We recently bought 2 stoves ; a Vision 500 and a Boru Croi Beag inset for a smaller room. The Vision 500 has exceeded all out expectations and heats a large room in an older house (1850) in
a way that is hard to believe, it has transformed the room, the warmth is noticeable in all 4 corners and in a bay window, it is like having 5 radiators in the room, fuelled by about 10 logs.As for the Boru from the very first lightingi have been kicking myself for not paying the extra £600 for a Cleaview inset, I am even considering taking out the Boru (even though it was only installed 7 days ago) throwing it in the bin and buying a Clearview (and I am Scottish!) .. in all honesty the difference in performance is hard to believe.if anyone reading this is considering buying a stove that is not a Clearview I urge you to go and see a Clearview in action and then don't waste your money (like me) on any other stove ... and if you have a Boru I feel for you and know the disappointment!
No issues with this stove. Generates a lot of heat, but the convector sides make it a very comfortable heat. Very controllable and looks great with the "wide screen". Heats up in about 30mins
My wife and I purchased two of these models back in 2006. One for the kitchen (a flat top model) and one for the lounge (a canopy model). They have been the worst purchases we have ever made
and we bitterly regret our involvement with 'Clearview'. We have always had a 'fume' problem from day one, the stove seems not too bad on initial lighting, but it's when they have reached temperature and you shut it down the problems start. Clearview replaced the one stove in the lounge as the fitter said the door did not fit correctly, but problems still persisted and still do to this day. My advice would be to buy from another manufacturer with a good track record!
I own a cheap stove and this one - I know where my money was better spent. I burn this hot and yet the glass always stains-I have had to replace the glass and seals in the first two years due
to discolouration and the installer tried to prevent the stains by sealing the glass tightly so they both broke after a month-DON'T waste your money on the hype-this is not the best stove and I think the only reason why people rave is to justify the absurd amount paid for a name...
Stove expert replied:
Normally glass discolouration is due to not enough air being allowed in the airwash, damp fuel, poor draw on chimney etc. A disappointing review.
When we got the solution 500 installed it was the answer to our prayers. After having many stoves my estimation had gone down but with my clearview I am over the moon with the efficiency and
controllability. We used the 6 inch 904 grade liner which ultimately is a little bit more expensive but you do get a 20 year warranty with. The better the liner the more efficient your stove will run. When you buy a clearview stove its for life with very little problems in between!!
As I used this site a lot in making my decision I thought it only correct to provide my input. First up - I have never owned a stove before so its hard for me making comparisons to other makes
so I won't - all I will say is that people who have visited with experience have been very happy. I do have open coal fires though - no comparison !First making a decision was a nightmare! I did think about going used route but decided against this - the quality makes seem to be reaching up to 75% of the new price! I reviewed a lot on this site and other sources on the web and spoke to everyone I could. Narrowed it down to a few choices, followed up on these, spoke with sellers and installers on the phone and face to face. I decided after a while to scrap my initial budget and increase this to 1200 for the stove (which I stuck to). I would encourage everyone to go through this for a 1st stove.Eventually I decided on the Clearview as a safe bet.Background is that this is in a large house with 4 large rooms and kitchen on ground floor, large hall area, a mid landing and a room off it and 4 bedrooms upstairs. Pretty extensive. We have a modern oil fired combi system with radiators throughout but despite closing doors of a few rooms not in use and turning off radiators in these rooms the cost has become a total nightmare to run the heating part of the system (water is fine). Time for action !We had several coal fires still active - look great but a waste of time heat wise. And so much effort cleaning and setting every day ! Then really regular top ups.The stove should really have went in a central room but I decided to put it in my TV room in the corner of the house as that's where the leisure time is spent - as I say not ideal location.The 8kw Clearview is oversize for the room for sure and I wondered if this would be an issue.We got someone to install it with liner, register plate, etc but with me doing all the prior heavy labour opening up and finishing the fire place. £600 but you could pay a lot more.Got the stove in and hooked up. So reaction - Its a dream ! Its been in for weeks and weeks now - heat is immense and probably there would have been too much heat handing in one corner of the room but I expected this. We have always run it with the door fully open in the room the aim being to get some of the heat circulating round the rest of the house. I had thought about a stove fan and after a week of initial use on the Clearview bought one (the copy not the brand !) - works brilliant and the change in the room was really obvious - much more comfortable in the corners. Occasionally open the window air vents - something I never thought i would ever do in our 1855 house !The heat output seems great and normally due to what I am burning (pallets and old chunks of pine from a children's park (didn't steal it !!!) I don't quite reach the recommended temperature - sure this will change if / when I use hardwood logs.The temperature of the house has completely changed - we now have a nice comfortable living room with a great heat and the rest of the house is noticeably warmer an comfortable - not hot house plant standard like my mums but fine for what we are used to - our heating has not yet been on despite some cold nights.Also - I used to find with the oil as soon as its turned off within an hour the house was freezing again - this just does not happen any more.I am more or less burning 24 hrs - round the clock burn is easy. Air vent in most of the way before bed, fill stove with big chunks of wood. In the morning, up, coffee, open both air vents - always embers or bits of wood not fully out - throw some kindling on it, pack up with pallet wood above this, close the door and in 10 mins its blazing again and time to add chunks.I have had this for weeks and weeks now and have only cleaned once and that's because I tried coal in one night as an experiment - wont repeat this as it generated too much unburned material - this makes me think that multi fuel was kind of overkill.As we move towards the Scottish winter my general feeling is that due to the size of the house I may add another stove into a currently open fire in a central location - I am sure if I do this I will never use the oil heating again. I would not hesitate to put in another Clearview 500 - that would be ideal but I think I will go for a smaller stove, ebay bargin purchase !, and give it a go, safe in the knowledge that the Clearview is doing a great job anyway. If it does not work out I will sell on when I have money for a 2nd Clearview.Totally recommended.
Stove expert replied:
Honest feedback of this stove and how it is working. If you used household coal then this will be why the glass discoloured, only use smokeless fuels on a closed appliance unless the manufacturer says ordinary coal is acceptable.
As a HETAS installer, there was only one company I was interested in spending my money with when it came to purchasing a stove. It was however a toss up between this and the Solution 400.
Having knocked through to large rooms into one, and also having a kitchen and two utilities coming off this I am glad I went for the 8kW unit. I installed it in accordance with regulations and also specified the optional external air kit which is a fantastic piece of kit and removed the need for an air vent. I am struggling to see how J Moorhead is going through 4 hardwood logs an hour, we can keep ours going for much longer than that and at a very high temperature - installation issues perhaps? Also our glass and bricks do go brown for first 10 minutes or so while it gets up to temp but as soon as it hits 350F they are crystal clear again, haven't cleaned the glass once yet! Very easy to light, even my Mrs got it first try. Excellent stove that definitely lives up to its reputation in my option.
Stove expert replied:
Great review from someone with a good deal of experience.
Admittedly I have only had my Clearview 500 since Dec 2011 but am very disappointed with the efficiency of the stove. I find it very expensive to run as we are burning 2 seasoned hardwood logs
per 30 mins. To be honest my 3 Kw gas fire was hotter than this 8 Kw stove. The glass has always got a brown stain on even though we keep the air wash open! I wouldn't mind the expense if we felt the difference in the house but I am pleased I have central heating as a back up and we haven't had snow in our part of Cumbria this winter!!!
Stove expert replied:
This sounds like it could potentially be a problem with a chimney drawing too hard on the stove.
Was told when I was buying this stove that it was one of the most efficient stoves in the world. Needless to say I was pretty gutted to see it scoring so low on the Hetas Product Guide (http
://guide.hetas.co.uk/guide_appliances.html)At 65.2% I think that it can only just refer to itself as a stove.Inefficient and outdated, do not believe the hype.
Stove expert replied:
There are many sources of information regarding stoves, it is worth spending time to find one that best suits your needs. Hetas list Gross efficiency figures whilst nearly all manufacturers, and the EN test figures from testing labs list Nett figures. The Gross is usually around 0.9 of the Nett - ie the gross is lower.
Overall, pleased with the stove generally. Though we had a few niggles and there was no manual/instructions included.We emailed and phoned Clearview head office on numerous occasions.No reply
to emails whatsoever.No call back from messages left on their answerphone.Got through ONCE in about 7 calls - unfriendly and unhelpful woman who said she'd get someone to call back. They didn't.Still, the stove's OK despite all that, though a tad expensive for what it is. Had I known Clearview simply seem to want your money and then leave you high and dry, I'd have gone for a Charnwood or Morso.
Stove expert replied:
when one buys a stove one should really go through to the retailer for product support, not the manufacturer or main importer. The way that the stove industry is set up means that the manufacturer services the retailer, and it is the retailer who supports their own sales. So the manufacturer, in this case Clearview, is not set up to provide individual support to people who have bought their stoves. One should always go back to the retailer.
