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Coalbrookdale Darby stove

Overall Rating:

4.5 flames

based on 15 reviews    (View rating breakdown)
Coalbrookdale Darby stove

The Coalbrookdale Darby stove is a traditional fire with 2 doors -

the doors have a tracery pattern and the top of the stove has an ornate decoration.

Underneath their is a hotpplate so that you can heat drinks and food on the flat top of the stove -

the stove has a large back boiler.

Technical Data
  • Fuel: Multifuell

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Review Ratings Breakdown

Build Quality 5 flames
Quality of finish 5 flames
Value for money 4.5 flames
Ease of use 4 flames
Ease of lighting 4 flames
Firebox size 4.5 flames
How well does the airwash work 2.5 flames
Controllability 4 flames
Handle operation 4.5 flames
How likely are you to buy it again? 4.5 flames
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames

Most Recent Review

  • Robust and practical

    Roland Noel 5 years ago

    My wife an I bought an old house in 1992 from an old widow who died. The house is like an open space of about 100m2. The main heating system was the Coalbrookdale Darby that was there since
    10 years. 27 years later we still use this stove as main heating system which we still see very practical in modern environment. My wife works home so she has the task to refill as needed. The stove is much used with woods, pellets of wood and lignite bricks as mixed depending on type of heat we want. Very robust, quite efficient ! We had to replace the internal bars one time. The lateral stones have been removed so we have more reactive fire, and we can use woods of 60-65 cm ! That''s a very astonishing high quality stove that we hope not to be forced to replace. Difficult to find so robust equipment today, which can be efficient for more than 35 years !

    Stove expert replied: Great comments for this product.

    Overall rating:

    5 flames

Most Popular Review

  • Great Stove

    Emily 11 years ago

    Our Darby came with the house and it was the previous owners main source of heat, it throws out such a phenomenal amount of heat. I grew up with solid fuel Agas & coal stoves and this is so
    easy to light in comparison. The firebox is huge and I love the fact thatn it will take solid fuel as well as wood, which means that I dont have to burn quite as much wood - it can really devour logs! Fantastic in a power cut as not only does it keep the place warm but I can cook on it to - it's great for slow cooking. The airwash is rather useless though unless cleaned very regularly as it clogs up and I'm lucky if it stays in overnight, but I'm about to replace the rope seals so maybe that will help. I'd buy another.
    Overall rating:

    4 flames

More reviews for Coalbrookdale Darby stove (page 1 of 2)

  • Fabulous

    7 years ago

    We've had one of these for 22 years. It heats the whole cottage and is just fabulous!

    Stove expert replied: A long standing appliance that is still working!

    Overall rating:

    5 flames

  • Improved Darby

    David Schalk 9 years ago

    To add to my post of last year here is an update on improvements I made to my Coalbrookdale Darby that gives a better secondary burn. I added a one inch layer of Koa wool insulation to the top
    plate (baffle). I introduced pre-heated secondary air below the baffle. but found it did not improve the burn enough to justify the loss of space in the firebox. Next heating I intend to install 1 1/4" fire brick in place of the factory brick and line the grates with fire brick and save a space to let the ashes fall into the ash pan. With the small improvements I have made on this stove and chimney, and using well seasoned hardwood I have reduced my wood consumption from five to eight full cord per year to three to five. I live in a well insulated 2500 sq ft old farm house in up state New York where the winters can get bitterly cold and windy, My Darby is my sole heating source. as I said before I love this stove.
    Overall rating:

    4.5 flames

  • Coalbrookedale Darby boiler model

    Maurice Deegan 9 years ago

    I installed this unit in1995. It is connected to 300 lt. h/w tank with DHW coil. It has electric backup if required. The water is circulated to slab heating coils but will not heat the whole
    slab. The house is large 2 story 180m2 each level and this is our base heat supply. We do not use electric element on to the tank in winter. I modified the grate by using the coal grate bars and then laying 25mm thick fire brick on that with about 20 x 10mm holes for primary air. this greatly improved wood combustion. This heater has been very good with little maintenance.
    Overall rating:

    4 flames

  • Coalbrookdale Darby

    David Schalk 10 years ago

    I have used this stove for 12 years. The Darby likes to be run hot. With good gaskets and a proper drafting chimney this stove is hard to beat. When run properly and with well seasoned wood
    this stove will produce a secondary burn and emit little or no smoke. The glass will only get dirty on startup or if you let it cool down too much on re-loading (which will easily wipe away with a piece of newspaper once the stove gets back up to temperature) The way this convection stove works is great It keeps the air in the house moving to eliminate hot and cold areas. I have operated this stove from 50F to -20F and as you can see I love it. The best way to get this stove going is with a top down fire.
    Overall rating:

    5 flames

  • Coalbrookdale Darby

    David Schalk 10 years ago

    Forgot to mention in my review the only improvement I made to this stove is I replaced the three glass panels in each door with 1600 degree F pyro-ceramic glass and removed the metal mesh.
    Overall rating:

    5 flames

  • it is a great stove

    Judy Britton 10 years ago

    Overall rating:

    3.5 flames

  • beautiful, but not as efficient as newer stoves (backboiler)

    William Wells 10 years ago

    This stove has been a life saver! it really is a beautiful stove. Although... We try to run 10 radiators from the stove but struggle it's better on 5.in a large lounge it doesn't produce as
    much heat as we would like. We are currently looking to change this stove as we find that others have more modern stoves and use much less logs and warm more radiators. Approx 10 friends of ours all run stoves with back boilers, ours is the most fabulous looking but least effective, even though others have the same kw output stated ours seems to struggle much more, and we have a lot more ash left than others also. Just thought I would mention as every comment I've seen doesn't mention it struggling with heating as ours does. I will be buying a 16kw+ newer stove to help try to heat our house, lets hope I don't regret getting rid of our Darby!

    Stove expert replied: Before purchasing a replacement ensure that you get the heating system re-calculated so that you will not be disappointed, this stove may not be large enough for the system it is supplying. If you find that the room in which the boiler is installed does not get hot enough, consider having a radiator in there for back up, have a thermostatic radiator valve on it so that it will only work when required or if the temperature in the room is not high enough. It may be worth looking at the fuel used as they vary greatly and an alternative may be more effective in producing the necessary heat. Is the chimney lined? This can make a vast difference also.

    Overall rating:

    4 flames

  • Coalbrookdale Darby

    Tom 11 years ago

    We have had this stove in three different houses and find it to be very comfortable to use and we love the look of it in our current 1877 home.
    Overall rating:

    4 flames

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