WhatStove?

Review of Esse Ironheart cooking range

A workhorse

7 years ago

I have the dry standard Esse Ironheart fitted with the optional woodburner box. Esse has lived in my French cottage for the last 2 years. Lighting the stove is done with 2 thin logs running the length of the firebox with shredded wheat firelighters and kindling in between on top of that I place 2 short logs across the top of the 2 long ones and then build a 3 strand pyre of kindling on top of those logs plus 1 more firelighter I then use a blow lamp to start it all of with primary and secondary air open with the ash door ajar, as the fire lights and builds I shut the ash door an then the primary air leaving only the secondary air open. I find that gives me a quick reliable start, I then run the stove with the primary air open fully to give a good strong fire and I do not let the fire die down too much and feed the fire 1 large log every 90 mins, I only select the oven mode once the fire is burning strongly as the smoke path is too constricted to draw properly otherwise.

When properly burning there is no smoke and loading additional wood can be done without smoke escaping. If the stove is run with a very small fire the firebox never really gets up to temperature and is smoky and inefficient which is why buying the correct size stove is important , better to buy a small stove and run it at its maximum output than to buy a larger stove and struggle to keep a small fire in it. I do all my winter cooking and baking on it. Finally buying an Ironheart is a life changer and not for the faint of heart, what with buying, storing, sawing and stacking firewood lighting and cleaning the stove but what it gives back is a wonderful centre piece to any home with heat for all of my home. I do not try to keep it in overnight as this can lead to a build up of creosote, I just put a big log in before I go to bed and in the morning the body of the stove is still warm. Oh one more thing, invest in the best stove fan you can afford as they will warm your house as well as the room where the stove is.

Overall rating:

5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 3.4)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 3.6)
Value for money 5 flames (avg 3.6)
Ease of use 4 flames (avg 3.8)
Ease of lighting 5 flames (avg 3.7)
Firebox size 4 flames (avg 4.3)
How well does the airwash work 5 flames (avg 3.5)
Controllability 5 flames (avg 3.6)
Handle operation 5 flames (avg 3.6)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 3.5)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 3.6)