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Review of Westfire 23 stove

Westfire 23

Anke 11 years ago

I had a Westfire uniq 23 on 100 cm legs installed in September 2012 and love it. It is very efficient and creates little ash. It sits on a 30mm thick granite hearth plate on wooden floors. The hearth extents 400mm in front of the stove, but not quite far enough to cover the extent of the door. The floor in front of the stove does get fairly hot, so I have added a small semicircular glass hearth to the front edge to protect the floor better.

Lighting the stove is easy, though as others found, controlling the burn takes a lot of trial and error. I found that if the stove burns too fiercely the ash pan may be pulled out too far forward. Equally, if there is not enough air movement, pulling the ash pan out until it reaches the door helps increase airflow more than just operating the leavers. Don't know if this is specific to my stove, but works for me.

The stove is not meant to burn overnight, so I have not tried to bank the fire.

The handle and levers get very hot and I use a silicone (cooking) pan sleeve to operate the door, or gloves as advised. The air levers are rather crude, a bit too short to operate easily as well as fiddly to reach and fine tune with the door closed. This might not be such an issue with taller stove legs or where it is placed on a stand.

The large window is fantastic and gives a great view of the fire and keeps clear for most part except behind the log barrier.

The only problem I have is that the top bar of the log grate is already distorting. Overall I am very happy with this stove.

Stove expert replied: When components distort in a short space of time it would imply that the stove has got to higher than normal working temperature, perhaps not run it quite so hard or run hard for short periods only, a miaximum of 15-20mins twice a day.

Overall rating:

4.5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.2)
Value for money 4 flames (avg 4)
Ease of use 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Ease of lighting 5 flames (avg 4.4)
Firebox size 5 flames (avg 4.4)
How well does the airwash work 5 flames (avg 4.4)
Controllability 3 flames (avg 3.8)
Handle operation 3 flames (avg 3.3)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 4.1)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 4.1)