Review of Dovre 250 stove
A good stove which could easily be made excellent
I chose the Dovre from amongst many stoves offering similar performance because of its design. I wanted a small stove which was neither as fussily ornamented as many 'traditional' stoves nor as square and boxy as many 'modern' stoves. I also wanted a stove which was wider rather than taller, keeping the heat output lower to the ground and suiting my small modern living room. The Dovre ticks all these boxes nicely.
The stove is solid and well cast, but not in the same class as other stoves I've owned such as Morsø and Clearview. Of course, these cost far more so I'm not complaining. Like any stove, the Dovre puts out plenty of heat, and most of it radiates forwards through the generously sized glass door. Like most stoves it burns fine overnight with proper management, in fact 10 hour slow burns are easy to achieve, at least they are if you use seasoned hardwood, and you will naturally get soot on the window when the draught is fully closed. I've had it going round the clock for 4 days at a time during the recent cold snap with no problem, helped by the deeper fire box you get without a coal-burning ash grid. The niggles I have with this stove concern the engineering of the airflow and especially the controls. The bottom vent is easy to operate, but makes no difference to the burning. It doesn't provide enough air to start the fire (for that I need to leave the door ajar for 5 or 10 minutes) and its way too much for steady burning. The top vent control, a peg about 7mm wide, is too small to get hold of, too short so it gets very hot, and too stiff to slide smoothly (even after loosening the retaining screw as much as I or the supplier was able to, which was not much). In practice I have to hit it with a stick to move it. This tiny peg moves a slider which opens a whole row of 1cm square holes along the top of the stove, so you get plenty of air for regular burning with it only half open, and an excellent airwash over the glass. However it also means that a tiny movement of the peg massively changes the air intake, so what with the difficulty of holding or moving the peg easily, I find it hard to get the setting how I want it. The result of this is that the stove needs constant attention, as it's often burning too fast or too slow, whereas quality stoves can be left to chug away steadily for hours once you have got them going. As for the main door, the handle is small, sharp-edged and stiff, though it closes very securely, especially now I have reglued the rope which was hanging loose after a few days operation. Some of these control issues could easily be fixed by Dovre spending £5 or so on decent sized handles, but I guess the engineering would still not be on a par with Clearview's, where you can control the burning very precisely and effortlessly and get that famous 'dancing flames' effect. However, for under £700 compared with about £1200, I can cope with that!Stove expert replied: Honest comments from a customer who has experienced other makes of stoves, a few issues but overall the stove works effectively and is producing the desired heat.
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