Villager A Hot

After a thorough and long period of research I bought this stove mostly buoyed up by the consistently good reviews on this site. I spoke to villager about some technical issues and they were extremely helpful. NB we had to abandon the 200 year old oak surround to the fire for the recommended 1 meter clearance for combustible materials

The stove is our only form of heating in a large open plan barn style area with very high ceilings, which is a nightmare to heat and the previous stove failed miserably. The villager flat A was not deemed to be sufficient for this size area either but I felt it was our best bet as a back boiler wasn't feasible.

From day one the stove was user friendly, easy to light, very very easy to control.We were advised to have a damper with the stove and it seems it is very good advise to help with the control.She now has a name and will purr away on a gentle heat or opened up and full of wood she will kick out a lot of heat.Managing to heat a difficult area and keep us warm. This is a serious stove with nice looks that delivers. My only struggle has been the log size is somewhat inhibited by the front grate and door size, more log splitting needed, BUT I am totally delighted. Be warned though the cost of fitting in France was nearly as much as the stove cost to buy! Want heat, buy this stove. 3/1/2012

Stove expert says: out of interest what name did you give to your stove?

We bought one of these and had it installed in our cottage in France. It has transformed winter breaks. We have a massive inglenook fireplace so an open fire used to smoke into the room, create a draft and when things were really bad we ended up opening windows... and doors! Our Villager has put an end to all that and looks great in the fireplace with the high canopy. We burn a fraction of the wood we used to when we had the open fire. We agonised for ages over whether to fit a stove or keep the open fire, but now realise we should have done it sooner.
The best bits are the firebox size: we can throw half meter logs straight into it, and that saves a lot of sawing up. It really throws out a great heat and heats not only our massive lounge, but also the upstairs and extension as well.
We don't love it as much as out little Morso Squirrel in the UK, but it is functional and does it's job well and is very good value.
We would prefer the stove to have larger glass windows, but you can burn it with the two windows open if you wish (not as efficient and don't leave it unattended like this). We also don’t find the 4 air vents as easy to use as the Squirrel, and it is not as controllable, but overall it is a great value stove.

We purchased a villager AHI boiler stove to replace our oil central heating that was costing us 1300 euros a winter to run. It is installed in our house in NW France and heats the 10 radiators very well. It slumbers all night very well but because you shut down the airwash system vents as well the glass does get dirty. It clears more once you open it up.Hence my review of 4 otherwise during the day when you open the airwash it works well. Ease of lighting and controlability is all brilliant. The handle opens and closes great with the tool provided. The price is very good for 780 pounds new!! Bought in the UK, as it's cheaper there. We use about 17 cubic metres of wood costing about 500 euros and that lasts us 7 months. We like our house warm to hot!!You can get 500mm long logs in or longer depending on thickness. Parts for villager are available here in France, but I haven't needed any.
I cant fault it on price and functionality and would definately buy another AHI/villager if I moved house.
John. A happy villager owner.

One of the best things we ever bought for our house. My only issue has been with the glass clips, which quite quickly lose their spring and need to be replaced. The glass is rather small for the doors, meaning that the clips have to be secure.

I got my stove approx 14 years ago, from day one it performed great, it has the rear boiler, which is efficent, but I have 14 rads, so I had it linked in to my Gas system, it would 'assist' the central heating, thus keeping my gas bills down.It is in a large living room (21'x 19')it warms this room from cold in 25 mins! I have renovated my house and this is by far the best investment I have bought.
Over the past 2 weeks I have changed my old gas central heating boiler to a new combi/condensing type, apparently you cannot link the stove into these. So I have isolated & drained the stove's boiler and run it without the boiler, the only difference so far is that it kicks out far more heat in the living room. These stove are very good.
On a general note about stoves whether they are woodburners or multifuel, I would never go back to an open fire, stoves are more efficient, (wood pile lasts 2-3 time longer) economical, safer, less work, look better and can pay for themselves in a very short time...if you are thinking of getting one, DO IT !

BRILLIANT WOODBURNING STOVE FOR MY THATCHED COTTAGE. AS SAFE AS IT CAN BE DELIVERING A HUGE AMOUNT OF HEAT. MY ONLY PROBLEM IS GETTING HOLD OF AFFORDABLE, PROPERLY SEASONED HARDWOOD. PLENTY OF OF 'COWBOYS' OFFERING SEASONED WOOD WHICH ISN'T!!

Stove expert says: I couldn't agree more. Selling logs at 30-40% moisture and claiming they are seasoned is simply unacceptable.
How to get around it? Get a moisture meter and split some logs open and test them then and there before accepting a delivery. They should be around 20% if they are seasoned. A few at 25% is OK but not all of them.
Failing that seasoned logs will tend to have cracks in the end grain so look for those.
The warmer months is the right time to buy in cheaper wet logs. Stack them up so that the wind can get at them but keep the rain off the top of them and they will probably be dry by the end of the summer. In Denmark they keep them all 2 years but beggars can't be choosers, but if you can eventually plan to keep them for 2 years, and you have the space, all the better.

Excellent woodburner, no complaints. Is keeping our house really warm, great heat output. Would recommend to anyone.

Bought this for our house in France that currently just has electric heating...



I wanted just a wood burner that had a flat top so we could use it for cooking as well.



Spent hours doing research and found that most people seemed to think that the Villager A series are a reasonable range of stoves. No specific review though so I hope this helps anyone looking at these.



Firstly, we did not want a stove that was multi-fuel as our house is in the Dordogne and wood (oak, mainly) is plentiful and relatively cheap thus keeping the price down. It can be converted to multi-fuel if required.



Secondly, this is a holiday home so we use it for probably only four to six weeks of the year in the winter. A back boiler was not an option as the cost of installation would have been out of all proportion to the use.



Last of all I wanted to use the stove as a cooker as well. You just can't beat the feeling of seemingly getting something for nothing!



We bought the stove in the UK as the prices in France were nearly 70% more expensive (for the Villager). I also bought the enamelled flue pipe in the UK and wished I hadn't because they were far cheaper in France.



After installation, the first lighting produced the usual "curing" smell, which didn't last long.



The difference in the temperature of the room was amazing. The "output" of the stove is rated at 14-16Kw and we were using this to heat a room 8 metres x 5 metres with an open plane staircase at one end. We didn't need to have the stove "roaring" to achieve this.



The electric radiators needed to be on full to notice any difference in the temperature (and a huge hole in the wallet!). Eat your heart out EDF!



Bear in mind that the stove was installed in the fireplace and the chimney was now blocked off with the "register" plate so the escape of warm air up the chimney was stopped.



Lighting was a doddle as seasoned kindling (dry) was used along with newspaper and cardboard. No firelighters were used apart from a match or two!



500mm oak logs are relatively easy to use as long as you angle them as they go in.



Controllability was pretty impressive as not only do you have top and bottom vents for the air wash and primary/secondary combustion but you can tighten them all up by screwing them in making them more airtight.



It is worthwhile noting that we also took a flue thermometer with us that sits on the flue pipe, attached by a magnet. It didn't take long to work out how to keep it running at optimum temperature with one of these.



I tried twice to do an overnight burn succeeding only once. Came to the conclusion that as it was so easy to light, why bother? You will be burning fuel when tucked up in bed!



The air wash system worked well. Having tried the "overnighter", the glass was pretty filthy in the morning but when the bottom and top vents were open it soon cleared once the fire was going.



My only criticism of the stove is that the feet are not height adjustable so it can rock on an uneven surface.



All in all, I would rate this excellent value for money. It is well made from a good thick gauge of steel plate with cast iron doors. Parts are also plentiful even in France.



If you are getting one for over there then buy the pipe and flue locally as it is much cheaper. I haven't had a chance to try the cooking facility, but will let you know how we get on when we do...next February or so.



I hope that helps anyone considering one of these.