Dowling Sumo stove Hot

My first Dowling stove was a Sumo 8kw. I had an open plan kitchen dining room lounge and I found the stove great so simple and solid, no fire bricks no silly little windows of glass,easy to light and great heat.It has the added advantage that,because of the way the door drops down you can have it as an open fire, not so efficient like that but, nice on a winters evening.

When I moved I decided to get another an 18Kw Sumo for a much larger house I sent Steve a picture and measurements of the fire place, he made a chimney with an angle so I could get the fire more into the room and it hasn't disappointed, it pumps the heat out and actually heats not only the downstairs but most of the house. I run it purely on wood it takes half meter lengths which is perfect, it will stay in overnight. I have been running it for 5 years and the only thing I have had to do is replace the glass, which is so simple because it just slides in. It look as good as new.

I have just installed another Sumo,in a large open plan flat this is the updated and more heat efficient( because of the venting system) Sumo 20Kw with airwash. Very good,very hot. The airwash certainly keeps the glass cleaner than its predecessor, which I have become accustom to cleaning every day with a Stanley blade scraper,this stove once a week, a small price to pay. Two differences I have noticed, I preferred the original riddling system which rocked back and forward and I think the heat is a little less easy to control, in that I can't shut it down as far as my earlier model.However I think heat output to log input is excellent. I have found all the stoves very fuel efficient.
Great stoves I would absolutely recommend them.

Stove Expert replied: Seems this range certainly meets this customers requirements. Good review.

was already installed in house when i bought the place, and is now approximately 7 years old
-had previous experience with much wenlock and morso squirrel, so getting a stove with no firebricks to replace is just great, albeit that i was initially sceptical about going over to boilerplate
-output is super and could shoe horses with the heat
-will burn anything and does well with mixture of coal, bord na mona bricks and wood
-kept oil bill well down this winter which was exceptionally cold
-very easy to light, clean and control
-the firebox takes huge pieces of wood and the fuel falls in on itself given the design of the firebox
-when we move, we will definately get another
-only criticism is the airwash
-the factory is well worth a visit just by the bladnoch distillery

I'm the guy that wrote the first reveiw on the Sumo stove earlier thsi year. And I now read it back, I don't think I was fair. I am here again, not to look at stoves but, to of all things, look at web sites. I'm in business and remember this interesting site and now want to look at a product comparison site for my own companies marketing. So I am back. Anyway...

The Sumo: Actually I don't know what I was thinking, I've made out this product to be quite poor. Not true. Build is great and efficiency brilliant. Particulary when you consider what it actaully does. No other stove on thsi site could go near it for output. I can only knock it on the airwash, but with it a blast furnac of a thing, what do you want? And I made it out to be complicated to install. yet done prperly, thay all are. And yes it burns a lot, but I'm heating a lot. So what was I saying exactly? Jeezz! So now, my corrected top 5 rating for all is realistic.

In real terms cheap. Easy to use fill and empty. Control under the circumstances, rember this things output is 3-4 tims what others call a stove, is good. So I was unreasoable. Humble pie. I was likely having an off day. So, if like me you have a large LPG or oil bill this is the way to go. A Sumo. And buy your coal in June. never in Dec! 5 ton a drop from CPL direct. 230 a bag June 2009. (10kg) and then just throw them in.
So sorry Steve, actually you DO sell a great product. So Mr/ms webmaster please put up this review an set the record straight for me.

as per the last review, we have this stove linked to a dunsley neutralizer. you do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand how it all works, the only difficult /expensive part is the normally open valve. the heat exchanger is basically a metal box with tappings if you can weld properly and understand how it works you could make your own. the weakness of the standard system is that it requires power to the circulation pumps to distribute heat, if power is lost the solution is to drain off domestic hot water, connect generator or install battery back up. The stove itself is a beast ! 220kg of beast! built to last.
the only down sides are that the simplicity of design meeans that control of the heat out- put is down to the flue damper. in practise this is not a problem.
we installed ours with a back up gas boiler, that we have never used . our gas bill is £5-8 quarter (the gas hob) the back up back up immersion heater has not been connected.

Stove expert says: this stove user may not have a heat leak device in their installation. A heat leak device gives you a way of getting rid of excess heat in the case of a power cut or pump failure. Often you have a dedicated heat leak radiator, or you may have a coil in the boiler which is flushed through with mains cold water in the event of overheating (although this option is not available for this particular stove). Always get a boiler stove system designed and installed by an expert.

A real 'Mutha' of a thing. It takes a 25Kg & a 10Kg bag smokless (botha t once) easy. But I buy 10kg bags and just throw 'em in. When we had the jan 2009 cold snap (minus 8) it did 50Kg a day. Noramlly 25-30 kg. a day. To my knowledge the only 'big' stove on the market. But that was 5 years go Aarrow are getting in on the act. Not for 'I'll get a wood-burner pretenders'. They use those 7Kw things once a week or at Xmas. They buy 'em thinking they can bring wood home after the dog-walk. A Sumo is for heating your house, not mincing about. So you'll need coal (or if wood, a 40 acre plot, and a UniMog). As I said, not for mincing. Mine has been in for 5 years. Had Steve at Dowling make to my opening. I'm off grid, so this tool is really for those with lots of rads ( I have 22) and in (2007 when i got lazy) a £4500 a year LPG bill. Fed to a link-up Dunsley Neutraliser (no nothing to do with Star Trek) tied to a LPG bolier going to rads too, it really does whack out 40K heat. I have it back to back in a double sided opening wih a Coalbrookdale Severn Boiler on the other side to look pretty and help it along. Sumo, ticks over at, and I'm guessing 25Kw. Unusual looks, not to every ones taste, and should really have a thermostat controlled vent, but hell, 6-7 tonne of anthracite (or the cheapest smokeless I can find - buy in June). 23-24 deg. I roast. Whereas the LPG would have me paying as much to heat as a mortgage. Bit awkward to control sometimes, but 40kw is a blast furnace, so suppose, what do you expect. And, Calor/Flogas are gone! Goes on in October and comes off in April. All in £6500 to install with flue and a real heating engineer (plumbers are no good here, you need electricians that can join pipes) and it paid for itself inside 2 years. But you will need a real heating engineer, not some fool plumber that put HE on the side of his van. Six motor-valves, 4 pumps, 8 stats!