Whisperdale stove Hot

I bought this stove over the internet after looking at many others. It worked ok until I had to have the chimney swept. The chimney sweep could not remove the flue and struggled with it for a good half hour before giving up. I tried to sort it out and then phoned the manufacturer. I was asked by the woman who answered the phone where I had bought it and |I told her over the internet. She said that they did not sell over the internet - only through their dealer network and therefore was reluctant to help me. I wonder how the stove got to an internet dealer in the first place???? And how was I to know what there outdated rules and regulations are all about??? After some discussion she told me that it was best to remove the side fire bricks and then try to shift the flue. I am an engineer and it took me some time to shift the flue far enough to allow the chimney to be swept. Even though I was careful I could not replace the bricks without breaking one of them.

This is a poor design and made by people whose sales philosophy is to favour the dealer before the customer. I wish I had bought another Woodwarm stove.

Stove Expert says: Many companies have concerns regarding internet sales but these are changing ensuring that customer support is maintained to a high standard wherever the stove is purchased. The liners are normally removed along with the baffle to enable sweeping through the stove if applicable, this does not usually cause any problems.

We bought this stove as a second stove in our dining room, with our main stove running the central heating and hot water. As such (a supplemental stove) it is a great buy, good to look at and easy to use. This stove also seems to be extremely efficient, with us being able to load it up, get it going and then leave it for the day half-damped with it burning only minimal fuel. We run ours with either logs, solid fuel briquettes or a mixture of both.

Stove expert says: it is not a good idea to burn coal and wood log at the same time - the moisture in the wood combines with the sulphur in the coal to make sulphuric acid which is not good for your stove or flue system.