Stovax Stockton 8 stove Hot

This is a good stove and boiler system if used correctly. Having read other peoples reviews on it I believe some of the comments to be a little hash. We have had ours installed just before the winter kicked in of 2011. It's heated our house up nicely through out the snow and freezing weather. It gives a nice temperature to all radiators and provides enough hot water for a family of 4 to have a shower or bath well. We were fortunate enough to be shown by our installers (Vaughans in Maidstone) how to use it correctly and taught the basics of the system. When we decided to get this system we were told what wood we need and that should we get the wrong wood or if it was to wet then the system would fail to work correctly. The wood has to be seasoned or kiln dried we have use around 9 cubic meters of wood this winter which was kiln dried to have less than 20% moisture in it (Timports). This will burn very effectively over night without tarring up the glass or sides and all air vents can remain closed to slow down the combustion rate. During the time it snowed we used smokeless coal this helped as it burns at a much slower rate. I would recommend this system to anyone we have saved a huge amount in its first winter on both gas and electric.

Stove Expert Replied: What a great review, customer understands how to get the best from the stove and system. Thoughtful comments for boiler stove users. Thanks

Stockton 8 now in its third winter. Never the easiest to control, poor airwash (air hits glass door cold and leaves brown fingers down the glass from where the glass has been cooled), doesn't stay in overnight without tarring up the glass. Stovax customer service very unhelpful - they didn't want to know when asking questions (maybe we weren't running it correctly?). Overall - not good, bordering on worse.
Installed a Clearview in the second room, now in 2nd winter - totally different experience. Even though significantly more expensive, worth every penny. Does everything simply, responsively, stays in overnight and glass doesn't tar up like the Stovax.

Bit like comparing a 60s Cortina with a current Mondeo.

Stove Expert Replied: Great to be able to compare two stoves in one dwelling, fair feedback as obviously disappointed with this model.

We chose this stove because it suited our budget but also the combination of steel body & cast doors is the same as clearview and others but around half the price. Overall it is a good stove but I think the quality of a fire depends as much on dryness of wood and the chimney as it does on the stove. Given dry wood and a clear night it gives a great fire but less than perfect wood soon starts to reduce its efficiency. I guess this applies to all stoves but I do know of other stoves that seem to cope with slightly damp wood better than mine.

Another point I like about the canopy version of this stove is that the canopy is part of the chimney meaning it acts like a radiator unlike some canopy stoves which are just a flat top with an ornamental canopy. This means that it gives plenty of heat. On the down side the airwash is definitely not up to clearview standards.

This is a good stove for the price but considering the amount of time we spend looking at it I might spend a bit more next time. That said a stove installer once told me the money would be better spent on more sheds to ensure guaranteed dry wood.

Latest wraparound boiler seemed to prevent heat transfer to both room and
central heating.Good hot fire but could hold both flow and return pipes at
rear of stove!Freezing12 days over xmas & new year,unable to get Installer to do anything.Insisted they reconnect aged Gas Boiler,and remove the beast. A very expensive attempt to go "Green", and we still will have to change our Gas Boiler to suite the new "Rules" although it works perfectly.

Stove expert says: sounds like a combination of problems to me.
A boiler stove does not generally give much heat to the room.
Most boiler stoves are fairly simple in that they have a firebox surrounded by a water jacket. Even if one had been very badly designed (which is not the case with a Stovax) it is more or less a matter of how hot the firebox gets that determines how hot the water in the system is.
Now when it is very cold the heat load of the house will be huge. The boiler stove will have a hard job keeping up with it and because it have to heat up the whole volume of water in the heating system this can take a very long time indeed. A solution to this is fitting a load unit which will get the boiler stove up to temp fast and keep it there - raising efficiency and responsiveness.
The fuel may also be partly to blame if it is badly seasoned wood as this will not give out good heat. The fact that this user has rated the airwash as low does suggest wet wood to me - it would also reduce uncontrollability.

The main cause is probably that it has been very very cold. A gas boiler generally has a high output - ie 30-40kW is not uncommon. People have been reporting gas and oil usage of at least twice the normal rate in this cold snap so no wonder a boiler stove may not be able to keep up.

As a first time buyer, we did a lot of research into the various manufacturers and shortlisted 'Stovax'. Where we live everyone buys 'Clearview Stoves' (we are near to their main showroom,) and they all say they are the best. We looked, we compared and we bought Stovax! They are as good, if not better and cost about half as much.
We went for a single door as you see more of the logs/flames. Can't say more than that, briliant, would recommend Stovax without hesitation.
* Doesn't matter how good your log burner is, it's all down to the wood - MAKE SURE IT'S SEASONED WOOD!!

Stove expert says: and to make sure it is seasoned look for cracks in the ends grain, smell it (you will over time be able to smell wet wood), use a moisture meter. Or buy in cheap wet logs in the spring/summer and store them somewhere dry where the wind can get at em and you should have something useable by the winter.