Hunter Herald 5 Inset stove Hot

We had this unit installed in mid October 2011. Room is 15.5 sq mtrs. We already have oil central heating which we are happy with and provides us with enough warmth. We have had an open fire which was useless for lighting with too much downdraught. We also have acquired a lot of wood over the past few years. We also wanted an alternative heat source that was reliable in case of power cuts. We decided on this unit after online research and visit from local HETAS installer. The outlay has been really worthwhile. We have been lighting it frequently even though the weather was not really cold enough. The ratings we have given are the evidence that we are really pleased with it in all aspects. It does not matter about burning overnight this is not what this unit is for. The ease with which it can be lit is so simple to what we could not achieve with the open fire. One small bit of firelighter, a tiny bit of kindling wood and you can put our well-seasoned logs on, light it, shut the door, walk away and you know it will be OK. Wonderful. We did have a very good HETAS installer.

Stove expert says: a good installer is really important. Often you may find bad reviews for stoves when it is actually the chimney which is lacking in some way and this is where the installer really comes into their own.

The previous reviewer is quite correct, this fire produce a good heat that just flows up the chimeney. It seems to me that the baffel does nothing and there is no visable backplate so the heat disapears. If you use all your fuel and get it to melting temprature, it heats the room a bit - otherwise it is of no use unfortunatly.

Have just purchased this inset stove for a small room 13' x 13'.6"x 8' (height). It has been installed for one week now. Absolutely gutted with the results. The output calculator suggests that 2.9KW is sufficient for a room of this size so we expected great heat from the 4.2/5KW model. The chimney was lined with a flexi liner just to make sure everything was in order.

The stove is throwing no heat into the room. It lights well and is very easily controlled. Before lighting the stove the room temperature is 13 degrees, have tried various fuel options ie: all coal, all seasoned ash and a mix of seasoned ash and coal. Keeping the stove well tended from 5pm to midnight results in a very chilly room temperature of 15 degrees in the month of March. No comparison to the heat from our open fire!! Very disapointing, we would never be able to use this stove in winter! Our supplier has visited and agreed that the heat is in no way acceptable.

We are having a Hunter Herald 7 inset installed in the next week or two to see if the result is more favourable. Failing this we will definitely revert back to an open fire. We are very concerned because we have never heard of any one experiencing "no heat" from a stove, in fact we went for the Hunter Herald 5 inset stove expecting to have to leave the room door open to disperse the heat from the living room, unfortunately this is not the case!!

Stove Expert Replied: Inset stoves should produce adequate heat providing it has been installed as per the manufacturers instructions. Has insulation been put around the inset box to insure that the heat generated goes to the room and not to the surrounding materials of the fireplace? May be worth checking. Do not use household coal on a stove it should be a smokeless fuel.