Review of Stovax Riva 66 Avanti stove
Mastering the air controls and forced draught heating
Had this installed in August 2010. The fire is a little on the expensive side, but then most of these are. The finish was easily marked by plaster but fixed with some stove black so no drama there. In practice though, this fire does output a lot of heat - maybe too much for it's own good if your flue draws well, you burn the wrong type of fuel, and/or your mastery of the air controls is less than precise. I can understand some users 'cooking' their stove if they are using the bottom air control for anything but lighting the fire, or having to use a lot of secondary air (airwash) to keep damp or unsuitably resiny (conifer) woods going. If your flue pulls really well, as mine does, then mastering the airwash takes some doing - the slide from right to left does little until it suddenly shuts off; it could do with the graduation of the opening looking at to make this more easily adjustable - unless you listen carefully and have a safe crackers touch it's either full blast (think smithy furnace) or chugging down and sooting up the glass. I have mastered it to the extent I can keep it just in overnight using only wood without the glass tarring up like a footballers hummvee windows. I also installed the venting system but not using the inbuilt fans - I have used insulated fireproof ducting and a high temp fan unit (not cheap or easy to come by) to draw the air in through the convection vents on the front of the fire, and pump it out to two downstairs rooms, and it works brilliantly. (NOT a DIY job - you must ensure correct ventilation & check that negative pressures do not defeat the flue draught under all possible conditions, and for that you need expert advice!) Heading for hard winter number two, no terrific wear and tear evident yet, and the baffle is intact, so maybe its time to start experimenting with solid fuel..
Stove expert replied: Flue draw will make a terrific difference to how the stove performs and it may be worth getting a flue specialist to advise if controlability continues to be a problem.