WhatStove?

Review of Dunsley Highlander 8 stove

Very disappointing performance!!!

Claire Duckett 9 years ago

We have had our highlander 8 with a back boiler for 2 years now and if I had my chance again I would never have bought it!!!! Within the first month of purchase we had the technical engineer out to look at it, there was just no heat coming from the fire and the water which it was heating just didn't get hot!!! The heat sink radiator was never hot!!! They said it was fine and would take time to bed in and advised us to light it with a fire lighter each time!! We have followed his advice and only used hard wood and fire lighters but the fire rarely gets above 150 degrees!!! We thought this fire would heat our kitchen and spread the heat upstairs too it doesn't! The back boiler is too low in the fire so it doesn't pick the heat up from the top of the fire!!

We are now saving our pennies for a Morso Dove with back boiler and will hopefully sell our highlander or fill the highlanders back boiler with sand and just use it as a multi fuel stove!! It is a really shame because we spent extra and bought one with long legs (a log store underneath) so it is higher than your average stove and it looks the part!!

For the cost of this fire we were badly advised by our local log burning stove supplier and I would seriously think twice if your thinking about purchasing a highlander 8 with back boiler!!!

Stove expert replied: I would try smokeless fuel in the stove as you may find this will give a better heat output to room and water being a concentrated pro-longed heat source. If you decide to remove this stove YOU MUST NOT FILL THE BOILER WITH SAND AND USE AS A DRY STOVE, this was advice given by the health an safety department several years ago. I would suggest selling it to someone wanting a boiler model. The Dove will give you 10kW's to water and 2kW's to room should you opt for this model in the future. I would suggest getting your requirements calculated by a heating engineer to insure that the stove is able to provide your requirements.

Overall rating:

1.5 flames

Build Quality 1 flames (avg 3.2)
Quality of finish 2 flames (avg 3.6)
Value for money 1 flames (avg 3.3)
Ease of use 1 flames (avg 4)
Ease of lighting 1 flames (avg 4)
Firebox size 4 flames (avg 4.2)
How well does the airwash work 2 flames (avg 3.5)
Controllability 2 flames (avg 3.5)
Handle operation 2 flames (avg 2.9)
How likely are you to buy it again? 1 flames (avg 3)
What is your overall satisfaction? 1 flames (avg 3.1)