Review of Burley Hollywell 9105 stove
Initially excellent but needs A LOT of aftercare
Really excellent stove to start with - efficient, easy to get going... but it started falling apart fairly soon.
First, the soot catching tray deformed in the heat, shrank and kept falling into the stove, exacerbated by the rusting away of the little shelf it sits on just behind the front opening. I put in a couple of bolts to protrude inwards to hold the tray but it kept shrinking under the heat and falling in anyway so I kept buying new trays (not cheap) but they distort pretty quick and fall in so I''ve given up on that part of the design. Burley themselves say yeah it distorts "eventually" - actually that''s about 2-3 weeks before it starts to fall into the stove. The mesh part only lasts a few days before it burns away. NB stove-top thermometer shows we run it at 5-600ºf, very occasionally 700 so we''re not over-frazzling it. The handle kept getting jammed at either end of its travel, I put in short bolts at the ends of the slot to prevent it going all the way to the end, no problem since that, though it means you can''t shut it off completely. The door hinges sagged under the weight of the door, which got lower and lower till it didn''t match the opening, shoving it back up just caused more metal fatigue to the hinges so I welded in reinforcements to the hinges. The spigot that holds the door shut is coming loose, impossible to tighten it (has an allen key hole but just spins uselessly) so that will need welding in. In conclusion - really excellent stove, but you need a workshop including welding gear to keep it going.