WhatStove?

Review of Firefox 8 stove

SUCH A FAB STOVE!

Jenny 11 years ago

In August last year I had been having a bad time at work and came home one day and attacked the 70's monstrosity in our dining room with a sledge hammer! We had been talking about getting a wood burner and I forced us into action. With a house full of bricks and dust I stumbled upon this website. I settled for this, the Firefox 8 and shopped around locally and on the net, found it much cheaper with free delivery on the net. We had a Hetas engineer come out from a local firm to quote for installation. He said that he would always recommend a liner but that as we had a grade A chimney we should be okay for a while, afterall, houses in our village have managed okay for the last 120 years without them. We have put the stove in ourselves and have vented it from the rear, with the intention of being able to use the top part as a little stove. We have got ourselves into a great routine with it. We have no mains gas in our village so our heating is with calor gas which is incredibly expensive. Our heating comes on for a couple of hours in the morning to make it comfortable to get out of bed. Fire is lit as soon as we come downstairs, a firelighter split in two with 8 sticks of kindling and a couple of small logs ontop. Feed kids, cat, brush teeth, hair and put a couple of big logs on before school run. Get back from school run and downstairs is lovely and warm. The outside temperature dictates how much of the house it will heat. The house is a victorian semi with lounge at the front and kitchen diner, with a long galley kitchen to the back. When it goes below 3 or 4 degrees outside then we have to close the doors at the bottom of the stairs and to the lounge to keep the kitchen diner warm enough. It means when it is very cold we don't tend to use our lounge which seems a waste (hence me heading back to the website to look for a little burner for the lounge can't wait to get the sledgehammer back out!)Once the fire has been going for a while, and if you are piling on a new log as soon as it has caught then the room gets some great heat. If we are going out I turn it down on the bottom to almost off but keep the top control open, this completely blackens the glass but the fire keeps in a for a good few hours with wood and jumps back to life a couple of minutes after re-opening the vent. We get a lot of smoke out into the room if opening the door before the fire is really hot. I know this is a draw problem and have been told that if we put the outlet ontop of the stove and got a chimney liner this would significantly improve....all in good time! We can keep it in easily overnight with coal but have only done it a few times, it seems like a waste of fuel to stock it up to the rafters and then go to bed, to find a few small glowing coals in the morning, especially when we find it so easy to light, plus it gives us a problem of hot ash. With an 8kw stove you need an airbrick, with a cellar we already have one and have just put a vent in the cellar door (although the house is so draughty I'm not sure that we would really need one at all!)

All in all, absolutely overjoyed with this stove, I have to agree with the reviews regarding the ash falling out when you open the door but its still a lot cleaner than an open fire.

Stove expert replied: As the house is over 120yrs a liner would be recommended and should improve the problem when first lighting of smoke soming back into the room. Smokeless fuels seem popular for overnight burning but is not seen as an efficient use of fuel as this customer states but is down to individual choice.

Overall rating:

4.5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.2)
Value for money 5 flames (avg 4.3)
Ease of use 4 flames (avg 4.1)
Ease of lighting 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Firebox size 5 flames (avg 3.9)
How well does the airwash work 4 flames (avg 3.6)
Controllability 4 flames (avg 3.7)
Handle operation 5 flames (avg 3.7)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 3.7)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 3.8)