Lovenholm Hot

I recently had a single door Lovenholme stove fitted, its excellent quality and real value for money. Now then, bearing in mind it is still summer and I don't burn logs, just smokeless fuel (ovals etc), I am extremely satisfied with its performance, I have had no problem with any ticking noise and when it is banked up and put on slow burn, the stove burns overnight no problem, get up, put it on full burn and re-fuel, make a cup of tea and away it goes. The door handle gets red hot, so it would be much better with a cool touch handle, the airwash system works ok (not burning logs remember), as I say it is still summer, so I am hoping it performs the same in the depths of winter.

Stove Expert Replied: Nice feedback, hopefully when the weather changes you will get the extra heat that is required and you will not have become too used to warmth during summer burning.

This is a really good stove for the price. I bought it as it is DEFRA-approved, came recommended by our local fireplace shop and was within our budget. Other options were at least a £100 more. Its been installed for a month and we've had no issues with it at all.

I've used other stoves by Stovax, Hunter and Villager and this stove seems more controllable. Its very easy to light and bring up to temperature. When closing the top air control, its easy to find an equilibrium point where the fire is ticking over on a very slow flame while maintaining itself. It leaps back to life after a few seconds when the top air control is opened back up.

The cleanburn system also works very well. Air is jetted over the top of the fire through an array of holes just below the baffle plate creating some really dramatic swirling effects. A quick polish weekly is all that's needed to keep the glass in absolute pristine condition.

There's no way I'd expect this stove would burn overnight when fuelled with wood. New logs need adding every 45 to 90 minutes depending on the type of wood and the top air control position.

I was initially put off by some of the comments here regarding noise, but this hasn't been a problem. The stove does tick, but only when heating up or cooling down at a fast rate. It ticks most when the fire is left to race with the air fully open then burn itself out before refuelling. If the air flow is regulated to maintain a relatively constant temperature it's practically silent. Even then, the ticks are quite quiet and I don't believe any other steel stove would behave differently. I'm glad I overcame these concerns and don't think anyone else has much to worry about.
Stove Expert Replied: It is not recommended that you let the stove stay on maximum draw for longer than periods of 20 minutes at a time as this can bring the metal to higher than normal working temperatures. Short periods of 15 - 20 mins is ideal to get the best out of a stove.

After a lot of research I finally placed an order for a single door Lovenholm. I decided on this stove for the dimensions, power output and look. I did make the purchase with some hesitation due to the comments on this page about "ticking". I spoke to a trusted stove merchant who advised me he had sold a considerable number of these stoves and had never had a complaint.
There was no other stove that ticked all my boxes and I went ahead with the purchase. My nerves about buying this stove soon passed after having it installed. It's fair to say the stove has exceeded my expectations. It looks good, it's got a great window to view the flames, it's easy to light and clean out, provides a very impressive warmth and I have never heard any significant "ticking" or noise from it. It's very quiet.

Splitting hairs, the only area where I felt there could be some improvement is the firebox size. However I bought it for the shallower dimensions to fit it into a particular space so I can accept it and it's perfectly manageable.
I've never tried to burn it overnight so gave that a low score as I have no experience.

The airwash works best with the bottom vent closed and the top vent open full. When the glass has clouded up I've dabbed wet newspaper into a bit of ash to clean it up.

I can certainly recommend this stove.

Stove Expert Replied: Good glass cleaning tip, also damp cloth dipped in vinegar will remove glass deposits to enable a clear view on the flame picture.

Love our new stove! Excellent build quality, really pleased with the performance. The handle is lovely to use and riddle makes poking the fire a thing of the past. Recommended without hesitation!

Interesting to note that other mention the ticking - I thought all steel stoves did this, our Charnwood ticks away as it heats up and cools down but it really doesn't worry us - its very quiet. We have had numerous stoves over the years and most have creaked when they warm up.

I have started using our new Lovenholm (single door) and from the first use started hearing a clicking and banging noise coming from inside. At first i thought it was the wood starting to ignite or the flue contracting etc, but it then continued and has done so every time i've used it, albeit it only 4 times!
I'm not sure if this is just the stove adjusting to use and whether this noise will stop although having read a few reviews on here i am a little concerned and don't know whether to contact the shop i bought it from and see what they can do for me or if i need to contact the manufacturers direct.
Can anyone tell me if they have had this problem and if so what they have done about it and more importantly if it worked?

Thanks in advance

Ian

The stove is driving me mad, Ticking and creaking. i have looked inside and still can not find where it is coming from.

It must be some of the welds contracting and re-tracting.

I don't know what to do and would love to hear if every Lovenholm stove makes these noises.

What a great stove, really pleased with our purchase and so pleased we choose to use our local stove shop. This stove looks great in our open plan house and the heat has really reduced our heating bills by about £7- £10 a week as our heating only comes on when the stove has cooled down. The cleanburn is better than we expected with the glass only being cleaned twice in 2 months - it just seems to clean itself.. We were also lucky to buy this stove in a special promotion which meant we saved around £100.00 off the normal price. At the time of making the choice we were lost as what model to go for and whether we should be paying more for a stove (i.e Clearview stoves of the same size are much more expensive) and this is where our local shop helped us out. The stove only burns overnight if we use homefire nuggets but we didn't expect a stove of this size to anyway.

Overall definitely recommended to anyone looking for a top quality clean burning stove.

I bought the Lovenholm after having done all my homework and felt really pleased with my purchase. Had it fitted and it looked good, really stylish.

Then it started happening.....creaking!!!! I thought initially it was just because it was getting hotter and it was the expanding metal however it then got worse and worse. It now happens intermittently (every 30 secs or so at it's best) throughout my using it and is at it's worst when I have just put some fresh wood on a bed of embers. It's at this point that it just creaks and clicks constantly. It's so bad I can only have loud music on or the tv as a 'quiet' room drives me insane.

So I spoke to the shop (who were very helpful) who replaced it for me saying this can happen very occasionally and is a 1 in 200 chance so imagine my surprise when it happened again (1 in 40000 now)!!!

I've had my head all around the thing desperately trying to locate it but all I can say is it's is coming from the stove and not the pipe etc.

So now I'm either on to my third or I get a different one (Dunsley Highlander or Stockton 5 as needs to be DEFRA approved and a similar size due to the necessary clearances).

Remember the VW Golf advert years ago with the squeaking car and it turns out to be the passengers ear ring? Well I don't wear ear rings!!!!

Yours in insanity

We live in an open plan 3 storey Victorian house and our little Lovenholm is the best thing we've done for this house. Its on 24/7 and heats up practically the whole house. 75% of our radiators are down to low and hopefully we will keep fuel costs down to a minimum this winter. Downside is that it needs stoking regularly (every 1.1/2 - 2 hrs) to keep warmth at a constant level in our house. Also ash pan needs emptying more than once a day because of high volume of usage. Ash pan could have been made deeper and bigger. Good combination of wood and brasiers will result in success with burnig overnight. Need to build up volume before closing airflow for the night.

I was recommended this stove by a friend who installs stoves, he was right its fantastic. I would say its better then the clear view I had before, class stays perfectly clear and the build quality is the best I have seen.

My Lovenholm stove has been in use now for over a month.
It is certainly not a workhorse, in fact it could be described as a thoroughbred of multifuel stoves.
Now fully compliant with 'smoke control' legislation and competitively priced makes this a very attractive option.
CE tested at a nominal output of 4.6Kw and efficiency of 75% when burning wood, sounds very impressive, however in reality I have reservations regarding this stoves ability to function under the current UK Building Regs

The stove comes with a 125mm outlet and an adapter is required when fitting to a "Regs compliant" 150mm flue liner.

Quote...
If the liner is too small, it may not allow the exhaust volume necessary for efficient operation. If it is too big, it may draft too slowly at startup, and develop too much updraft when it finally heats up.
End of Quote.
I question whether the triple burn technology needs the increased volume of flue lining as I have used a large quantity of wood for only a moderate heat output.
The previous reviewer did not mention if there was a liner in place(insulated/non insulated)
It would be interesting to know.
The operating instructions give scant guidance as to how to effectively adjust the three air intakes.
Adjustment is covered but no detail as to the effect of that adjustment...eg under the heading "tertiary air" it says.."Tertiary air aids in good combustion of the fuel and reducing emissions into the chimney and environment. Adjusting the cover plate on the back of the stove can control tertiary air."
After nearly 5 weeks I'm still trying to establish through trial and error how to get the stove to work at its optimal performance.
With the 3 variable air intakes and the enlarged flue liner make this a complex task.
The single door model gives a good picture window of the fire and the fire itself does look attractive.
The paint on the door handle started wear off in days under normal use and the design could be better regarding heat proofing.
This stove would suit someone prepared to spend time working out how to get the optimum performance....after 5 weeks I'm not there yet.
Would be really interested to hear other experiences with this stove.

An efficient little stove, good value, quick and easy to light, burns and draws well.



The only negative points are:



i) the top airwash lever is a bit hit and miss - it's best to listen for the air flow stopping when closing the lever to be sure the airwash vent is closed



ii) you have to remove the front "Wood Plate" to get to the ashpan, so trying to empty the ashpan when the stove is burning is a little tricky - and the ashpan needs emptying daily. This may not be such a problem with the single door model, but the 2 door model needs the front plate in place because the door latch locates in a slot in the plate.