Review of Woodfire Evo 30
Woodfire Evo 30
We installed a Woodfire Evo 30 recently to serve an adjacent 2000l thermal store which in turn feeds underfloor heating for 140m2, 8 radiators, 4 towel rails, and hot water right round the house. We retained the previous oil boiler as backup in case the stove (or the log handler!) needed respite.
After 3 months use I can say that I am absolutely delighted with the stove. Its heat output is well up to specification such that, even in the current very cold weather, I can provide all the heat my house needs from a 4 hour burn each day. It will easily lift the average temperature in the store by 10c/hour. We have used no oil at all in the past 3 months. It is very easy to light. I have quite dry wood (chestnut at about 18%) and find one firelighter is sufficient - I do not need kindling. I don''t try to keep it ''in'' overnight - there seems little point and I think it would soot up if I tried. The glass gets some black deposits round the edges, but provided I keep the air inlet more or less open and the flu damper halfway or open it stays pretty clean. I've cleaned the glass only once in 3 months. The ash can needs to be emptied about once every 6 days. It's design is good and the process is quick, easy and clean. I have a Charnwood Island 3 in another room that gives you a face full of dust every time you open its door. Thanks to a clever arrangement with the flue damper opening the door of the Woodfire is clean. Chestnut spits a lot and some debris tends to settle on the inside of the door rim which seems unavoidable. I normally just sweep it clean as I go which takes seconds. It's hard to tell how efficient it is. I reckon I am using about 1.5 full wheelbarrows of chestnut a day at the moment. It was about 3 per week when the weather was warmer. Its appearance is very neat and clean. Ours is mounted in a plain white plaster wall and looks terrific. The stove does expand in use and the adjacent plaster gets pretty hot. The implications of this could have been spelled out clearer in the installation instructions. Our first plaster finish cracked off after a few firings as the stove expanded so we got the plasterers back and renewed it, incorporating an expansion gap of around 5mm between stove and plaster. There was little more cracking, but after a few weeks the heat began to break the gypsum in the plaster down and it gained the texture of orange peel. We then replaced the plaster for a 2nd time, this time with a heatproof gypsum-free render. This has been as steady as a rock. Among other things, it is worth making sure your system will operate by convection if you have a power failure, installing a Laddomat (or similar) to keep the flow temperatures right and having a pressure release valve with a clear flow into the drain. Above all, make sure access is possible to everything - we haven't had to tweak many settings in use, but there have been a few and I dare say some of the parts won't last for ever. I wouldn't be without a set of temperature dials adjacent to my stove that tell me the top, middle and bottom temperature of the water in the store. With this information I know when to stop feeding the stove, usually bringing it to rest with the temperature in a nice, reassuring 85-90c This stove does exactly what I wanted and was claimed and is a pleasure to live with. I am very pleased to recommend it. Steve.Stove expert replied: Sounds amazing and efficient, great comments.
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