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Esse W35 range cooker

Overall Rating:

3 flames

based on 12 reviews    (View rating breakdown)
Esse W35 range cooker

The Esse W35 has a thermostatically controlled boiler with an output of 33,000btu's.

Technical Data

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Review Ratings Breakdown

Build Quality 3.5 flames
Quality of finish 3.5 flames
Value for money 2.5 flames
Ease of use 2.5 flames
Ease of lighting 3 flames
Firebox size 3.5 flames
How well does the airwash work 2 flames
Controllability 2.5 flames
Handle operation 3 flames
How likely are you to buy it again? 2 flames
What is your overall satisfaction? 2.5 flames

Most Recent Review

  • Esse 905 WN wood range cooker

    Philippe Nozay 7 years ago

    We had an Esse 905 WN wood burning stove installed 2 years ago, and I am very happy with it. I initially had to clean the front every day due to soot but now we are putting the logs in the low
    oven with the door slightly open (to get the steam out) to dry them even further. After oven drying the logs, for 6 hours, we don't have any soot issue anymore and the chimney is pretty clean.I empty the ash tray every 6 weeks only. During the day it is our only form of heating during the winter and we can cook with it for free! Just add a couple of logs in the firebox before cooking, leave the firebox door slightly open for 2 minutes to get the new wood to burn well and I get very good heat in the oven and hotplates using this method and clean chimney. It is a very good complement to our solar panels/induction hob/electric oven that we use for cooking during the summer. In Winter, there is no other green/off grid alternative that would work with no electricity (solar panels don''t produce during Winter). I didn't go for the water boiler because I think you would need to have the stove on all the time for this to work as otherwise it would take longer for it to get to cooking temperature as it would need to warm up the water first and there is less to go wrong with a standalone cooker (no pipe leak, boiler to replace...), also I wouldn't have enough wood to heat up thousand of litres of water a year that end up down the drain! I am very happy with it.
    Overall rating:

    5 flames

Most Popular Review

  • Hot Water, Hot Dinners and a Warm House

    Andy Chamberlain 11 years ago

    The only reason you would have trouble with this stove is - as with any stove - you use moist wood or the flue does not draw sufficiently. We use 2-year seasoned softwood (Western Hemlock)
    and a smattering of Birch, all tested for being < 20% moisture content. Our flue is straight and 4.5 metres long (the minimum required).We have 6 radiators fed from a thermal store, which the range heats via a gravity circuit. Each evening when we light it, the thermal store starts at ~55?C and the range raises it to 75 - 80?C. The hot plate is ready in ~15 minutes and the oven in ~45. Roasts, casseroles, cakes and pizzas have all been done superbly in the oven.We've only had it three months, but so far we're very happy with the performance. We're expecting the (eventual) cleaning of the flue-ways to be a dirty job, but that's the choice we made when moving away from other fuels.

    Stove expert replied: Detailed review and good outputs being produced.

    Overall rating:

    3.5 flames

More reviews for Esse W35 range cooker (page 1 of 2)

  • Don't buy Esse if you live in a country area!!

    Simon Walshe 8 years ago

    My Esse cooker is out of warranty and nobody will travel to the Cockermouth area to repair an electric Esse range cooker - Esse said they didn't have anyone prepared to come out. - which isn
    't very good.

    Stove expert replied: The repair of this stove is due to take place tomorrow and the part has been offered at a discounted rate through Esse direct. Esse can supply a chargeable service visit including call out fee labour charges and mileage if required.

    Overall rating:

    1.5 flames

  • All may not be lost......

    Christopher Disney 9 years ago

    We too were driven to despair by our Esse W35 and had decided to ditch it. It struggled to get the oven to even Hot and left lots of unburnt charcoal behind every burn. It was a pain.I tried
    one last clean to original new condition and discovered two new requirements: first, the right hand smoke channel needs to be cleaned more than you think. Ours was partly blocked at the rear, its wider than you think. Make sure its squeaky clean right to the back and clear the muck out via the between-the-ovens slot. Secondly, clear the air intake at the left hand base of the firebox. Esse don't even mention this in the manual but there is an air intake down there controlled by the thermostat. Clean out the firebox then undo the L-shaped plate, pull out the lower left firebricks and lift out the perforated steel plate. Clean out any ash until you can see the air opening and the thermostat plate operating behind it.I don't know which of these two operations transformed the stove's operation but it has worked perfectly since: rads warm/hot and oven routinely 175-200 degrees vs 140-150. Give it a try.
    Overall rating:

    3.5 flames

  • Esse-- Very disappointed

    David Loneragan 9 years ago

    I am writing from Australia, and the Esse stove we bought has been a HUGE disappointment. I have operated wood burning stoves before (the wonderful local stove "Everhot"which we used to heat
    water and bake bread), and also various wood fired heaters. The Esse runs our 4 radiators well enough, but we have NEVER been able to use the oven. We use what we think is probably properly seasoned wood, but the stove seems to need cleaning every 3 weeks. Every time you open the door, a lot of smoke does come out. The fire has no draught/draw to the firebox at all. After only one year, one oven door spring failed, and the hinge covers for the hot plate covers came loose. Very disappointed.
    Overall rating:

    1.5 flames

  • Disappointed in France

    Ian Carr 10 years ago

    W35 installed 4 years ago, it has never worked as well as the manufacturers promised. It constantly sooted and tarred up even with dry wood. We contacted Esse UK and the French official agent
    installers returned to see what was wrong. They were not helpful (although we ran several wood-burning central heating ranges with no problems aver the last 30 years) we were treated as novices. They refused to do anything to resolve the problem. Perhaps they didn't know what to do! Eventually, just recently, we removed the "grid" supposed to reduce smoke pollution which is at the top of the firebox. The range now draws much better and soots up far less, but still the oven never gets very hot and we can only run a towel rail and three radiators. Enamel now flaking off the top.

    Stove expert replied: We have received an email from the installer who states that they undertook a site visit where they did a de-coke on the system which took 8hrs. They found that a failure of providing a thermal bypass as they recommended to the customer and the use of wet wood with a moisture content greater than 25% has led to the system not being able to operate successfully. After cleaning the system they tested it and had the oven up to 220 degrees and all 7 radiators were hot. The puddles of brown liquid produced were from condensation and due to wet fuel and a cold boiler as there is no thermal bypass. If these are corrected there would undoubtedly be a big improvement in the stove operation.

    Overall rating:

    1.5 flames

  • esse wood burding cooker

    Lucas Armstrong 10 years ago

    After buying the Esse wood burning cooker brand new and using logs 5 years old and dry, this stove was the worst thing I have ever purchased in my life. After 1 year of living with smoke I sold
    it lost 3 thousand pounds. I was doing this wrong and that wrong I was told, I then bought another at a lot less money and it has worked like a dream without changing a thing.

    Stove expert replied: You do not say what the replacement was. Seems strange that one stove failed to worked effectively while another works well in the same flue system. Smoke back into the room is normally due to a poor draw on the flue system especially if the wood is correctly seasoned.

    Overall rating:

    0.5 flames

  • Does everything we hoped it would.

    Ruth Buckley 11 years ago

    I was a little anxious having read some mixed reviews of this stove but after 4 months use (continuously in the colder months and just in the evenings now) I am relieved to say we are really
    pleased with its performance. It heats 4 smallish radiators (approx 1 - 1.5kw each) to piping hot and does all our hot water and most of our cooking with no problems at all. I make all our bread, cakes and evening meals on it even now (June). You can boil a kettle about 20min from lighting. Keeping fire in overnight is very easy with the right wood - our seasoned hornbeam still left a bed of embers 24 hours after last loading - other woods burn much quicker. It gives out surprisingly little heat to the room - definitely an advantage for summer cooking but if I had known this I would have installed a radiator in the kitchen for winter use. It does get through a lot of wood - we use at least one large basket of logs an evening but this would probably be less if I didn't do so much baking (requiring the oven to be on 'Very Hot').
    Overall rating:

    4.5 flames

  • Customer service also appaling in belgium

    Geerts Jp 11 years ago

    We have installed a Esse W35 for a customer in Gent Belgium. The flue was not ideal . After contacting the importer we had a test with a exhaust-ventilator until we had 20 Pa draft in the flue
    . This should be more then enough acording the manual. Result ......there was stil smoke comming from the Firebox when opening the door gently. The cooking plate just reached 190°C surface temp after 2 hours. This all while a ladomat is preventing the boiler temp to drop below 61°C . The test proved us that this W35 does not work as it should. We found out that the importer was not competent enough to give us the required support. Last week we contacted Esse in england directly about the poor service in Belgium with no reaction at all. Today we received a official letter from the Belgian importer denying the results of the test on the w35 and refusing any responsability ? Very strange, not? While all we were asking was some proffesional support. This is the most worse aftersales service ever in my entire career. Jp , installer of renewable energy-systems
    Overall rating:

    2 flames

  • Esse W35

    Francis Everington 11 years ago

    The only reason I would not buy one again is because the customer service is appalling. We live in the alps and this thing gets the water store to 65 degrees (560 Litre tank), and heats up 18
    radiators in a 400sqm home at 2000 ft elevation. We cook on it every day with ease. Because we have very good wood and an excellent flue we rarely have to clean it. If you dont have a good dry wood supplier and more importantly a good flue then you will have problems. We are very satisfied with the Esse W35, but that is no surprise because we did out homework.
    Overall rating:

    4 flames

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