Reviewed by A Banton January 22, 2012
Last updated: February 15, 2012
Quality stove that looks great
After a lot of research looking for the right stove for us, we decided on the Westfire 17 & haven't been disappointed! The stove looks brilliant and is larger than we were led to believe and really looks great with it's large glass door chrome handle on the door and the ash pan. The controls are simple (although the spec lists primary, secondary & tertiary controls) there is only primary & secondary controls, the tertiary control is the row of nozzles in the firebox to re-burn the smoke particles which works really well when up to temp. Lighting is easy with some well placed dry kindling and quickly gets up to temp adding smaller logs to start and depending on the chimney draw not necessary to crack the ash pan to start. I have found that is best to close off the primary quickly and control the flames with the secondary. Once you have the right temp in the firebox I find it best to keep a good amount of logs in the stove as it seems to maintain the heat better. The large fire glass door provides the most amazing view of the fire (the main reason for our choice) and with the tertiary nozels working you get some amazing flame patterns which are hypnotic to look at. All in all I would highly recommend this stove and think that Westfire 17 is a great product.
Stove Expert Replied: Steel stoves will only maintain their output with full fireboxes and when this gets low the heat will reduce significantly, however, it is best to refuel only when little left in firebox as this is the most efficient use of the fuel inside!!