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Review of Coalbrookdale Severn stove

Caolbrookdale severn

Lea Cook 12 years ago

We live in Aberdeenshire about half a mile from the coast and are fairly exposed, when we bought the traditional granite farmhouse the Severn was installed in the kitchen (it used to run the central heating seemingly very efficiently until the previous owner had oil fired installed for free because of their age), my first instinct was to get rid of it because it was so huge and was set out in front of the chimney breast, am I glad that we didn't!!!!!!! We moved in in September and as the weather worsened quickly realized that our granite house had no insulation, was extremely draughty and FREEZING, even with the heating turned up to over 22 the thermostat never turned off! (It turned out the previous owners could not afford the oil and used to heat the whole place with electric heaters). There being no way we could afford to run the oil fired central heating 24/7 and as I hate to be cold I resorted to lighting the stove.\n\nWe have never had a stove before and had no idea what to expect but after headaches and nausea every day and feeling quite unwell we started to check around the stove and realized that the flue pipe at the back was not cemented in properly we reasoned it must be leaking, although the carbon monoxide alarm did not go off, once that was done the headaches stopped and I got the hang of working it what a difference, we bought new glass for it and redid the ropes, polished it up and now plan to move it back under the chimney breast to free up the space it takes. The airwash is poor and soots up the glass very quickly but this it's easily cleaned, the ash does drop out as another reviewer said but I could get away with only emptying the pan every two days if I wanted too. The thermostat just does not work at all from my experience, when we recently opened up the chimney breast behind to take a look we realized that there is just a hole where a solid fuel cooking stove has sat at some point so the flue pipe just pokes into it not into a liner so it does not always draw as well as it should but that is not the stoves fault.\n\nWhen we fit the stove properly and add a liner we will put in a flue damper to help control the stove because of thermostat not working properly and to combat the very strong winds we get here.\n \nWe burn peat and wood and it gets up to temp quickly for such a large stove and pumps out the heat for very little fuel input really, it has saved us untold amounts on our heating bill and if they still made them I would buy another like a shot, we would have liked to run it in tandem with the oil central heating for convenience in the morning but because it's a combi boiler we can't do that. We have never tried to run it overnight but I have stoked it up and left it for long hours in the day time and it idles nicely so I imagine it would burn overnight well with anthracite but it is so quick to light and puts out heat so quickly why bother.\n\nOur experience with the Severn has prompted us to buy a Bohemia 60 (after reading reviews on this site actually) which is to go into the large lounge at the opposite end of the house and when the insulation is all in place on the outside walls and roof we are looking forward to a very cosy and much cheaper winter this year!! The Coalbrookdale Severn - my hero!!! \n\n

Stove expert replied: If this stove has an intergral boiler then it should no longer be used as recommended by the Health and Safety Executive unless it is filled and joined to the water system. The installation sounds suspect and as you have already had headaches etc I would recommend that it be re-installed by a professional before the next season. Do not take any chances when using stoves, they can prove lethal if not installed correctly.

Overall rating:

4.5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4.4)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.4)
Value for money 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Ease of use 4 flames (avg 3.9)
Ease of lighting 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Firebox size 5 flames (avg 3.8)
How well does the airwash work 2 flames (avg 2.8)
Controllability 3 flames (avg 3.6)
Handle operation 4 flames (avg 3.8)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 3.6)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 4)