Are Stovax Woodburners a load of rubbish?

[masterblasterer]

I've had a stovax regency for 19 years and never had a complaint you have to obviously burn burn dry wood forget about seasoning it for years I burn freshly cut sycamore after about 2 months out in the wind and sun I keep it uncovered and never have had any issues apart from the grate disintegrating due to EXCESS HEAT they are a replaceable part as are the baffle plate which also disintegrated due to the heat after about 10 years it burns much better if you clean it out about every 2 months:thumbup: after daily use the choccker ash bed stays hot for days.

[Pat Ferrett]

I hope they are ok as I have paid the deposit for a stovax 7 and liner to be fitted, with a bit of luck it should be in and burning with in a couple of weeks

[Spruce]

The primary air control on our Squirrel has been shut for years - and we keep the ash up to the firebars as well so I doubt that any air would get through in any case. Glass is clean all the time. It's fair to say that the airwash on a lot of cheap stoves, particularly often with Chinese imports, does not do such a good job of keeping the glass clean. Fahrenheit on here, who installs hundreds of stoves every year will confirm this. I'd agree with everything Alycidon said except the bit about the blackened glass being caused by air coming through the primary inlet.

 

Andy

 

Maybe it's a size thing - ours is quite a big stove (Aarrow Stratford 21kW), we just wouldn't be able to burn enough wood to heat the house without an air supply from below as well as the airwash, unless it's a really wild night. Now I think about it the wee Esse we have in the living room burns fine on the airwash, but that only takes a few small sticks. It can be quite hard to get that one shut down enough when it's windy without blackening the glass.

[blazer]

Stovax Sheraton logburner model, top air draw only - brill stove about 14 kw, had it in for say 15 yrs will control low and when cold run like a blast furnace all winter. Any problem could be the flue is too small, when I first installed mine I connected it to a 5" flue (the old gas boiler one) to try it out first winter, it ran well but needed sweeping every 6 months or it wouldn't draw. I later fitted the recommended 6" flue with much swearing - me standing on the roof shouting down to my dear wife to pull **** harder, 2 double bends to get around.

 

Now it draws better with the 6" flue only clean the flue one a year, not much comes down 1/2 a small bucket. As it's the only heating used we get through tonnes of wood in the winter, so it has a hard time I need to replace the cast iron 'smoke deflector' every 2 yrs as it often runs red hot and burns out.

 

As a stove I would buy the same again, although I don't think they still make them.

 

One other item to check is the house sealed? I have x6 30mm air holes drilled into the lounge floor to draw air from the air bricks, and left the old catflap in to act as an air balance valve (bit posh for an old cat flap) but in a sealed house with a kitchen extractor fan running it's possible to draw air back down the flue.

Edited October 16, 2011 by blazer

[blazer]

Just a thought - Some 'auto-air dampers' are set a bit low so they many be setup for 'multifuel' as in coal, not top air as needed with wood burning.

[Alycidon]

Smokeless fuel needs far more air than wood for clean combustion.

 

A

[Fahrenheit]

Stovax are pretty decent stoves. They're what I'd call middle of the road although their prices are more high end. Their inset stoves such as the Riva and Riva Studio are excellent quality. They're a massive company with a massive range of stoves that have been doing it for donkeys years so they must be doing something right.

 

I did notice in your post that you said he was only getting a little heat out of it with the doors open? A stove should not be used with the doors open. No stove will give out good heat with the doors open as your basically using it as an open fire.

[likeitorlumpit]

Wood burns from the top down, you don't want air getting underneath the grate otherwise you will get black glass. Once the fire is going close the primary air supply completely and control the stove using the secondary air supply only, primary is under the grate, secondary is down the inside of the glass.

 

Having a stove shut right down and smouldering away will extend the refuelling intervals yes but at the cost of tars in the flue ( because the temperature in the firebox is not hot enough to combust them) and significantly increased soot deposits.

 

Smokeless fuel, anthracite etc burns from the bottom up, you have the secondary air supply wide open and control the fire using the primary air supply thats putting air under the grate.

 

A

IMO you can't beat loads of air from below- makes a great blaze- then control the heat by adding more wood (or not) don't faff around with regulators etc

[Spruce]

Stovax Sheraton logburner model, top air draw only - brill stove about 14 kw, had it in for say 15 yrs will control low and when cold run like a blast furnace all winter. Any problem could be the flue is too small, when I first installed mine I connected it to a 5" flue (the old gas boiler one) to try it out first winter, it ran well but needed sweeping every 6 months or it wouldn't draw. I later fitted the recommended 6" flue with much swearing - me standing on the roof shouting down to my dear wife to pull **** harder, 2 double bends to get around.

 

Now it draws better with the 6" flue only clean the flue one a year, not much comes down 1/2 a small bucket. As it's the only heating used we get through tonnes of wood in the winter, so it has a hard time I need to replace the cast iron 'smoke deflector' every 2 yrs as it often runs red hot and burns out.

 

As a stove I would buy the same again, although I don't think they still make them.

 

One other item to check is the house sealed? I have x6 30mm air holes drilled into the lounge floor to draw air from the air bricks, and left the old catflap in to act as an air balance valve (bit posh for an old cat flap) but in a sealed house with a kitchen extractor fan running it's possible to draw air back down the flue.

 

I'm not totally sure whether you're answering my post or the thread, but I put in a 7" liner as recommended by the stove manufacturer for wood burning. It draws great - but only with air from the bottom which is the way it's meant to work. The airwash is there to keep the glass clear, the air from the bottom comes through a thermostatic flap controlled by the boiler temperature. There is an additional manual air intake which we normally only use when lighting (instant raging inferno!) or when it's flat calm. Flue is swept twice a year, probably excessive as very little comes out, and it runs straight up . We have no problems with lack of ventilation - quite the opposite, unfortunately. In spite of that the house is lovely warm. We use about 3/4 artic load of softwood a year. It's also our only heating apart from the little Esse, but we don't really need that. We were going to do a combined oil boiler and stove originally but thought we'd get lazy and use the oil too much, so we thought we'd see how it went without the oil. As it turns out we've never once regretted that decision.

[blazer]

I'm not totally sure whether you're answering my post or the thread, but I put in a 7" liner as recommended by the stove manufacturer for wood burning. It draws great - but only with air from the bottom which is the way it's meant to work. The airwash is there to keep the glass clear, the air from the bottom comes through a thermostatic flap controlled by the boiler temperature. There is an additional manual air intake which we normally only use when lighting (instant raging inferno!) or when it's flat calm. Flue is swept twice a year, probably excessive as very little comes out, and it runs straight up . We have no problems with lack of ventilation - quite the opposite, unfortunately. In spite of that the house is lovely warm. We use about 3/4 artic load of softwood a year. It's also our only heating apart from the little Esse, but we don't really need that. We were going to do a combined oil boiler and stove originally but thought we'd get lazy and use the oil too much, so we thought we'd see how it went without the oil. As it turns out we've never once regretted that decision.

 

I was going for the original question with general answers from my experience but this is limited to my Stovax and a few other woodburners from holiday cottages where I take my own firewood. Some of my answers were just general checks, the old simple ones often missed. I had problems fitting a 6 " liner so I suspect some maybe fitted with 5" although it worked well it slowed on drawing but when swept only 1/2 a bucket came out. My stovax is top air only with airwash, the glass with often tar up when starting but soon clears.

 

I had one stove on hoilday that was fairly complex and took a while to get the best out of it, so I can see where problems can arise.