Stovax Brunel 1A stove Hot

We bought this two weeks ago to replace a horrible Chinese stove. We also have a Clearview Pioneer 400 and have previous had both Little Wenlocks and Parkray.

It's a beautifully made stove which is delivered in very impressive packaging with good instructions for both installation and use. I had no problems fitting the feet or changing it over from back flue to top, and its compact size makes it easy to nudge into alignment with an existing flue pipe.

It's fitted in the builder's opening in a room 4m x 3.5m which is against two external solid walls of an old cottage and on two very wet windy nights recently with outside temperatures below 5 degrees produced more than enough heat.

Burns wood and smokeless fuel (Maxibrite) equally well (which is more than our Pioneer does) and is remarkably controllable. The firebox is small, but you don't really expect a big firebox in a small stove, do you?

I rated overnight burning at 3 simply because there's no option for "don't know because I'd never try to keep a multifuel stove going overnight". Quality of finish (5) is based on the matt black one. We'd never buy an enamelled stove of any make!

In short, it's brilliant and well worth the money.

Stove Expert Replied: great review, and as experienced a balanced one.

When we first had our Brunel stove 5 yrs ago we loved it - it was used continuously throughout the winter months and kept the downstairs back of a very drafty Victorian brick house lovely and cosy... so why the low mark. Well, this was actually the second Brunel stove we have had. The first one was in blue enamel but within a couple of years the enamel had crazed all over the stove and started to peel, plus there was a problem with the controls on the stove, even when the vents were closed the fire would flare... but to their credit Stovax did replace it with a new one without any problems. However the present stove which is also enamel started presenting problems two years ago - a small line in the enamel appeared on the top of the stove but since the stove was operating well and it didn't look too bad, we decided to order some enamel paint from Stovax in the summer and patch it up which we did.. However, present day, the paint we put on the line has come off, a very large patch of enamel has come away where the original line was, there are now bubbles of air under the enamel all over the stove which threaten to break out... and imagine our surprise to find the other week that the actual cast iron on the top of the stove where all the enamel came away now supports a 2.5cm crack on it...
Because this stove is out of warranty Stovax is under no obligation to do anything... but to our mind we will never again buy from Stovax - their fires are not cheap, we had paid extra for the enamel - which has given us so many problem, but for a cast iron stove to crack after only five years... well what does that say of the product? All we can say is beware... it may be the luck of the draw, but if you are unlucky like us, you can and will be seriously angry and out of pocket!

Stove Expert Replied: Very sad story, cast iron can crack but this is likely to be through over heating of an appliance (not always though!). A costly experience!

Original Brunel 1. Winter burning phurnacite - Autumn & Spring Wood, or peat briquettes. Tip take the ash pan out after emptying the ashes, and only put it in to take the ashes, this stops the ash falling onto the floor, and seems to give a more even burn at the sides - on phurnacite my fire has not been out for about 3 weeks. Phurnacite ashes empty daily (1&1/2 pans). Tip 2 Take out the riddler rod and seal the hole with silicone, makes the fire more controllable, get a poker to replace riddler with a small "end" on it!

Stove Expert Replied: Sounds strange to remove riddler as the point of it is to make removing ash easier, but if it works for you!!

It is adorable, a bit like a family pet. It says it has an airwash system but depends on wood type as to how quick the glass gets dirty. I am surprised at the size of log I can fit in, it's a bit like a tardis, which means you can put one big chunk which keeps it going and the wood pile lasts forever. The control is very sensitive and you can create fantastic swirling effects. Gratins cook well if left on top in a shallow cast iron pan. Justlove it. A tip on cleaning glass, wet some scrunched up newspaper, dip in the cold ashes, scrub glass (when cold) and clean off with dry clean newspaper, cheaper and safer than the acid cleaner sold.

Great value for money and chucks out a lot of heat for its size. Easy to get spare parts, looks good and we loved it so much we dragged it to our new house and will probably now spend a fortune on a new flue for it.

Not the cheapest but a good value for money well engineered product that does exactly what it says it'll do. Beware poor copies and choose a company that know what they are designing.

I really struggled with this fire and have subsequently removed it and replaced it with a Jotul 602.
I found that when burning wood the firebox was far too small and would burn a complete load in about two hours - even with the airvents closed. I could never, ever, get the fire to stay in overnight. Also the firebox is very shallow so when you open the doors burning embers or even complete burning logs would fall out of the stove - often had to put the carpet out!!! The fire box is also not very wide - and so you can't get a decent length of log onto the fire either.
It worked better with coal - but even then it's not that great.
It would be nice to be able to open the ash door without having to open the main door.
The glass does stay nice and clean. If it gets dirty - through burning with closed air vents don't bother cleaning it with glass cleaner - just give the fire a good roar and it cleans itself - you can actually watch particles of soot being sucked off the glass !!
Not keen on the handle design - to keep the door sealed against the rope properly means that it's very tight to unlatch.
I'm sorry to give this fire such a slating but the jotul 602 is far superior - loads from one end - nothing falls out, bigger firebox in the same amount of space (if you put the chimney on top). It also has a built in hotplate. The only downside is that it's wood only - but then I found coal dust gets everywhere anyway, so I tend to just burn wood.

No airwash but the glass stays clean. Very efficient for its size with both wood and Taybrite. Looks really good, burns well, effective controls, very responsive. zrswi

Although this is a multifuel stove it does a superb job of burning wood efficiently once the grate has a layer of ash over it. There is no airwash on this stove but the glass always stays clean, hence my rating. I have previously had a Stockton 5, but would choose the Brunel 1A over the Stockton.