using the stove for primary heat....these 2 stoves do not have the biggest fireboxes so I'd say they are suited for secondary heating and looking great....

Existing chimney:
There is no actual regs requirement to line and insulate an existing chimney. It is just a very good idea.

New chimney:
If you are building a new masonry chimney for a stove then the liners have to be backfilled with insulating concrete - that is leca, vermicualite, or perlite....I'd recommend pumice liners over clay or concrete any day.
You may not build a brick or block chimney and then use a flex liner inside - flex liner is for existing chimneys only.
Or if you use twin wall you would shift over to twin wall flue at least 150mm below the first ceiling. I would recommend a maximum of 1500mm single skin flue, 1000mm being better - I do not believe there is a actually a specific max length mentioned in doc J.

Hi new here. in Scotland there is a £2500.00 grant available to install a stove, think it will apply every where though. worth a try Craig

Must be getting old

can you point me towards information on the stove grant?

thanks!