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Broseley Serrano 5 woodburning stove

Overall Rating:

3 flames

based on 5 reviews    (View rating breakdown)
Broseley Serrano 5 woodburning stove

At 5 kW the Serrano 5 is a perfect choice for a study or living room. It has a good size airwashed window to admire the flames through and a firebox big enough take reasonably big logs. At an efficiency of over 76% it can produce lots of warmth from either wood or smokeless coal and is straightforward and easy to use.

Technical Data
  • Height: 540mm
  • Width: 430mm
  • Depth: 460mm
  • Flue Diameter: 125mm
  • Fuel: Multi fuel
  • Nominal Heat Output: 5kW
  • Efficiency: 76.6%

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Review Ratings Breakdown

Build Quality 3.5 flames
Quality of finish 3 flames
Value for money 3 flames
Ease of use 4 flames
Ease of lighting 3.5 flames
Firebox size 4.5 flames
How well does the airwash work 3 flames
Controllability 3.5 flames
Handle operation 2.5 flames
How likely are you to buy it again? 2.5 flames
What is your overall satisfaction? 3 flames

Most Recent Review

  • Nice to look at, but overall very disappointed

    Nick Jones 8 years ago

    The inside of this stove really lets it down. The ashpan design leaves debris all around the stove floor because it's burn area is much bigger than the pan, and the metal runners obstruct cleaning
    out the remainder. The ashtool provided is an very poor - considering the cost of the stove I'm really surprised they supply this very cheap and flimsy tool. I would never even attempt to use it and have replaced it with a widely available grill handle which slides on & works perfectly, although I had to bend the pan lip slightly.I found the airwash system very ineffective - even burning heatlogs the glass needs cleaning every time its used. I also found the air controls ineffective, its either on or off and no gradual difference as you slide them. Furthermore, the ashpan blocks the air inlet by 50% if pushed completely in so one needs to pull it forward 2-3 cm to rectify this.While it has a large area for logs, as a multifuel stove it is far too big, such that a huge amount of coal needs to be used to get a tightly contained fire, which obviously ends up with a room far too hot and a waste of coal. Also, in trying to move coal around to make air holes in the coals, some round coal types have escaped and rolled across the room, which wasn't much fun. I have put 2 60mm x 30 cm angle irons in there now to act as a container for a more modest amount of coal and when burning logs push them out to the sides out of the way. This works fabulously as it blocks the sides and stops ash falling through at the edges where the ashpan doesn't reach underneath. Only cost me £3 for the irons.I've also had rust issues with it,even when it was only 3 months old.I feel the technical design of this stove badly lets it down, especially considering the £700 cost. As I hopefully illustrated above, a coal basket design for smaller homes, a higher coal guard at the front, a better ashpan design and handle, a griddling system, better airwash design and a stop end to keep the ashpan from blocking the air inlet would only cost about £10 in the manufacturing stage and make this a far better product.I think anyone thinking of a woodburner in the modern world of an aesthetic in a centrally-heated and insulated home should be aware of the huge amount of heat these chuck out when operating at a level that keeps your chimney from clogging up, i.e. very hot. I love my stove because of the concept of it, but in all honesty its too much for my modern house - and this is only a small one!

    Stove expert replied: Some of the above points raised would be seen as a benefit by other customers (eg large firebox, producing good heat output) If the stove purchased is too large for the room it is in then it would not work effectively being shut down for prolonged periods, there is a smaller Serrano that may have been a better option in this situation. Many customers are looking for large fireboxes so that logs do not have to be cut into small lengths. You will only get out of a stove what you put into it and having a good bed of smokeless fuel will mean that the stove can produce the nominal (average 5kW of heat) with ease. Prior to purchasing a stove it is important to ascertain, max, min and average (nominal) heat that a stove will produce and to undertake the calculations for the space that you are wishing to heat to ensure that they match. Regarding the ash reservoir, this is not normally as large as the firebox due to integrity of the stove body, there needs to be strength in the body and cutting too large a whole for the ash pan needs to calculated and adjusted to suit the stove model, size etc. There are stove hoovers' on the market to remove any ash that fails to be caught in the ash pan for this purpose. The airwash system should enable the glass to stay clean providing the fuel is dry and well seasoned and that it is set correctly, the ash pan position affecting this is interesting. There are clear instructions on its operation in the manual provided with the stove: Secondary Air Intake The secondary air intake is the top slider situated under the ash lip at the front of the stove. Having the lever to the left indicates the air intake is closed. Having the lever fully to the right indicates the air intake is open. This particular air intake is adjustable fully through left to right so the slider can control the total amount of air required for suitable combustion The secondary air intake works by opening a flap located at the back of the stove. The flap slides left to right allowing air into the rear air tunnel. The flap allows air to flow up the tunnel along the back and then across the top of the inside of the stove. This air then becomes warm and is pushed down the back of the glass creating the AIRWASH system – see below. The air wash system allows the glass to remain soot and particle free. This particular design also allows the air to be released on top of the grate which is ideal when burning wood products. Please see section BURNING WOOD. Air wash System Air wash is a system where secondary air is drawn into the stove (by combustion) through the air control under the ash lip and is deflected down the back face of the glass, thus preventing the smoke coming into contact with the glass. It does not mean that you will never have to clean the glass, but substantially lengthens the periods between having to do so. The air-wash system works best when burning dry wood. Wet wood will produce more deposits on the glass. Also, deposits will form on the back of the glass when the stove is operated on low heat for extended periods (where fuel is only just smouldering). Fuel should be loaded higher towards the back of the stove to prevent any from coming out when the door is opened and also to prevent overloading of the firebox.

    Overall rating:

    2 flames

Most Popular Review

More reviews for Broseley Serrano 5 woodburning stove

  • Bitterly Disappointed

    Phil Turner 9 years ago

    I purchased the Serrano through an internet site. It looked exactly what we were after looks wise and was a defra model as well. It was purchased in November 2013 and installed later on in the
    month. Initially had a few burning problems due to the direct air pipe sticking out at the rear of the stove which prevented the air being drawn into the fire. This was cured by the installer coming back and pulling the fire forward to allow more air flow to the rear of the fire. Within a month of being used the fire started to develop unsightly blemishes in the painted surfaces which after a week or so developed and became ugly rust patches on the top, sides and front of the stove. I contacted the supplier and after some discussion Broseley agreed to replace the stove. As to the burning of the stove I wasn't convinced that it was right, it needed lots of air and on the recommendation of a friend I bought a flue thermometer to assist me in getting the right burning temperature. No matter how I fuelled the fire I could not get this to burn too hot and as soon as you let the fire cool a bit there was no going back, lots of kindling and softer wood was needed to get the fire back up to temperature but I found I was constantly feeding it to try and keep it burning at the optimum burning temperature.The stove was replaced and re- installed in February 2014 and again following installation I was unhappy with the burning process. The levers that control the fire were very notchy and in my opinion weren't working correctly. The installer returned again and had a play about and managed to straighten the control levers which then allowed air to enter the chamber and give a reasonable burn. So off we go again, seasoning the stove with a few small fires, slowly increasing the size of the fires. Same thing again in my opinion, I was working hard to keep it burning nicely. Approximately six weeks later the same blemishes started to appear and again these developed into rust spots. Well as you can imagine I was far from happy so contacted the supplier again. After my initial conversation with them I was fuming after being asked the most ridiculous questions about the location of the stove etc. I did eventually talk to the office manager who was spot on and spoke to Broseley stoves. I had by this time had enough of the stove and the manufacturer and asked that the stove was exchanged for a different brand altogether. I really didn't want another Broseley stove. This was eventually agreed with Broseley that they would pay to have the stove removed however they wouldn't pay for me to have the new one installed, given that I had already paid to have the original one installed, had all the mess of the stove being taken out and re-installed I was a bit disgruntled to say the least. Admittedly I wasn't having another Broseley installed but I had just had two stoves rusting in my lounge within four months of them being installed which in my opinion is pretty poor quality workmanship. Unfortunately I have nothing at all good to say about Broseley stoves other than we loved and still love the look of the Serrano 5 SE. Its such a pity that the quality of the stoves is poor and there seems to be little or no quality control or maybe I just got the two stoves that slipped through the net late on on a Friday afternoon !I have now purchased a Morso and wow what a difference, the airwash works well, and rarely do we have dirty glass, the burn is fantastic, what a difference in a small amount of additional money we spent to upgrade to the Morso. My recommendation would be to spend a tad more and go for the Morso.

    Stove expert replied: A great shame to have had two stoves with similar faults, most unusual. It is good to hear that you are now pleased with your stove and hope you enjoy it for many years.

    Overall rating:

    2 flames

  • Broseley Serrano 5 multi fuel stove

    Paul Lewis 10 years ago

    We bought this stove as we only needed a 5kw but wanted a larger firebox to fit decent sized logs in. Burns well and gives off plenty of heat. As suggested in other posts the ash pan isn't the
    full width of the stove so you get lots of ash in the bottom of the firebox. Really lacks a riddling grate that could be remieied easily I feel. Also I have found their customer service to be poor.
    Overall rating:

    3.5 flames

  • Serrano 5 Stove

    Phil Dawson 12 years ago

    As there was no option to review the Serrano 5 in its own category, I have decided to add it here as both stoves appear to be very similar, the 5 being a bit deeper (411mm) with a larger firebox
    .We bought this to replace a 20 year old Coalbrookrdale Much Wenlock which had suffered from being over fired a couple of times and was also a bit too hot for the room it was in. Being a bit suspicious of the modern steal constructed stoves, we liked the broseley because of its solid cast iron construction (weight 110 kilo's !!). The stove is well made being entirely of cast iron including the fire bricks and baffle which are very easy to remove having no fixings they just lift out along with the grate making cleaning easy.Only problem we had was the cast iron fire bricks and baffle needed a bit of filing/grinding off of ruff edges before they would fit properly. Why couldn't they do that at the factory? We also had a 5” flue liner fitted because our existing flue did not meet the specification of less than 8” square. Ours was over 12” square.Very pleased with the stove and the installation. It lights first time every time and we have no problem getting a roaring fire going. Once hot it is very controllable from flames shooting round the baffle to slow dancing patterns if the controls are closed down completely (However if you run it to low for too long it will soot up the glass eventually). The heat out put is amazing I think it is as hot as the wenlock. As for the Air wash, it works reasonably well but it needs to be run fairly hot to keep the glass clean all evening/day. As it cools down the glass does soot up and usually needs a wipe in the morning. Run low, especially when refuelling and it will soot up. Cleaning is easy though. We just use a damp cloth or sponge dipped in the wood ash and it cleans up with no problem.As far as burning overnight, we have only burned wood, I don't think any stove of this size would burn overnight unless smokeless fuel was used, as we haven't tried that yet I've given a 3. All together a good buy. Very happy with it. Nice looking stove, well constructed and very easy to use and control.

    Stove expert replied: Nice review with honest feedback in areas that have been a little less good.

    Overall rating:

    4.5 flames