Franco Belge Belfort stove Hot

This little unit sits in the study, the coldest room in a 350 year old house - the room has three external walls and is single storey with minimal insulation. It just manages to keep the room temperate during the coldest of days but on normal winter days it keeps the room (14' x 14') nice and warm.

Have had the little chap since 1997 and still going strong with no problems - just about to change the glass (due to shutting door on oversized wood rather than any fault.

Need to empty ash pan every 1-2 days. Very good at banking up with coal overnight on 'simmer' then opening up in morning.

External riddle just started ceasing over last few months but after 15 years so would I ! Not looked at curing problem yet as not problem if one opens the door and prods with a poker!

Very pleased...

Stove Expert replied: Recommend emptying the ashpan at least daily to insure longevity of the grate, if hot ash left in the ashpan it can shorten the life as it is being cooked from both sides!
In the summer check the riddle as it may just need cleaning with emery paper to remove surface debris that has built up over time. Annual maintenance always worth doing so that no nasty surprises occur when the next heating season begins.

We installed our wood burner 2 years ago and I am still delighted. We live in NE Scotland have had two very hard winters and the stove has kept the house warm without us using the gas central heating. So far I have saved about £250 from the gas bill.
I had to work out (with the chart) the chimney pieces I needed and ordered from Caspian and we have had no trouble except after 6 months the fire smoked, the sweep was called and the mesh bird nesting deterent had blocked and needed to be removed. Only maintenance offresh cement on the fire flue has been needed as I must be too vigorus in thowing the logs into the fire.
We have built 2 small log sheds in airy corners in the garden and because the snow wet the logs, this year we nailed on a curtain of green fencing mesh (that keeps out rabbits)to the top roof.

Stove expert says: great that the stove is working well for you. To seal the flue another option is either fire rope wrapped around and pushed into the gap with fire cement on top, or high temperature silicone. Both are a bit more flexible.

We have had our stove for almost 5 years and it is really now part of the family. We started with occasional fires in winter but have now moved on to having ones to stave off the need to put the central heating on! Lighting the stove is easy with newspaper and a few sticks. We tend to burn wood and coalite depending if we are around to stock the fire or not. The air intakes are very accessible and easy to master.

With the long winter we have just had we managed to keep the fire in for just over three weeks, only going out as we went away for a weekend!

For the price, I do not think you could get a better stove, not only does it look nice but it also works very well.

Our things we have to do are to re black it once a year and touch up the fire cement seals once a year or so.

Stove Expert Replied: Multifuel stoves can add versatility to supplying heat to a home but it is not everyone's cup of tea. It certainly reduces the other heat requirements in the home though.
Routine maintenance will always be required so nothing unusual there.

We are having serious smoke issues with this stove. We had it installed last winter and it worked fine for a while, then started smoking terribly, with smoke coming from under the lid and back through the vent. We asked the bloke who'd installed it to have a look and he said the pipe needed sweeping (it's vented at the back, not from the top), so we did this and it was OK for a bit. But now it won't light easily at all and smokes so much we can't really use it. Very disappointing. If anyone knows how to combat this problem I'd be extremely grateful. It's a lovely little stove when it's working properly and kicks out enough heat to warm a biggish room whilst looking very decorative.


Stove Expert: Have you removed the baffle as there may be debris on top of it preventing the gases from exiting the firebox chamber. Smoke escaping can be caused from wet fuels, a cold flue /poor flue draw . Recommend getting installer back to check installation as this is not a problem with the stove. Let us know how you get on.

We had this stove installed a few years back and did not use it a great deal till this Winter when circumstances demanded. Having used it during the cold period I got to grips with the thing , learning myself by trial and error the knacks that mich states in his post, that I totally agree with. It certainly is going to keep us comfy this coming winter A LITTLE BELTER ? perfect description

This has been ok for a smallish room, but in a large room in winter you would want a bigger fire.

After a lot of consideration we decided on this stove. We removed a cast iron Victorian fireplace and installed this in the cavity. It's a nice fit and we did not have to alter the existing hearth due to the compact size of the stove. I think it's an excellent build quality and seems very sound. It took a while to get used to the operation but now feel like a master! Lighting is dead easy with lots of paper and kindling of various sizes. The secret seems to be in leaving the vent open and door ajar for a good 10 minutes to allow the stove to heat enough to draw properly by the vent alone. I only burn wood in it and do have trouble getting a good heat output if the wood is damp. I don't expect this fire to burn overnight, I don't need it to, and it's not designed to, so it doesn't! If it's REALLY cold I just load it up before bed and let it go out in the night. It's not hard to get going the next morning if I need it. I use it to supplement our gas central heating which it does very well in our 4 bed house! I was tempted to go for a bigger stove but I think we got it right. I like to keep it going pretty well flat out if I can as that's when it burns very cleanly. I clean out the ash a couple of times a week but this is very easy and no hassle. It took me ages to get the controllability right as you really need to choke back the air to get it to burn slower, but as I said, I usually have it going flat out. I would recommend this stove for use as we do in a Victorian, two story terrace.

Fantastic product for the smaller room.

I have just fitted this stove and I am very pleased with it, it looks good, is very easy to light, is really controllable and heats up very quickly. This is the first wood stove I have had so I have not got anything to compare it with. We had an open fire before and this is much, much more controlable and efficient. Overall, very pleased and would recommend it.