Tiger Plus stove Hot

Never had a stove before so didn’t know anything about them. Did my research thoroughly and was drawn to this Tiger by its dimensions (shallow and compact enough to meet building reg. re distance to top/sides of fireplace etc), shape (landscape as opposed portrait which suited the fireplace I was planning) and price £369 or so.
Since getting it I’ve had no regrets. It burns like a furnace and I can heat my 5 bed detached house comfortably with it…..with the lounge doors open the heat travels up the stairs and heats the bedrooms as well as the down stairs. I light it just before lunch and use about half a bag of coal a day (which costs about £6.50 a bag) so I think I’m getting value for money as the gas central heating is now off all day and night plus we have a homely fire to sit in front of and jealous neighbours!
I find it controllable even with a really strong draw as I keep the vent open only marginally once I’ve got it going.
The firebox is smaller than expected in light of its external dimensions and I found I was feeding it wood quite frequently (every 30 mins or so to keep it going – it burnt better with a full fire box as per the instructions) but since switching to coal I’ve found this much easier to manage and top it up every 3 hours or so. I have tried the over night burn and I had smouldering embers in the morning about 9 hours later but I think anthracite would have enabled me to have a longer burn as I use very cheap coal.
It’s easy to light with toilet rolls, newspaper, kindling and soft wood but have found hard wood a challenge unless I’m adding it at the end of the night to the dying coal for a last blast before bed time.
I’d definitely recommend this stove to anybody, even a novice like me, but please bear in mind I have nothing to compare it to as it is my first.
I’ve just bought myself a chainsaw and have the biggest pile of free logs from the local tree surgeon to chop…roll on next winter!

Stove Expert replied: House hold coal should not be used in a closed appliance due to it having a longer flame than smokeless fuels, it can shorten the life of internal components, prevent the airwash from working effectively and is not recommended so will invalidate the warranty!! Suggest you change to a smokeless fuel that is not petroleum based.

After a lot of research and a last minute budget restrictions I decided to go for the tiger stove, it was easy enough to install (with a flue liner) and I have not been disappointed at all by it.
It lights well and, using anthracite small nuts it stays in over night with relative ease. After 30+ hours of burning the coals it takes a little TLC to keep it going, I suspect this is like any stove. The glass has stayed clean and the heat output is brilliant. The air control could do with some improvement but so long as you know how to work it does operate fine (make sure you pull it flush to the casing after moving it or it may as well be open). Though I primarily use Anthracite which generates furnace like heat when it's really going, it does burn wood well on it's own despite the multifuel grate.

I'd certainly have one of these again, it does exactly what it should and it does it well.

Stove Expert replied: A satisfied stove owner! It is always worth trying a few smokeless fuels as they do vary.

After much research I installed one 2 years ago in a holiday cottage that I let out. Installed a new stainless insulated flue at the same time. The fire is easy to light and contrary to what others say the control ability is amazing - move the vent open/closed and the fire responds straightaway. The cottage is quite exposed and the draw is amazing - maybe this is why I have very few issues with it. Holiday makers get logs to use but I also use coal and the amount of heat it puts out is amazing. I would definitely buy another.

Stove Expert Replied: The cost is not always an important factor as shown with review!! This stove has a great review and is well the money that it costs. In a holiday cottage you can never be sure of how stoves will be treated so this must be a robust model.

I read the "tiger" reviews on this site and decided to get something more expensive but then all three Stovefitters who quoted for the job suggested Tigers so I thought "Why not, it's so much cheaper"
This was our first stove so when we got it initially in the January we had trouble lighting it, keeping it going, keeping the the glass clean and controling it but now October has come around and we've started using it again it's working beautifully.
We are now burning wood that I collected, cut, split and dried myself last year and what solid fuel we are using was in the coal bunker all summer. The glass now stays clear, we can light the fire easily with no firelighters required and we can control it much better. The heat output is brilliant and if we leave our Lounge door open the warmth spreads all over.
Don't rely too much on what it says in the manuals. We use about 10 sheets of scrunched up newspaper and loads of kindling to get the fire started. (Smokeless fuel and anthracite can be difficult to get going but coal ignites easily) Also, I think every stove behaves diffrently depending on the draw from the chimney so what the manuals say about the air flows above and below the fuel doesn't always seem to be the case.
Most importantly ? Make sure the wood is dry and then everything seems to work better.
Collecting, cutting and splitting wood means you give less money to the likes of British Gas and it also keeps you fit.
One last thing. I've yet to try an overnight burn so I've marked it as just average.

Stove expert says: yep dry wood is the key. Funnily enough it makes much more difference than how much your stove costs! If you can source and then store one or two years worth of wood in advance then you will save money and can make sure that it is very dry (20% moisture or under).

Have had the Tiger for a year. As someone else said, you get what you pay for. Its worst aspect is lack of controllability. The slider controls are just too crudely made - they leak air very badly. I've even tried putting masking tape over all the air vents, and after 30 mins the fire was still blazing very briskly. This may not be too big a problem on a very cold day, but it means you cannot slow the fire down , eg if you leave the house for an evening, and keeping it going overnight is out of the question.

In other respects it's an adequate stove, but that's about the best one could say for it.

stove expert says: a flue damper might help here to bring the chimney draw down a little. That might then make the stove more controllable.

Have been using the tiger plus stove for over 2 years now. Looked at many other stoves before buying the tiger. The main reason for going for the tiger plus is due to the large width for burning split logs and shallow depth to ease installation. This may be seen as a compromise, but works well for me. Controllability is adequate and improved by a recent fitting of a damper plate to the chimney.

Burns wood cleanly and burns smokeless fuel overnight for upto 10 hours as advertised.

Overall this a superb stove for the money, plus the large windowed door allows a good view if the fire.

I have no hesitation in recomending this stove.

Found this review site after purchasing our Tiger Plus Stove and was worried about what I'd bought.
Once the stove was delivered we were impressed with the build quaility and finish.
Have now used the stove and found it easy to light and very controllable.
For the money an absolute bargain.

Finish on body flaking off allowing rust, is it actually cast iron?

Smokes when opening door even when flue very hot, throat plate very close to door, design fault?

I am very disappointed with the size of the firebox. By the time you fit the thick fire bricks the area has no depth to it. I can't load enough flue to keep the fire in overnight using soft wood and if I use hardwood logs, I can't keep the fire going. I think this is mainly due to the multifuel grate which I am considering taking out even though it is not designed for this to happen. Build quality is OK generally apart from one of the boss's inside the stove which the grate is supposed to sit on, which is at least 3/4" out of position which means the grate is hung in mid air at that corner. I will have to weld something onto the grate to rectify this error.