Dowling Hybrid stove Hot

We purchased the Hybrid 6 in January 2011, for the living room in the farm. Having always lived in the country we have had use and knowledge of Rayburns, woodburners, open fires etc, so we aren't beginners at this! This little guy is absolutely fantastic and worth its weight in gold, incredibly efficient, one of the best overnight woodburners we have ever worked with, only once have we had to relight in the morning, (if you know how to work a woodburning stove you won't have a problem here), and the glass remains so much cleaner than any other woodburner we have used before (if clean glass is desperately important to you). Steve Dowling does not get enough credit for these stoves! Superb stove for an amateur starting out with their first woodburner as it is so simple to work too.

Stove Expert Replied: Great review from experienced user.

We have owned a Dowling Hybrid since autumn 2006 so this is our 6th winter with it. We have also had a Clearview Vision 500 since autumn 2008. This enables us to make a direct comparison between the two stoves and to give a better evaluation of their pros and cons over a few years. I shall focus on the Dowling here since it is much less widespread and prospective buyers may need more reassurance.

Just for comparative purposes, a few points on the Clearview first. I endorse the high ratings given by other reviewers. It really is an excellent product if used correctly. As promised, the glass stays very clean. In its fourth winter, there is some evidence of fogging between the two glass panes, which I could deal with by disassembling the glass and cleaning thoroughly. It is only slight so I put up with it. The back brick has a crack in it, but still seems to work ok, and I shall not replace it until it falls to pieces. I collect and prepare my own wood and it is essential that it is as dry as possible. The only real drawback is the extremely high purchase price.

Now the Dowling. This stove is in our kitchen, in a large fireplace recess. We would perhaps not have it in our sitting/living room as it does look a bit odd, but that depends on your style of house. The Cleaview matches our Edwardian sitting-room better. But we soon got used to the Hybrid and now are very fond of it. It is incredibly simple, being just a massively strong steel box on a stalk. There is very little to go wrong, but I will mention a few issues which might trouble some people.

The front door clanks loudly when you open it and is not always so easy to stuff large logs through. You can get a big one in half way and the rest won't follow, during which time the front end has already caught fire....errr...But this is a trivial learning experience.

One very distinctive point about this Dowling is the top damper. Most stoves on the market rely on various sources of air supply, some of which might be near the top of the stove, but their position does not affect whether you can open the door or not.

The Dowling has a damper above the stove, set right into the base of the flue, which, if closed, prevents all escape of smoke up the chimney. If you open the door with the damper closed, smoke immediately pours into the room. You learn not to do this pretty fast, believe me, but we still very occasionally forget, even after 6 years. The problem got a bit worse when we first had the Clearview as it uses a quite different air supply method.

Other reviewers have rated the airwash rather poorly, and indeed this is nothing like as good as the Clearview. The glass on this stove just sits on the front of the door, held in place by some lugs. You can slide it out very easily for cleaning. We do this pretty much every day. Is it an intolerable nuisance? Not really. You just put it in the sink, squirt some oven cleaner on it and leave it for 10-15 minutes. If you cannot face doing this, then you will have to resign yourself to a dirty glass or getting a stove with a superior airwash. It is true that when you heat the stove up really hot it does burn off some of the deposits, but they can come back as the stove cools down again. This does not happen with the Clearview.

One problem with this glass removal business is that the edges of the glass tend to get chipped. I have found that filing them down till very smooth and round helps to minimise this. I replaced the glass about three years ago with slightly thicker glass than Dowling supplied, but I don't think this is strictly necessary.

The best thing about the Dowling is that it can get extraordinarily hot - I've had mine at 375 c. (700 f.) - with no problems at all. This heats up the whole chimney surround and means huge savings on gas.

Has the investment been worth it? In 2006, we paid £837 for the stove including delivery from Scotland to the midlands. Installation cost £1,200, so total investment just over £2,000. In 2008 we spent about £3,200 on the Clearview + installation costs.

In 2006-07 our gas consumption was around 35,000 kw with a cost of around £1,000. In the two hard winters we have just had, with Dowling and Clearview in harness (not necessarily both at the same time of course), gas consumption was about 24,000 kw, at a cost of around £850. This year gas prices have risen by 18% , but the weather is much milder. It is hard to be sure, but I estimate that it might take us another couple of years to recoup our whole investment on two stoves. We probably recovered the cost of the Dowling last year, i.e. after about 4 years. I do not pay for wood though, as I consider collecting it and cutting it and storing it part of the whole exercise. If you don't actually like wood, then I would say just stick to gas!

Buying a stove is quite a personal thing. Some people are very concerned about appearance. Some want maximum savings on gas. Some cannot be bothered with glass cleaning. Some want it only for social occasions, others want to burn wood every day. The Dowling is an excellent stove for people who want to burn a lot of wood, aren't especially fashion conscious, aren't easily persuaded by fancypants technology, don't mind the rather eccentric looks or a bit of dirt here and there or occasional smoke in their room. We live in a pretty big house, and need a lot of heat, but the Dowling would probably heat a smaller house on its own. I would certainly buy one again in the right circumstances.

Stove expert says: What a fantastic review - thank you. Dowling should perhaps consider doing what other European stove manufacturers so which is to have a baffle which automatically opens when you open the stove door - problem solved.

I looked and researched for several months for a value for money multi fuel stove when I had an extension built to my 2 bedroom semi detached cottage. The staff at the factory were extremely helpful and installed the stove when promised. Showed me how to light it and the rest is history. All through last winter with many nights at -11c it kept my home cosy all night through. It is great too for cooking on. I requested a rear stove pipe to enable me to do this. Overall great value for money and from a local company.

Stove Expert Replied: Two for the price of one heat and cooking giving great value. Good review.

After the recent burning oil price hikes I was looking to minimize the use of the central heating boiler and up grade my lovely to look at but very inefficient open coal fire.Initially I was looking at installing an inset 7kw multi fuel stove to provide the heating but was concerned by the build quality of some of the stoves I looked at.After finding this site I went through the stove list alphabetically checking each site and on reaching D found Dowling Stoves.Never heard of them but worth a look.Love at first sight !After checking all the dimensions and relevant data decided this was the stove for me.From the initial contact with Steve Dowling to the collection of the stove everything went like clockwork.We have a 17th century open plan cottage and the look of the stove looks fantastic sat on its stone hearth.The flue vents out horizontally to the chimney so no need for a vertical flue pipe.The stove is a doddle to light and soon starts pumping heat out.Very easy to control the fire with either coal or wood burning.We have the 8Kw and the output is enough to heat the open plan cottage with the heat also travelling up the stair well to the bedrooms.The stove is of very sturdy construction and looks fantastic thanks to the design and manufacturing team at Dowling Stoves.Also,an added bonus I can boil water on the top of the stove for the kitchen sink and even cook a meal if there is a power cut.!!

Stove Expert Replied: Top marks except for air wash, could be poor quality fuel!!

I've a non-standard Hybrid which was originally part of a batch made for the Bothies Society, but with the glass window rather than the solid steel door. It's slightly larger than the standard 6kw and Steve reckons that the output's about 7kw. The shape's also slightly different- in looks it's kind of a hybrid between a Hybrid and a Sumo...

For their size they throw out an enormous amount of heat, far better than a more conventional box stove. They have their idiosyncracies and take a bit of getting used to, but I love these stoves and wouldn't have anything else. The styling isn't to everyone's taste, and I've never seen a photo that did them justice 'in the flesh'.

Last year when we were looking for a wood-burning oven, I couldn't find anything to compare with what I'd become used to with a Dowling, so got them to make one. It's great.

A bit of payback for Steve Dowling. I was gifted this stove from a friend who was converting a property. Its now in my large sun lounge (23'x 18', which rises to 12')with a stainless steel insulated flue.



Initially I thought it looked a bit quirky, but I must say it looks the part.



From the size and comparison with the dowling stove website, it is an 8kw model and I thought it might not be up to the job. However in February I had it fired up with some logs and put a big block of seasoned scots pine dripping with resin on it. When I came back from bathing the kids the room temp was over 90 degrees and resembled a large sauna!!!. This was in the mid winter.



Its easy to control but prefers to be at full blast when it sounds like a jet engine during takeoff.



Starting is really easy and the airwash works really well. No smoke on full throttle.



Overall a very good robust stove, which really works.