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Broseley eVolution 26 boiler stove

Overall Rating:

3.5 flames

based on 10 reviews    (View rating breakdown)
Broseley eVolution 26 boiler stove
Technical Data
  • Height: 700mm
  • Width: 800mm
  • Depth: 692mm
  • Flue Diameter: 150mm
  • Fuel: WOODBURNING ONLY
  • Nominal Heat Output: 26kW
  • Efficiency: 78%

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Review Ratings Breakdown

Build Quality 4 flames
Quality of finish 4 flames
Value for money 3 flames
Ease of use 3 flames
Ease of lighting 4 flames
Firebox size 4 flames
How well does the airwash work 2.5 flames
Controllability 2.5 flames
Handle operation 4 flames
How likely are you to buy it again? 3 flames
What is your overall satisfaction? 3.5 flames

Most Recent Review

  • A good stove/boiler, but not a great one.

    David Perkins 3 years ago

    We bought our stove in 2015 and it effectively heats a very large stone built former farmhouse. We had an initial problem of the the stove being difficult to light and smoking excessively. The
    purchase of a flue thermometer showed that we were not getting the flue hot enough. This is critical to avoid heavy smoke, soot and carbon build up. One needs to ensure the flue is around 150deg C before adding logs. I found it relatively easy to clean once a year with a good set of flue brushes and a couple of home made scrapers. My only complaint, a major one, is that it is impossible to remove ash without letting the stove die out; in addition, there is no riddling device to help ash fall through the burner grids into the ash pans. This means that we need a second source of heat as we therefore cannot heat our house continually. Smoke when refilling is not a problem, the trick is to ensure the existing fuel is throughly burnt, open the air valve for a few minutes before opening the door - slowly - so you dont pull any smoke out with the door. Finally I have to say that ordering spares from Broseley has not been problem free, they either send the wrong part or forget the order. Would I buy another? Possibly, but I want one that is easier to empty the ash.

    Stove expert replied: A small fireside shovel can be used to remove ash when it builds up along with an ash bucket, this is common practise in wood only stoves that have no ashpan.

    Overall rating:

    4.5 flames

Most Popular Review

More reviews for Broseley eVolution 26 boiler stove

  • Broseley Evolution 26 - Nightmare to clean - horrible to load - but what a stove if you can put up with its drawbacks

    Anthony Poole 3 years ago

    We have had the stove for about 7 years now and it serves to heat our water and radiators once it''s up to temperature. It''s a great stove if you can put up with its drawbacks. 1) It''s a
    pain to clean. Cleaning is paramount. Our local chimney sweep gave up on us because of the difficulty of servicing the Broseley - taking the side panel off and getting access through the small side hatch is a time consuming process but one that should be done (we''ve found) twice a year to keep the flue clear. Debris falls down the flue straight onto the top baffle and the flue can become restricted very quickly. We resorted to buying our own chimney flue cleaning rods which attach to my cordless drill and I must say they do a better job than our local sweep ever did. So now I just clean the unit myself twice a year - takes me an hour or two but it''s well worth it. It''s not like normal woodburners - and we''ve had 7 in our time. The flue creates more soot due to the lower exit temperatures of the smoke from the unit. I was shocked by how quickly soot builds up on the top baffle (pretty poor design from Broseley but it is what it is). I can''t recommend cleaning the unit frequently. We have a Chesney Alpine as well and I clean that once a year - and there is twice as much soot from the Broseley than the Chesney - even cleaning twice as often. 2) Smoke into the room when re-loading. This is a common issue that most people experience - us too. I believe the issue with the stove is that the flue never gets really hot - we have a stove temp gauge and we struggle to get the flue above 150 C which is what you need for a decent draw. The water cooled effect of the stove keeps the unit pretty cool during operation - unless of course you''re not passing water through it in which case you can ignore my comments. When loading the unit do the following - open the door about a cm. You''ll notice the rush of air fans the embers and causes the fire to burn a little quicker. Let the fire stabilise - takes about 30 secs and then open the door really slowly. The smoke will go up the flue if you''re patient and don''t rush opening the door - it''s the vacuum effect when people open the door quickly that causes smoke to billow into the room - then people panic and shut the door - only to be back to square one. So my top tips are - make sure the unit is really clean in the area on top of the top baffle (directly under the flue) and practice opening the door slowly with that initial 30 second wait with the door open about a cm. Would I buy another one - no. But I''ve got one and I make the most of it.

    Stove expert replied: Some really useful comments here Anthony - thank you - especially opening the door slowly to allow the chimney to get used to the higher flow of air. Does it improve if you open a window? If so you might want extra room ventilation. I think that fitting a load unit might help you with your chimney. Like the thermostatic cartridge in a car heating system it loops the water within the stove until it comes up to temperature. That gets the stove up to operating tem faster and keeps it there. The added bonus is that when hot water does leave the stove to go out to your hot water cylinder and heating system is that it is always above a set temperature - which means you can have a shower much sooner. That also raises the flue temp faster, and results in a higher fire chamber temp = more efficient combustion = less deposits.

    Overall rating:

    3.5 flames

  • Not fit for purpose...!!. dreadful after care from Brosleley

    Andrew Butterfield 5 years ago

    We Purchased the Broseley stove approx 4 years ago, it smoked on the day of installation and has smoked ever since, when we re-fuel. We have contacted Broseley direct, for help and assistance
    on many occasions and they are dreadful, no help what so ever, and just want to pass the book back to the consumer. Telling us that our wood is not dry enough, we even lit the fire with off cuts of dry timber i.e. Skirting boards etc and took a video of the amount of smoke bellowing from the door as we tried to re-fuel. We feel Broseley are an un professional company, not willing to get to the bottom of these problems.... We have a young family and feel the level of smoke is just not safe for us all to be breathing in. Not wanting to be beaten by this stove we have had 4 separate stove/chimney engineers out to it to give advice and each one says the stove has a manufacturer problem. We have changed from single skin Flue to double skin inside the house we have extended the chimney outside to 9 Mtrs, paid an engineer to construct a chimney support bracket. we added an electric fan, tried a dragons tail, swept the chimney regularly, cleaned between the baffles and taken the side panel off to clean above the fire box. Asked Broseley to come out and assist us t get to he bottom of this problem. They have refused. WHY ARE THEY STILL SELLING THESE FIRES????

    Stove expert replied: The reviews of this stove do consistently mention that this stove smokes into the room and you have clearly had the same experience. It is clear that because it is heavily baffled it needs a tall chimney and a good draw and it would certainly appear that any bends in the system should be avoided. Why the stove should still smoke into the room even when you have a fan on the flue is nonetheless hard to understand. With high output boiler stoves it is always recommended to use a load unit to keep the firebox temperature up, burn very dry wood and only re-fuel once the existing load has burnt down to red embers. Nonetheless from the reviews it appears that everything has been tried but these stoves still have a tendency to smoke when the door is opened. I understand that this has now been removed and the replacement boiler is operating well. with no further adjustment to the flue or other elements of the installation.

    Overall rating:

    4.5 flames

  • Smokes into the room when loading more logs

    Chris Rudge 6 years ago

    We installed an Evolution 26 a couple of years ago and the customer has had constant problems with smoke billowing into the room when the door is opened to load logs. I see from this review
    webpage that this is a constant problem with the Evo26 log boiler. In most other aspects it functions well. To improve the flue draft, we re installed the flue last year, adding extra sections to exceed the Broseley requirements and now have a draft of 20 pascals. It still blows smoke! It seems inside the boiler, there is probably too many baffles to allow the smoke to easily escape which cause the smoking problem. Its a nice looking boiler, but if you value your decor, look for something else to buy.

    Stove expert replied: Is there an air brick in the room to provide enough free air for combustion? It seems strange to have this problem when the flue draw appears to be adequate even greater than recommended for the product. Is there another chimney in the property that could have a better draw, (so when the balance is altered by opening the door, the flue does not have enough lift to take the smoke up the chimney)?

    Overall rating:

    2.5 flames

  • Think again before buying

    Chris Candlish 7 years ago

    We had Evolution 26 installed 3 years ago and when it works it does heat water and rads well but trying to add more logs is where the problems start. When the door is open the smoke fills the
    room, when installer called he advised that wood was not seasoned which was not the case then the chimney was blamed for not being tall enough even after having another 12ft of chimney added with no improvement. Then they blamed the chimney not being swept but the chimney sweep had been twice in 6 months with no build up being found. Then they said I needed to clean top of fire box more often I now do this every 2 weeks but access to this is through side of fire through a 6" x 2" gap virtually impossible to get vac in, my Sunday mornings are fully taken up by this work. If this has to be done so often then access should be improved. I am having this stove replaced in next 2 weeks after long battle with installer.

    Stove expert replied: These are good boiler stoves and it should perform well to heat the home and as you say when working it does this, the refuelling is the problem area - this is not a stove fault. Regarding the problem with smoke coming back into room, this is usually down to the installation / flue system. Is there enough free air in the room for combustion to occur? Is there an anti downdraught cowl fitted to the flue system? Have you another flue in the property that may have a stronger draw on it to the one being used for this stove? Access to the flue for sweeping should always be provided and this should normally coincide with being able to remove any debris from the top of the baffle plate. Perhaps looking into the complete installation before removal would be beneficial as it is a costly change that may not be totally necessary.

    Overall rating:

    2 flames

  • Do not buy this stove

    Tom Lovatt 7 years ago

    We had an Evolution 26 stove fitted just over 2 years ago. When we bought it, it was one of the most expensive in the show room and we were told it was possibly too powerful for our 2 bed cottage
    .Each time we open the door, smoke billows out into the room and we have to open the window. The radiators never get fully hot even with it burning 15 hours a day.We have tried different cowlings, been passed from pillar to post when trying to find a solution. Our curtains and paintwork are black, goodness knows what our lungs are like!

    Stove expert replied: If the stove is too powerful for your property then it will not be working effectively as it has no need to! Is there an airbrick in the room? What height is the flue system? Is the wood dry and well seasoned with a moisture content of less than 20%? Has it been installed as per the manufacturers instructions? Further investigation by a qualified heating engineer who is Hetas registered is recommended to hopefully improve the performance that you are experiencing.

    Overall rating:

    4 flames

  • Broseley evolution

    7 years ago

    Had this stove fitted to a new bungalow chimney built to manufactures recommendation three years ago, this stove is the worst nightmare with smoke pouring into the room on reloading tried fitting
    rotating cowl without success, have now fitted eco boost flue fan at a cost of nearly a thousand pounds although a bit of improvement its far from ideal,t his stove I would not recommend.

    Stove expert replied: I doubt it is the stove that is at fault but the installation that prevents the flue gases from lifting away from the firebox on opening of the door. Is there an air brick in the room? What height is the flue system and what is the construction.? Have you other flues in the property? Further investigation may improve this further as alternative remidies are normally possible once the cause if found.

    Overall rating:

    4 flames

  • Terrible!

    Cheryl Jewell 8 years ago

    This stove is unusable! The room fills completely with smoke on re filling even though the logs are blazing on the stove. I had a large air brick put in when the stove was installed. The stove
    and installation costs were not cheap and definitely not worth it. This stove will be taken out very soon and Broseley are not helpful when contacted.
    Overall rating:

    1 flames

  • Evolution 26 smoking on loading wood

    Lee Sanfilippo 9 years ago

    We have had a evolution 26 fitted which does all are heating works really good we have 5 meters of flue liner with it, but every time we open the door to reload some wood a buff of smoke comes
    out, it is now start to stain are new ceiling, if anyone has any suggestions thanks
    Overall rating:

    4 flames