Dru 64cb stove Hot

We have had the Dru 64mf installed begin 2011 and having a small Stovax for a few years I thought that Stovax was the best.
The Dru I find is easier to light and allows for much better control. The Dru has no fire bricks but is using cast iron only which gives it the impression of being of excellent build quality and seem to retain heat longer. The ash pan fits so perfect under the fire box that hardly any ash falls outside the pan. The separate door for the ash pan is a great feature too. The side door I don't use as the position of the stove in its alcove. I can see that in a more open location it would be useful . Log of 50 cm are quoted to fit this stove but, I think that’s a little too large. They fit but, only just.
I love the thermostat and although a little crude it makes it easy to leave the room for longer times without having to check on the fire for longer periods.
It takes a little while to get used to its characteristics but when you do it is very easy to leave it to burn overnight. Weak feature in my opinion is the door handle. I personally would like to see a non-removable handle with a separate tool to open it like on the Stovax Stockton series. For the price of this stove I also find the tools, except for the ash tray handle, that come with it very flimsy and no reflection of the true quality of the Dru.
Would I recommend a Dru……? Yes and having a large old house with all the flues still intact Dru will be the only one I will ever buy for my house.


Stove Expert Replied: Dru is known for good build quality. Many manufacturers tools have become more flimsy as they capitalize on foundries increased costs. Some customers love the feature of a removable handle to ensure the safety of children but it doesn't suit everyone. Cast stoves are known to take longer to heat up but will retain the heat when the firebox is low of fuel, great for overnight longevity of heat. Good review, thanks.

I spent ages looking at different stoves. Really ages.

I wanted a stove that was capable of heating my 30x16' living room and 15x9' kitchen adjacent, that was really well made, would last for years, had clean contemporary lines yet not be boxy or like a tv set.

I'm really delighted with it, having had it now for 5 weeks, using it every single day.

It is fantastically easy to light. I scrumple up 3 sheets of newspaper, some kindling, a couple of large lumps of wood, and a big old log, light the paper, and shut the door. The whole lot is blazing within a minute or two.

I have found that a mixture of wood and homefire ovals makes for a really good combination. The ovals burn for a long time, and the wood produces the flames. Together they can make a spectacular blaze, really hot, and heat the place very quickly.

The controls really work well. You can damp it right down, for overnight burning. In the morning, the ash contains glowing coals and wood ash. A few sheets of newspaper, or even some kindling and a new log on top, shut the door and again its burning again.

The ovals produce more ash so the pan needs to be emptied daily. When just wood, only once a week or so as combustion is near complete.

If you want to get the fire roaring really quickly and hot, leave the lower ash pan door open for a while.

This stove has a side-opening door too, which is perfect for long logs when the fire is roaring. The brushed stainless steel door handle is removable and it works well, as it is always cool and you don't have to mess around with gloves or warn friends that the handle is hot, but you do sort of have to get used to the best way to orientate it - if I was designing the stove, I would make the handle easier to fit into the hole.

The finish is very nice as standard. The viewing window is really lovely, it's huge, with nicely rounded bow at the top which isn't twee or traditional but simple and perfect to look at. The firebox takes really big logs up to 18" long.

The instructions say that the fire does best to blaze to heat the room up, and then leave it for a while, and then blaze it again, if it isn't too cold outside. I think this is probably correct, rather than leaving it on a slow burn all day long. If you have quite a large firebox, as this is, then having it full and blazing really heats up the sides, whereas a smaller fire in the middle of the firebox doesn't get the cast iron hot enough and I wonder if much of the heat produced in a very small fire in a small firebox may go just up the chimney. It's a joy to see the stove really blaze anyway.

The control for the air flow entering at the base of the fire is very effective, but I have a one criticism, which is that at some low settings, it creates a situation where the dampening of the baffle plate begins to oscillate as just enough air is drawn in, and this can make a funny sound. It's easy enough to tweak it however to lose this.

Would I buy this stove again? Absolutely. I considered the Clearview Vision 500, for almost the same money, but it is a smaller stove (8kW instead of 9-11kW as this is), of steel rather than fully solid cast iron, and I prefer the DRU's design. Visually it is larger too, better suited to a big room.

The airwash really works very well. If it does go black, eg when burning very very slowly, or wood falls against the glass, then I have only ever needed to wipe it with a damp cloth to get it completely clear again.

So I'm very happy and would recommend to anyone else.

Stove Expert Replied: It is worth emptying the ash daily to ensure that it doesn't build up and touch the underneath of the grate system as this will lead to a shortening of their life. Short periods of fast burn should be undertaken for 15 - 20mins twice a day if the stove is slumbering for the rest of the time. Never leave the bottom door open for more than 20 mins as this will overheat the appliance.

We bought and installed the woodburning version just in time for the recent snowy spell. After several weeks of near constant use, we can't praise it enough.

The build quality is excellent and fills us with a pleasant pride every time we load or top it up. The ash pan and handles are both solid which is not true for stoves I've used in the past. While not overly ornate it does have a real rugged and stylish presence in the room - especially when really cranking!

Good points
- The side opening door is and excellent feature! We have small children which means the stove is surrounded by a guard. This makes it annoying to top it up through the front door (without having to remove the guard). The side opening totally overcomes this issue.
- It effortlessly handles being loaded up and burning hard and for a long time
- The air vents allow a very high degree of easy control.
- It has a very large front window with an effective airwash
- The front try can be opened slightly to really bellow air into the bottom of the firebox if you have let it die down, or have a slightly damp log to contend with


Not so good points
- very picky one but the curved top of the firebox does seem slightly too low at the back for the width. Larger logs aren't always easy to get in.

All in all one of the best stoves I've had the pleasure of using!

Stove Expert Replied: Stylish stoves, reasonably priced with good results. The side door great for many situations. No logs larger than a 100mm diameter recommended on stoves to ensure that a good rate of combustion occurs.