WhatStove?

Review of Hunter Hawk stove

Farewell to an old friend!

Louise Clarkson 9 years ago

We have moved house now and left my Hunter Hawk 4 behind. I was very sad about that. It kept my house toasty. With it's tertiary vents making the flames spiral it was better than tv most nights! Very relaxing as well as warming. I was amazed at the power of something so small. I had no problem with the window and never had to change it.

The house it is in is a 1930s semi. I had the brick chimney lined with a six inch liner.

It is a lovely little stove. I had no problems with it. It belted out the heat so mostly we had it on tick over once it got going. Again I didn't over heat it. I found I couldn't damp it down without it doing regular "blow backs" which were a bit alarming. Firey hickups!!. I didn't really need to damp it down as it wasn't my only source of heating. I let it take over when I was around to enjoy it, but over night I relied on the central heating. It did save me on heating bills as I got hold of a fair bit of free fuel which kept me going.

We had to make sure the chimney was well swept but that was about all. You should do this anyway. Once we didn't get the chimney swept all the way to the top and that caused problems. Not the stoves fault at all. Symptoms were difficulty lighting and getting going and smoke coming out into the room shortly after lighting. Eventually I was a bit more rigourous with the brush and got round the bend and up to the top. Not much came down but it was enough to upset the airflow at the top of the chimney and form a "bung" of slower moving air which caused all the grief.

I would happily have another one.. in fact, having tried an open fire in our new house, and got very little heat of it, I have just bought a Cleanburn stove. This is from the same stable as the Hunter Hawk. Fingers crossed it is as good! Looking forward to getting it going.

Overall rating:

4.5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 3.3)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 3.6)
Value for money 5 flames (avg 3.1)
Ease of use 5 flames (avg 3.6)
Ease of lighting 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Firebox size 3 flames (avg 3.1)
How well does the airwash work 3 flames (avg 3.2)
Controllability 5 flames (avg 3.6)
Handle operation 3 flames (avg 2.9)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 2.9)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 3.3)