Little Wenlock stove Hot

I've had our Little Wenlock for almost 18 months now, and used it through 2 winters. Very pleased with it. It has no problem heating my 8m x 4m north facing front room in a very old (under insulated) house. You need to be careful with log size as the fire box is a little narrower than most. My installation uses the rear flue exit rather than the top. The stove will run overnight on solid fuel, but not logs. Air wash is OK, glass rarely needs cleaning if you burn very dry logs. I tend to leave bottom vent closed when it is up to temp and leave top vent open unless it is really burning hard. Overall I'm very pleased with it.

Stove Expert Replied: Performing well and producing good heat.

We have owned/operated this stove for just over two years and love it, our house was heated by white meter storage heaters which were a joke, house was boiling hot in the morning but freezing by tea time so we looked for an answer and this was it, it cost a lot of cash to have the chimney reopened and fire place built but the heat was amazing. We were new to log burning and made a lot of basic errors but have taken it all in and are well informed now. We have over fired and damaged the baffle, bought (damp)wood from the petrol station forecourt, didn't get the chimney swept for over a year and a half and so on but as I said you learn and we now have two log stores, a chainsaw and a 5t log splitter but the best aftermarket item is the magnetic thermometer and if you don't have one get one, you will save fuel and save damage to your stove, also a moisture meter will tell at a glance if your logs are safe to burn. This winter we have been trying out sawdust briquettes and they were a big success, not cheap but great, I know a lot of people install a stove to save cash but if you do buy logs give the briquettes a try. After two years we have had to replace all the fire bricks at £80 and the baffle at £20 but we did abuse the wee stove and a lesser make may well be in a skip by now, Aga stoves have a 5 year guarantee and that is with a company you can phone - try doing that with a cheap stove made in China ! no brainer for my hard earned cash. We recommend this stove strongly

Stove Expert replied: A customer who has learnt a great deal since becoming a stove owner. They are not always the cheapest option but they are the heart of the home!

This little stove works hard for you I have abused mine by over filling...don't do this or the top baffle plate will melt!!!!. The 5kw heat output for the size is great. The best little stove you will get love every bit about it.
Les Binks

Stove Expert Replied: Costly mistake to make, do not overfill a stove as this can cause damage. Otherwise great feedback.

I'm not sure which version ours is as we bought it brand new in 1998! Mainly just for show as we have gas central heating. About 2004, (I lamb in winter) and one particular miserable winters night, we came in from lambing frozen. So we thought, lets light the stove. Shock, horrors, never done this before at night!! Needless to say the little darling is now lit from November and stays lit until early April. To start with the gas couldn't cope as the stove got the water hotter than the gas ever could. Ours is a multifuel with boiler and plumbed in to the water and one radiator as we were informed that is couldn't do any more. About 4 years ago, we challenged that and had a 2nd radiator placed higher (gravity) in my bedroom which now is heated all day and night. We can't afford to keep the gas going constantly but with the stove we do have hot water. Mum would like a 3rd, smaller radiator fitted in her room, therefore lower than the original one off the stove, but whether it will work or not we will see. I can't comment about the newer models but the version we have is marvellous. We burn through the turn tables yearly so have to replace them and the fire bricks at the side need replacing but other than that she is wonderful. We run her on wood, home grown and bought but mainly on Wildfire. We found that running her on normal coal clogged up the griddles and burnt through them whereas the Wildfire turns to dust. I have been advised that Homefire and Phurnacite would be better for the stove but not for my purse. She doesn't go through the summer just the winter. I would heartily recommend this little stove to anyone. Oh Yes, I've cooked on top of her too!!

Stove Expert Replied: Leave a bed of ash and always empty the ash after riddling to help with the life of the grate. Fuels do vary so worth trying more than one type to see if it makes a difference.

After being given the runaround by a thoroughly obstructive Customer Services girl ("if your stove is running too hard it must be your chimney/installer"/"no I can't put you through to an engineer, it's illegal" Illegal?? REALLY!!!) I wrote a rather caustic review of this stove. However, after a second conversation with a different (delightful girl), and a visit from an (equally delightful) engineer, our problem has at last been solved. So, to the gentleman who's AGA eats wood "like an elephant eats pies", ask AGA to check the washers on the inside of the spin valve. There should be two, but we had three, which meant however hard we tried we couldn't shut it down.

Stove Expert replied: Glad to hear that the problem has been solved to enable you to enjoy the stove fully. Chimney draught can cause problems but an installer should check this on installation.

The built quality of this stove is immediately obvious and the cast iron surround quickly warms and with well seasoned wood gives off more than enough heat to warm our 15'x15' living room. I down sized my stove to the little wenlock but have not lost any heat value but you have to be careful with log sizes as the firebox is fairly small. Overall I am very happy with the stove and have found that to avoid the glass becoming too black its worth keeping the door ajar for about 15-20 minutes before fully closing it. I did a lot of research before buying this stove and think for a 5kw fire it will be hard to beat.

Note: this review is of the 'wood only' version.
We already have a Little Wenlock,bought in 1981 and still going strong. It's simple, just a grid to stop the logs falling out, removable for cleaning, and a spin vent at the front to regulate the airflow. It's economical on fuel, easy to use, and when closed down will happily stay in overnight. So what about the new, "improved", Aga Little Wenlock? Well, it burns more fuel in an hour than our old one does in five, can't be closed down (even for an hour while walking the dogs) without going out and has so much 'gubbins' in the firebox that it's impossible to get anything but the shortest logs in it. IT'S AWFUL! Oh, and try getting advice from Aga about how to improve its performance. There is a so-called 'Customer Service' department, but don't expect any actual service - they don't return phone calls or answer e-mails. Yet another big company that's taken over a family business and ruined it.

Stove Expert Replied: If this is a Defra Approved model then you will not have the same control as to enable stoves to pass the approval they need to burn at a faster rate. Hope this helps!

sorry to burst the bubble of good reviews but i am a bit disappointed in this stove i have wood burning se model
it is my first ever stove i suppose it is like any other stove that it eats the logs like an elephant eats buns, if i did not have a free supply of logs, i think it would not be any cheaper to run than any other heating sources going by the price to buy kindling and logs and optional fire lighters. it takes at least an hour and half to really heat the 8x4 room there is no chance of it burning all night as u have to constantly fill it up i probably should have bought the multi fuel version as this model u cannot get a kit to upgrade to multi fuel

Stove expert says: it may be that the draw from the chimney is excessive meaning that the stove would give out less heat and eat more fuel. A damper or draught stabiliser might help.

We purchased the AGA Wenlock SE online after seeing it the AGA shop. Well built stove, ideal for our small front room. It has a small firebox, suitable for 9" logs, lights very easily using a single firelighter, with the primary air opened fully for 15 minutes or so. It is easy to control the fire using the primary air. On the SE the secondary air is locked almost out, giving little control, a bit disconcerting when it was first fitted as we thought that the control knob was stuck out.
The stove produces very little ash, and the small ash pan can be left for 2-3 evenings before it needs emptying. The stove gives out plenty of heat very quickly.
The air wash works fine if the fire is very hot, or with some primary air, however, if left overnight or slow burning, some staining can occur, this is easily removed, we use halogen stove top cleaner.
We do not often burn overnight often, but find that a full firebox is definitely needed to have any heat in the morning.
Riddle works well, but the control can get really hot, so the tool is definitely needed.

This is an excellent & highly economical solid fuel and wood burning stove.
Easily adapts to larger firebox size for burning wood, or using supplied firebricks for solid fuel.
The stove is very easy to control, clean and use.
Remarkable heat output - care is needed not to overload as this stove as it is capable of putting out a surprisingly high level of heat.
The riddling system is easy and effective.
Overnight burning is very controllable using the air valve on the door. This easily enables a nice warm room to greet you in the morning.
Top of stove can be used to boil water, cook and with the use of an old penny under a heavy pan to act as a slow cooker - Great way to produce excellent porridge for those without an AGA!
If there is a weakness - and this is really being a bit picky it is that the airwash system to keep the glass clean is not as effective as you might expect - especially if you are running the stove on the overnight 'miser' rate to save fuel.
Having said that this blackening of the glass also tends to burn off if you run the stove hot!
Will burn all types solid fuel and wood - suggest that something like smokeless ovals should be used for overnight as they are a very economic burn in this stove.
You may find if using smokeless that a pile of 6-8 ovals are sufficient to keep your room warm, there is no need to fill the the whole firebox.

Stove Expert Relied: Great feedback for such a small stove, good to hear it is so versatile.

This is our first wood burner and it is a fasntastic little stove, would highly recomend buying one, it put out lots of heat, so much so all the internal doors in the house stay open to distribute the heat around, my only slight downside to the fire is the glass blackerns easily, other than that a fantastic little fire

Great little stove which gives out masses of heat, installed in our conservatory
and it heats it no problem. The airwash works really well and it supplies hours of entertainment as we all just sit and gaze at it. Very easy to light with just paper and some kindling. The only very slight downside to it is the size of the fire box, larger logs wont fit in it. You can just about squeeze 8 inches into it but not to big a log in diameter. The size of the firebox just means you have got to fill it more often and this rules out any chance of having an overnight burn.This is our first woodburning stove and we couldn't be happier with it and as it lights so easily the overnight burn does not seem so important. In the winter months we didn't get any use from our conservatory as it was just to cold despite fitting a large radiator. Now the radiator is switched of and the conservatory is lovely and warm/hot and is now the most used room in the house. A fantastic little stove, we would certainly buy the same one again and have no problems recommending it to anyone.

I reviewed this fire in November 2009 before the long hard winter. I retract nothing that I said at the time and can only sing the praises of this fire. The warmth that it generates throughout the house is fantastic. Unlike central heating which goes cold within an hour when switched off, the house stays warm for hours and the effects can still be felt in the mornings from the previous day. Even better we saved over £100 on the gas bill from the same quarter last year.
The performance of the fire is well worth the investment.

I have a little wenlock classic stove. Overall I love it, good looks and well made. Only slight (and I mean slight) negative is the airwash doesn't really work and the ash pan is a little flimsy. Other than that very warm, easy to light, lovely.

This is our first year of use and we cannot rate this stove highly enough. This model now has an improved controllable airwash and we have not found the blacking of the glass to be a problem. What amazed us is how easy it is to control and how quickly it responds to the use of the dial (which is also improved in the new model).
We have not used the central heating yet this year (November) as the heat just seems to get all around the house. We fitted a thermometer to ours which indicates when the fire is burning at its most efficient and I would recommend one of these. They are only cheap to buy and just fit magnetically to the flue anywhere you want.
I have down marked the airwash system because the glass does get some blacking on it but it doesn't detract from the overall appearance and personally I think this can only be expected.
My other downmark is the firebox size. Whilst adequate some largish logs will not fit but if it were any bigger we would be roasted out of the room!
The burning over night we have not purposely tried but we did put some barbecue briquettes on one night and the were still glowing the next morning. It would have been easy to fuel more wood to get it going again.
It is extremely easy to light and we have not had a failed lighting yet. We just use a couple of firelighters and a few kindling sticks and its away first time.
It is easy to clean and there is little ash to remove each day. I have noticed a little more dust around but the comfort and pleasure of a 'real' fire more than makes up for the minimal inconvenience it may cause.
Wish we'd fitted one sooner.

Been using this for our only heat source for just over a year in a static caravan. It produces a good amount of heat that must be as much as the claimed output. It lights easily, stays in over night, every night on soft woods or hard woods (we never use solid fuels). You can boil a kettle or even cook on the flat top (if you use the rear flue exit). I would recommend one of these to any one needing the rated power.

the little wenlock air wash system is unsophisticated, having an inlet common with the draught, this does not seem to let enough air up the glass to effectively shield the glass from darkening substances. however it is very warming to the room and solidly built, and overall we like it.