We have two of these stoves both excellent. Lovely clear view of the fire and lots of warmth. However, recently we require a replacement firebrick for the back of the stove and are repeatedly
being told (even by Contura) that we must buy a full replacement set. Each sets costs in the region of £90 and leaves me with unneeded bricks. I see there are sites that will custom make firebricks if you send exact measurements. Has anyone got any experience of these please?
Stove expert replied:
Custom made bricks are commonly used and work well. Only supplying full sets of bricks is also quite a common practise as the wear can be even within the firebox.
The Contura 51L is a good alternative to a Clearview stove and I can highly recommend it. If you are a Clearview convert but need something more modern then the Contura 51l is the stove for
you. It would seem sensible to me for Clearview to produce a more modern range using their stove technology to avoid losing sales to their competitors.
I have had this stove live in for 2 winters now. I'm delighted with it. I have sold and installed lots of them now, without any issues. Once it's up to full heath the flame pattern is amazing
. Fuel consumption is really low for a fire box this size. It uses much less wood than most other stoves in our showroom as it burns so slowly. Stunning quality fantastic control and large clear glass it ticks all the boxes and Contura have recently reduced the price. Worth every penny
We've now had the fire installed for 5 years and have been extremely impressed with its build quality and efficiency. I was concerned that the fire might not produce enough heat for our rather
large living room (4m x 12m) but when fully up to temperature it produces enough heat to allow us to leave the interior door open to warm the rest of the house.Because we burn a lot of pallets I have learnt not to use the ash griddle as nails tend to get jammed in the slots. I would recommend buying yourself a metal dustpan and take the nails and ash straight from the fire.Also be careful when loading the fire with wood because the fire brick side walls and back are quite fragile. I have cracked my rear firebrick but luckily the crack fits snuggly together using gravity.Highly recommended. Never regretted our purchase!
I have had this stove for 5 years now and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anybody looking for a wood burner. The airwash is exceptional, I have never had to give the glass anything
more than a cursory wipe to keep it clean. It is easy to light and the air control works very well and is very responsive. The build quality is excellent, I genuinely cannot find a single fault with this stove,
My final choice was between the Contura and Clearview. I finally decided on the Contura because I consider it a more contemporary stove, it also has the external air fitting as standard which
is important to me. My house is fairly airtight and I already had an underfloor air vent from my previous fire so connecting it to the new stove seemed sensible. I''m tremendously impressed with the fuel economy compared with my open fire, it probably uses a third of the fuel and gives out at least three time the heat.
I was satisfied with the local Hetas installer they did a good job and it was installed in the summer months rather than during the heating season.
I had the stove installed with sufficient space above the stove to fit a Stirling engine fan.
The stove is easy to light, easy to control and looks terrific, the glass is easy to keep clean. I am absolutely delighted with it, it''s one of the best purchases I have ever made. I spent a long time deciding whether or not to install a wood burning stove and which one to choose, I definitely made the right choice.
Stove expert replied:
Certainly a satisfied customer - great review!
Beautifully built stove entirely cast iron but very heavy at 128kg. It is a convection stove so the outside surface temperature is a lot lower than non-convector models and can therefore be
placed closer to the surroundings as a result. It very easy to light, one firelighter and a few pieces of kindling will get it going, ready for a log in about 5 minutes. We only ever put one log on at a time as the heat it belts out is sufficient to heat the day room and the kitchen both 3.6 x 4.5metres as well as warming the bedroom above on the 1st floor (I was surprised at this as most people seem to think the upstairs will be unaffected) One log last between 30mins and 1 1/2 hrs depending on how much air you give the stove. We are constantly trying to achieve the slowest burn without it going out as the stove seems very efficient.The title seems incorrect as it is rated at 5Kw not the higher rating in the title, but I was told by the shop that due to the generous size and weight of the stove, they have found it to give significantly higher outputs if necessary, as I said we just try to keep it as low as possible.The Air wash system seems very efficient and only blackens if you damp it down too much and it burns off as soon as it is burning correctly, we wipe the glass down every few days to stop it building up at the corners.There is so little ash produced we only empty it every 3-4 weeks even though it is running all day just burning one log at a time. We had the external air kit fitted to reduce drafts as the house has enough already and the connection is completely invisible underneath the stove as it is encased in black insulation. The handle gets hot so you must use the glove most of the time unless it has really died down before adding another log. We use mainly Ash logs but it burns well with pine, birch and even the old hardwood from the French doors we removed. Consumption is about 2 barrows/week running full time.If the house is freezing you can put 3 or 4 logs in and it will be chucking out about 60% of its output in under half an hour.Downside- I wish I could get it to run even lower than its minimum 2kw rating.All in all a very efficient and well made stove, a bit pricey but worth every penny.
Stove expert replied:
Please do bear in mind that a stove should not be set on a low setting for prolonged periods as this will allow tar deposits to be produced that can lead to chimney problems, short periods of fast burn (15 - 20 mins) at least twice a day should be undertaken to maintain a clear flue plus regular chimney sweeping. If the stove is producing too much heat perhaps a smaller output model would have been a better option in your circumstances.
