Review of Burley Debdale 9104
A whole new way to burn wood
Having rennovated and insulated another area of the house, our existing 8kw ''cheap'' cast iron stove became too big for the living room (heating to over 28c) so chose to downsize the output and install better more efficient British made technology.
This was a simple remove old stove and install with new connecting stove pipe to the existing recently 5" lined and insulated chimney (4.2mtr) We also had the external air kit installed at the same time. Upon delivery our installer advised us to grab the Dyson and spend an hour removing blasting shot from it.... about half a kilo of it! We also familiarised ourselves with how to remove and reinstall all the baffles and fire bricks as we will no doubt need to replace bits at some point in the future. The initial lighting being a small fire was simple and gives you an opportunity to get a feel for how the handles operate and the air control works. The literature included covers This well. Onto daily use, and this is where we notice the subtle (but significant and clever!) differences in how this Burley stove works compared with all the wood stoves I have used over the years. The first difference is the position of the fire bed. In most stoves the base of the fire sits behind a bar fairly high up. With this stove it is well below the door level, effectively in a small ''pit''. This makes lighting awkward, especially if you lay the fire ready to light later on. Trying to reach a lit match or lighter that low can be awkward! As we no longer have a newspaper I now use a single firelighter and 8 to 10 pieces of kindling. Light the fire lighter and place in the firebox, criss-cross the kindling over it and place a couple of smaller split logs (imagine a couple of bits of 2"x2" about 10 inches long) on top. Leave the door ajar for around 5mins. The fire is well alight at this point and with the air control fully open, close the door then watch the flames.... mesmerizing!! After another 20mins close the air down so the flames look lazy. We have found that one bigger log weighing around a kilo lasts around an hour before refueling is required. This is another area that I have found differs . Where in the past I would have let the fire burn down to embers then piled wood into the firebox shut the door and whilst it slowly builds heat to catch on fire, the heat held in the cast body warms the room; then leave it to burn for 3 to 4 hours before refueling; I have had to learn to pay a little more attention; but it has it''s rewards!! The firebox is fairly small, you will not fit big logs in this stove and have a successful fire. 10 inches long and split to around a 5 to 6 inch diameter is about the max. If you let this stove burn down too far, you will struggle to get it going again without another handful of kindling. We have found that as the log burns out, open the air control a little to encourage flames. Once you end up with the air fully open and no flames, this is the point to add fuel. Place towards the back of the firebox, leave the door on the catch for a couple of minutes until the new fuel is alight, close the door and wait a couple more minutes then close the air until you have lazy slow rolling flames.....the cycle then starts again with feeding more air in as the flames diminish. We have noticed one quirk (NOT A CRITICISM) with this stove. When left at the end of the evening to burn out (with the air fully open) the glass soots up. Once re-lit and before you are at the point of turning the air down, it is crystal clear again. Economy. Let''s be honest this was the most economical stove on paper; one of our main reasons for choosing the Debdale and it certainly delivers in practice. It manages to keep the room at around 24/26c and uses SIGNIFICANTLY less fuel. We were burning around 15kg over 9 hours, we now burn around 3.5kg. We have had one minor niggle, the door handle was coming loose multiple times per evening. A small dab of loctite resolved and no longer an issue. The wooden handle is unique and effective. It''s refreshing to not get burned when you grab hold of it! With the external air supply kit we have noticed there are less small draughts over our feet and no smoke coming back into the room of you open the door quickly. In summary. The small firebox it a bit restrictive, however I have burned briquettes which poses no issue; but a gnarly bit of hawthorn poses a challenge!! It is a good looking well put together stove that lights easily and is very controllable and fuel efficient whilst still putting heat into the room rather than out of the chimney. Well worth the investment and I am thoroughly impressed with the design and ease of use.Stove expert replied: Ideally logs should be no more than 4" diam to get the most efficient burn - if you use larger then more energy is taken to burn them than with a smaller log and efficiency is lost.
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