Harmony 23 Hot

I have read some of the reviews and like other folk wonder if we are reviewing the same stove. I think some people only use review sites when they have an axe to grind. Basically I have had three stoves from other manufactures over the years. I felt the Harmony was a significant investment and thought long and hard before purchasing. I also did a lot of research on line. Although the Harmony was more expensive, over the last two very hard winters I have monitored how much fuel we have used and I reckon we have saved at least a third, and this was running it 24/7. So I consider it money well spent. It is a breeze keeping it in overnight burning wood. In a nut shell it's easy to light and use, keeps the glass spotlessly clean and does what it says on the tin.

Stove Expert replied: Nothing more to add as this customer has said it all about this stove!!

This stove is brilliant from precise engineering, efficiency , ability to strip it down and rebuild for servicing , thermostatic remote control , adjustable feet, as controllable as a gas appliance, proper brass handle, attractive traditional look, lazy long flame picture and it keeps my coffee pot hot.

Stove Expert Replied: Nothing more to say on this review!

This is an excellent stove. Well built with a steel inner and cast outer. I use this only as a wood burner. Some of the reviews here are far removed from my experience.

I bought a five year old stove and refurbished it. The chap I had bought it from had been running it without a baffle plate. The technical and parts department at Euroheat were very helpful and efficient.

Two pieces of newspaper and kindling is all that is needed to light. Keep loaded up with wood and keep warm.

Burns over night without fail once you get the settings right. Load up an hour before bedtime and get a charcoal base and turn down. Turn up the control and add fuel in the morning. The ash pan needs emptying maybe once a week. There is a Euroheat video on how to operate the stove on Youtube and this is exactly how it is in practice.

The steel inner gives this an airtight firebox and is remarkable in just how controllable it is. The cast outer is great for heat retention and looks the part. I have had a couple of Jotuls over the years and whilst the Harmony is not as decorative, it is in a different league in terms of being able to control the heat/fire. The primary reason for purchase!

On the downside it is one of the more expensive stoves. No doubt this is due to both cast and steel being used. The controls are low down and need a key but this is not a big deal. I say needs a key but can actually just be done by hand. However the essence of this stove is that once alight you set the controls and leave.

So..a great stove. A huge advance from the metal boxes that can be bought.

This is the first stove we have bought, We didn't read the instructions but we watched the DVD which came with it. The stove is so easy to use and control, we only burn wood and it looks fantastic, it cost about £400 more than other stoves but well worth it.

Stove Expert Replied: Good control with ease of use and extra cost worth it for this customer.

Thought that this was going to be the way forward to replace an old Aarron the suppliers really have got the speel.

Had new liner & insulation installed etc as told that it made all the difference.

With wood:
Really difficult to light, as the draught seems weak.

It takes a long time to get up to temperature and once it is the fire box with the front grill is really akward to keep refilling. To try and keep a good level of fuel in means that you have to split the logs right down. You can not put a 5" log on with any other fuel as it spills out.

The glass does not stay clear the air wash does not work.

With Coal
Lights with fire lighters slowly.

Burns with heat, glass obscured all the time even when its glowing red and HOT.

Open the door with anything but a snails pace and smoke in the room with coal and wood

Conclusion

Very disappointed with this stove, we now have to burn solid fuel all the time, might as well kept the Aarron.

Motto: the grass is not always greener on the other side.

P.S. Have Villager in the other room and that goes like a two year old

Stove Expert Replied:
Cold flues will make lighting a stove difficult, try warming flue by adding just burning paper to the firebox for a few minutes then increase to kindling etc. Once the cold slug of air is warmed it should light much easier. If you are getting smoke back into the room on opening the door do discuss with your installer as this may require remedial work to alleviate this.

I bought this stove not realising, that you had to use a silly little allen key on a handle to operate it (whilst kneeling down on the floor). Real shame, the quality looks good and I have used the predessesor extensively with no problems at all, so I was very surprised to see, that the controls were so awkward. Two days after purchasing the stove new I sold it cheap to someone else. I was used to quality controls and could not handle that. Also the efficience is pretty low at 73%. I've now got a Jotul F400 with an efficiency of 84% (that is efficient)Would not recommend this to anyone.

I read with interest the comments from the previous user in astonishment. I couldnt believe we were useing the same fire. My harmony 23 is the polished one,coloured green but looks black)I absolutly love mine,I had it fitted (very badly 2 yrs ago but after a very bad installation experience I love it. I cant get any thing done with watching the flames its facinating. its my only source of heat in my cottage and heats the whole house wonderfully. The quality of your fuel is key. Also it takes quite a lot of trial and error and Im in my 2nd year now. last winter I burned smokeless fuel excel,Woooo big mistake,it was dirty,ruined the glass,and smelled terrible. But I have now found a good site for my fuel and am highly delighted. i have my chimney swept annually ready for keeping it in overnight.I also have an assortment of fuel starting the fire with kindling and heat logs then throw a couple of blazers on then advance to bone dry seasoned logs. It takes time and patience to learn how to drive a woodburner but with a little fine tuning you,ll crack it. you wouldnt put dirty fuel in your petrol tank and likewise with this if the fuel isnt right the glass will blacken. its the best thing since sliced bread

THIS STOVE IS VERY EASY TO USE AND HAS KEPT GOING ALMOST CONTINUOUS SINCE THE END OF OCTOBER. IT DOES TAKE A LITTLE BIT OF PRACTICE BUT BY FOLLOWING THE COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONS THAT ARE SUPPLIED THERE SHOULD BE NO PROBLEM.
I WOULD RECOMMEND ONE OF THESE TO ANYONE CONSIDERING A MULTI-FUEL STOVE AS IT DOES EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN!

We inherited our H23 with the house when we moved in last year. After using this stove for several months I cannot recommend it.

Looks wise we find it not great looking; not ugly rather just very dull but this is subjective. The glass size is good and unobstrusive giving a potentially good view of any flames.

The firebox is odd in its design in that it does not have a lot of depth and coupled with the fact that the width narrows towards the rear means that you can only use short small diameter logs.

When we moved in the stove was under two years old but the window was completely blackened. This, we thought, was a result of the previous owners not using it properly with dodgy fuel. It turns out that the double glazed seal was broken letting in smoke between the two panes. With the seal replaced and both panes of glass cleaned we lit our first wood fire.

Quite frankly it would have been easier pushing jelly up a staircase than get a fire going in this thing. Although the chimney draw was good and we used decent logs it would take about an hour using bellows to get a decent flame even with the air intake set to maximum.

Refuelling proved to be a black art in that a log would need to be precisely placed so as not to put out any flame. Too near to the rear, front or sides the flame simply went out. Usually we found that we had to use the burner in "initial lighting" mode to get a decent continued flamed. This, we realised, was the problem the previous owners had hence the blackened glass. It was as if the stove was simply not getting enough air intake.

I read the manual and contacted Euroheat to see if there are any accessible ducts that could be blocked but was told that this was not possible. The stove has two main controls at the front but after a desperate search I found a third hidden control knob under the stove which adjusts the main intake baffle. With this set to maximum hey presto I got a half decent flame! This third control knob is not in the manual! To be fair this knob could have been mucked about by the previous owners but I suspect it was a factory setting.

Being a multifuel stove we decided to burn some coal and got a reasonable roaring fire! To me this showed that the fluechimney was fine.

The airwash is not particuarly good as we still get deposits on the glass. We have another stove, a Woodwarm 6KW Fireview, and using the same fuel we have no problems.

In essence this stove is a reasonable coal burner but is not up to the job as a wood burner. I was shocked to find how expensive the H23 is compared to other stoves at half the price and far superior performance.

When we have enough money we shall replace the H23.