Dunsley Yorkshire Hot

The Dunsley Yorkshire is the only stove I've used. It works very well, and will heat seven radiators. But it is a fully manual system; if you were to come back in the evenings in winter you would have limited time to warm your home sufficiently.

I have had my stove for 2 years, and recently the air supply, which is external, (I used a drainpipe and duct tape to connect to the foil hose)stopped working.

The reason for this was that the stove had become blocked with tar deposits. Using the curved handle part of Henry vacuum I got under the top of the stove through the hatch, and also used a stick to clear the airways within the combustion chamber, along with the vacuum. That got the stove back to perfect operation from no air at all.

Stove Expert Replied: Always carry out a monthly check to insure air ways are completely free this will avoid the problem as above. Using good quality fuel which is dry and seasoned is important as is short periods of fast burn to prevent tar build up.

We've had this Dunsley Yorkshire room-heater multifuel version for 11 years in a large difficult-to-heat flat-roofed extension in which we spend most of our time.

Earlier we had tried heating this room off the central heating system and then with electric storage radiators, but it was never warm. We are not on gas.

Then we opened up and extended this old chimney and installed the Yorkshire. I love it, my wife loves it and the cat loves it so much she lies under it. If we moved house we would take it with us. We are planning a drastic rebuild of this room and will retain and resite the stove. I'm fairly experienced with woodburners, having had 2 stoves before this and installed a (smaller) one in another room 2 years ago.

It is quite a big stove (tall and deep) and we opted for the longer legs too, but it sits nicely in an opening that once must have contained an old fire/cooking range.
We burn seasoned hardwood generally and sometimes coal. Hence the glass remains reasonably tar free but dusty.
I have a couple of minor design-related moans:
(1) The original mild steel top baffle plate buckled quickly. Dunsley replaced it with another beefier stainless(?) steel one f.o.c. If you allow the plate to buckle even a little bit too much, you cannot get it out without dismantling the firebox or cutting the plate with an angle grinder. So, if you run the fire hot, you are better replacing the plate every 2 years before it buckles to the extent (not much) that you cannot get it out. About 3 years ago, Dunsley supplied their new firebrick material baffle plate instead of the steel one and that seems to have solved the problem. Full marks to Dunsley. This comment may not apply to the wet version.
(2) The fire box is a box made of 5 specially shaped fire bricks. The brick at the back cracked vertically after a while and degraded from the bottom so that it needed replacing after about 4 years. I'm sure Dunsley supply new ones but I make my own up by cutting and heat-bonding two pieces of fire-brick board together to make a thicker composite unit. I have to redo this every 2 years.
(3) It takes you a few goes to work out how best to light the stove.

Other issues
I've lost a silly piece of angle iron that gently holds the top two fire bricks down. It was always a loose fit and must have become disloged and disappeared with the ash. It works OK without it and I could easily make another.
We don't bother trying to get it to burn overnight anymore. It's not that important. It did when it was new. I think it would do again so if I renewed the door seals (every 2-3 years) and all the seals between the specially shaped fire box bricks and if the back brick did not crack vertically.
Apart from the obvious stovey things this stove does well, its extra good points include:
With the optional trivets in place you can warm plates, keep food hot.
You can cook on the hot plate or use the optional cast iron griddle. You need a fair heat in the fire to do this and therefore your legs can get hot too. Handy for power cuts.
The grate is still the original. The front castellated retainer buckled after about 8 years. Burning coal too hot I think.
The single slider air inlet control is easy to use but easy to forget. If left fully open, e.g. when you light it and get distracted, the fire can burn very hot. The cat never comes through to my office to complain.
Knowing when to adjust the single slider air inlet control is made easier if you have a flue thermometer. Its a roomheater so there is no thermostat.

Not cheap, but a great room-heater.

Stove expert says: what good customer service from Dunsley here, and great to hear of a stove lasting this long. Love it that the cat sleeps under there. I once heard of a chap whose tortoise would hibernate under his stove......

We brought this stove to integrate into a multi source heat system via a Thermal Store, with an oil boiler, immersion heater and eventually solar thermal. The stove provides a large amount of heat to the thermal store without over heating the room (An issue with many boiler stoves!!) and auto controls seamlessly. My only gripes are that the fire box could be bigger and the air wash struggles to keep the glass clean, however in defence of the stove, It would be difficult to keep the glass clean on any wood burner that was automatically controlled and damps it's self down as well as this one. Apart from that it is a good looking, well built efficient heat source that easily heats our 4 bed farmhouse and provides lots of hot water. More importantly is saving us gallons of expensive heating oil!

Bought from a little family shop in Coppull. They where really helpful and recommended this fire for my room. It is amazing would definably return their and by the same fire for my mother whose house size is the same as mine

Stove Expert Replied: Good review, satisfied customer great to hear this stove is living up to expectations.

We are totally in love with our new boiler stove. We have a solar panel for our water and now our new stove linked up to a condensing boiler in the loft.
We had a brilliant installer and it all works a treat. The Dunsley Yorkshire stove is quite large therefor we had to have the inglenook widened, but it looks lovely now in our lounge. It's easy to light,wood gets it hot really quickly, it's also easy to control...can't wait for our winter gas bill £0000000000 !!!!!
We can totally recommend this stove to anyone thinking of this type of heating system.

Jeanette, Derbyshire

Stove Expert Replied: With fuel bills rising almost monthly this must be the way to go, combining heat sources for cheaper fuel bills. Great feedback, not sure that I want the winter to begin just yet!!

Had 2 open fires, one with back boiler connected via a dunsley pump, to 4 radiators.
Replaced one fire with the Yorkshire stove, and eliminated the other fire and replaced it with an extra double radiator.
I am sure if you looked at our house on google earth, over the recent very cold winter, it would glow red !
Best money we have spent for a long time!
We have a good supply of wood from both a supplier of wood from a local, renewable source, and also off cuts from a local wood yard ( very cheap ).
The house has been lovely and warm, and the constant supply of hot water, in a home where inhabitants prefer baths to showers, is a blessing.
We are convinced We made the right choice in a Dunsley Yorkshire stove, and the one and only concern we had, of letting it get too hot, was overcome with the purchase of a temperature guage to put on the flue pipe.
I do admit that we sometimes struggle to keep the glass clean when re lighting, but I would accept that as Operator error !!!
We would recomend this stove to anyone without hesitation

Stove Expert Replied: Flue thermometer good purchase to ensure correct usage of stove. Good boiler.

I had my old gas boiler taken out of the hearth and this new Yorkshire boiler fitted in its place. First all the radiators were fixed up, and a new gas combi fitted next to it, and now all the rooms heat up a treat no matter if the wood is burning or the combi's running, or both together!

The dogs love it better in the kitchen with the logs going nicely and with my trees round the back I'll not have to use that new combi for much except the shower and kitchen sink now.

The stove doesnt have to run overnight because I had a gas poker fitted right next to it. That makes it go very nicely when I want it lit. No trouble at all!!

It was hard finding anyone to do the job expecially in a bungalow, but Dunsley knew all about connecting up two boilers together like this with a special safety kit. Very neat too, and its all safe to use during a power cut too. I recommend it to anyone

Installed the Dunsley Yorkshire six weeks ago and it is a gem.Considered a cheaper alternative,but I am pleased that I went for quality. It has the feel of good old British engineering.
Got the multi fuel boiler version,with only the hot water system connected (radiators to be added later). We are using smokeless solid fuel and have found it economical and controlable.It has not gone out since lighting,shuts back when the water is hot and burst into life after a filling a bath.
If you follow the instructions,(keep grate full,top up regular,dont let the ash reach the grate bars, etc)it is simple to run.
My only problem is with the front glass getting coated by smoke,but this is caused by having only the hot water system working at present and the stove is spending long periods shut back when water temp is met.
We love it and would recommend the Yorkshire to anybody contemplating a mutifuel stove.

Bought our model, with back boiler, a couple of years ago. We have piggy-backed it, using a Dunsley-Baker neutraliser (simple, but pricey for what it is), and some extra pumps, with our gas boiler so that when there is a demand for heat (from rads or hot water tank) it takes over when it is lit. If it is lit and the heat demand goes off (or there's a power cut!), the excess heat is dumped ("thermosyphoned") to a 1.5kw rad in the loft, else the water boils (scary!). The Yorkie has a thermostatically-controlled air control, which restricts the air intake when the water in the back boiler approaches its set temperature. Dunsley have a range of possible plumbing and wiring schematics on their website but I visited the factory in Holmfirth before purchase and spoke to the Managing Director who looked over my custom schematics and was very helpful. I'm not a professional installer but, if you can join pipes and manage basic wiring, it's not beyond the remit of the competent DIYer.

The back boiler can heat all the rads in our moderately-sized house (although the ramp-up is a little slow), puts out up to 5kw directly into our small living room (phew!) and can heat a tank of hot water in about 1.5 hours. Lots of space on the top for cooking on too - Dunsley also supply a griddle pan as an optional extra too. We had chestnuts on ours last night - yum!

It's a big lad of a stove but it still fits into the inglenook cut into the chimney breast of our small 3-bed former council house with all the necessary clearances (just!). The chimney is lined with a flexible stainless steel flue liner. How durable this will be with a 17kw solid fuel appliance only time will tell!

We feed it scrap timber and broken up pallets and since installation (and also of solar HW heating panels) we have knocked 90% 0ff of our gas bill. I haven't fed it any logs yet but, after pursuing my chainsaw certificate, it's a plan for the future! The ash pan only needs emptying about once per week.

The stove is very cleanburning, once hot enough, but doesn't slumber down well with a lot of fuel in and so isn't really appropriate for overnight burning as
(a) it will get smokey and (b) would be a waste of fuel, with most of the heat going to your heat dump! If you loaded it last thing with your CH on, and only a few rads, I doubt there would be any fuel/fire left in the morning.

My only real gripe with it is that, possibly as a result of burning very dry scrap timber, the front fuel retainer bar can get too hot and can start to bend inwards due to differential expansion. I go through a new one roughly once every year. I suspect that this wouldn't happen with logs, though.

All said and done, this is an absolutely cracking piece of kit, solid, innovative and British made. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

We have the wood burning boiler model and it heats all our house. If you are looking for a wood burning stove with a boiler then this is the stove to buy. Good product.

We installed this a couple of winters ago as part of an integrated solar and wood burning heating/hot water system with gas as a back-up. It's been the star performer of the system burning easily and efficiently producing enough heat to keep our heating ticking over and provide plenty of hot water. It can be a little tricky to light sometimes but this is rare and probably my own stupidity. The back-boiler model is pretty expensive but it is REALLY solidly built and the guys at Dunsley are always ready to help with those technical questions. The window does get a bit dirty after a while but a quick wipe with a wet newspaper dipped in the ash sorts that out no problem.

Stove expert says: when you need technical support for the stove you have bought then ideally go to your retailer as opposed to the manufacturer.

Fitted the Yorkshire about 3 years ago and it is fantastic. My room size is about 54 cubic meters and it is more than adequate to keep it snug and warm. Looks good, is easy to control and clean, and has a great flame pattern. Am thinking of changing it to the model with the back boiler so I can heat water and radiators.

My husband fitted our stove a few weeks ago and it is brilliant. we hardly use any gas now as the stove heats the house and serves most of our cooking needs except for the oven. The top is big enough for 2 large pans or a teapot and kettle. You can turn it right down and it lasts all night you can just pop the stew on before you go to bed or go out. The build quality is excellent and it realy kicks out some heat. we nearly bought a cheap no name stove but found out about defra aproval and glad we did even though the dunsley cost £600 more it is worth every penny. If you are thinking of getting one of these you will not be disapointed.

I fitted my dunsley stove 2 weeks ago and have to say I am delighted with it. I was spending £35 a week on gas on pre pay meter since fitting the stove I am using £6 a week. I opted for the non boiler model as the waiting list was to long but glad I did now as it meets my heating requirements fine. The stove is excellent quality and you wouldnt think there was a wood fire burning when you look at chimney as there is more smoke off my combi boiler. You can adjust the heat just like a gas fire and it lasts overnight if you turn it right down. Dunsley is also a very good company to deal with very helpfull and british.

darren