WhatStove?

Review of Esse 350 stove

Wow

Jon Harries 9 years ago

I really don't know where to start with this, probably best to start at the beginning. We ( me, and my wife and at the time two year old daughter) live in a two bedroom bungalow in a rural area. We have no gas option and are tied to oil. The oil companies haven't been very kind to us in recent years so decided to give this an option. Wood burner!! We have a massive builders opening and before I started work I got a local sweep in to get all the rubbish out of the chimney before I got my sledge hammer out.

He dully arrived and asked me what I was going to do and I told him I was going to bash it about and get a wood burner and make it look nice and hopefully save a lot of money on heating bills! His reply to me was; " how much work do you want to make for yourself?" To which I replied as little as possible. He then told me about inset wood burners and told me about Esse and did a loft inspection and told me I wouldn't even need a flue liner. I did a lot of research in the days that followed and ordered one.

All I had to do is break up the fire brick and get my hands on some fire proof insulation. While I was awaiting delivery an ash tree came down in a local pub garden so I went a long with a chainsaw and a log splitter and made some free fuel ( I didn't use this until the following October, about nine months) but got a bag of seasoned logs to see the winter out.

It took a day to fit and after we'd had it a week, I wondered why I hadn't done it ten years ago. It's been in a year now, a cracked fire brick is the only battle damage and we use it every day as our primary source of heating. Consistently our living room is 22-24 degrees and our little girls room( furthest away from the fire) is 18-19 degrees.

When I went to a local stove shop that said is was an authorised dealer for Esse, they said they were no good and tried selling my wife and I a four grand stove that would cost another two to install. They said the glass would go black and it wouldn't be very controllable. How wrong they were. Each morning I make up the fire I wipe the residue from the previous day with a single sheet of kitchen towel. Brand new again. With good kindling lights first time every time. Once lit and hot, turn the bottom vent until it's open only 1.5-2mm one and half close. The top one and if you have properly seasoned logs you will have the most amazing flame picture which will slowly die down to embers yet resume with eagerness once more logs are added. I'm off to buy my wife a new bikini to sit in front of the fire with this winter.

Jon.

Ps first review I've ever written on anything!

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