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Are Stovax Woodburners a load of rubbish?


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Seem to be getting a lot of complaints from log customers that have installed Stovax stoves. The recent craze to go wood-power has atleast down here, seen lots of Stovax machines being installed as I guess thay sit at a price point where wood burning newbies feel comfortable blah blah blah. My basic view was that they are budget to medium machines. They either seem over greedy on wood or the opposite - not enough air (Stockton 6) and stuff all heat???

 

Just wondering...

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Seem to be getting a lot of complaints from log customers that have installed Stovax stoves. The recent craze to go wood-power has atleast down here, seen lots of Stovax machines being installed as I guess thay sit at a price point where wood burning newbies feel comfortable blah blah blah. My basic view was that they are budget to medium machines. They either seem over greedy on wood or the opposite - not enough air (Stockton 6) and stuff all heat???

 

Just wondering...

 

Got a Riva 40 - small inset stove, had it seven years - the seal has had to be stuck back in once but is still in very good condition, the glass stays clean, it has very good efficiency and combustion - you can see the gas burning that comes out of the wood then reburning from the design of the flue channeling th egas back in to the fire- it is only a pressed construction and firebrick but can say it is a great bit of kit - very modern looking and am 100% happy with it -the combustion design is 1000 times better than the Westminster I had before and the seal design is great - a big rope that has lasted!

 

Father has a jotul and one brother a Clearview all seem pretty good IMO

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They are decent quality stoves but are IMHO overpriced for what they are owing to the vast sums spent advertising them in glossy mags. They are not cutting edge no but are not bad. Price makes them seem at the top end of the market, there are far better stoves that are similarly priced.

 

I dont act for Stovax so have no axe to grind but I have sold a few spurced through trade wholesalers with no issues at all. Mind you I do use a high quality installer.

 

Key is to size the stove correctly to the room size taking into account the insulation properties of the house. These are sized to produce enough heat to give a 21 C temp rise in the room if its 1 C outside while continuing to show good flames in the firebox.

 

Any stove correctly speced and full of wood on a normal burn working well and burning cleanly will want refilling about every 40-45 mins on soft and 50-55 mins on hard assuming the wood is dry.

 

A

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They are decent quality stoves but are IMHO overpriced for what they are owing to the vast sums spent advertising them in glossy mags. They are not cutting edge no but are not bad. Price makes them seem at the top end of the market, there are far better stoves that are similarly priced.

 

I dont act for Stovax so have no axe to grind but I have sold a few spurced through trade wholesalers with no issues at all. Mind you I do use a high quality installer.

 

Key is to size the stove correctly to the room size taking into account the insulation properties of the house. These are sized to produce enough heat to give a 21 C temp rise in the room if its 1 C outside while continuing to show good flames in the firebox.

 

Any stove correctly speced and full of wood on a normal burn working well and burning cleanly will want refilling about every 40-45 mins on soft and 50-55 mins on hard assuming the wood is dry.

A

 

:001_huh:we used to have one maybe 2 logs smouldering away in a 12kw Woodwarm, to the point that it almost looked as if it had gone out, and it heated a huge, open-to-the-roof 40' square room, and another 40' square living room that was attached to this hall. It was roasting and we probably put a log on every few hours!!!

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:001_huh:we used to have one maybe 2 logs smouldering away in a 12kw Woodwarm, to the point that it almost looked as if it had gone out, and it heated a huge, open-to-the-roof 40' square room, and another 40' square living room that was attached to this hall. It was roasting and we probably put a log on every few hours!!!

 

Can well believe that; one couple I sell to have the 8.5kW woodwarm with b/boiler and their machine seems to eek out a lot of heat very efficiently. I have consistently noticed that the quality stoves simply have better efficiency on a linear scale. Higher priced stove = lower fuel consumption... simples.

 

What this stovax owner is complaining about is tiny air holes at the bottom which seem insufficient in getting air thru. Was told it burns from the top (?), dunno if has other dampers but he's frustrsated he only gets decent warmth with the doors open. I reckon pre my delivery of bone dry logs he might have been burning wetter stuff mind :sneaky2: Going to give him some nice dry maccy to play with - should be toasty...

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Can well believe that; one couple I sell to have the 8.5kW woodwarm with b/boiler and their machine seems to eek out a lot of heat very efficiently. I have consistently noticed that the quality stoves simply have better efficiency on a linear scale. Higher priced stove = lower fuel consumption... simples.

 

What this stovax owner is complaining about is tiny air holes at the bottom which seem insufficient in getting air thru. Was told it burns from the top (?), dunno if has other dampers but he's frustrsated he only gets decent warmth with the doors open. I reckon pre my delivery of bone dry logs he might have been burning wetter stuff mind :sneaky2: Going to give him some nice dry maccy to play with - should be toasty...

 

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

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We have a Brunel 2cb , had it for about 5 yrs now and its an awsome stove . Doesn't use much fuel and gives of great heat . If its really cold outside we have both stoves going , Stovax in living room and another non well known one in the dining room (which opens out to the stairs ) This one then heats the whole of upstairs .So between them we never have to use our gas heating :-)

I think that with any half decent modern stove you can get good efficiency and heat from them once you know how they opperate best :-)

 

Mark

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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.

 

I have to say that isn't what we've found. The sooted up glass is caused by incomplete combustion due to insufficient air getting to the fuel - the 'airwash' from above is raraly enough to prevent this. The glass remains clear, or at least clears quickly after lighting if there's a good air supply from below. The only time I'd shut off the primary air supply completely is when there's a gale blowing and the flue is sucking like crazy.

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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

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Got to agree, the only time we open the damper thet puts air in from under the burning logs/kindling is when we are lighting the fire, once going well, it is shut off and all the air comes from the airwash and upper dampers.

The glass stays clear to look at with a slight haze that is easily removed - in my experience, the black crud on glass is formed by lack of air or unseasoned wood.

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