WhatStove?

Review of Firefox 8 stove

Firefox 8 - a good entry level stove

Andy 13 years ago

Since the stove is our first, it is hard to make any direct comparisons as the only others I have seen lit are 2 clearview 400s, which Im led to believe are the best you can buy.\n\nFirstly, our room is fairly small, 4.5m x 4.5m x 2.4, and a stove calculator recommended a 3.6kw as satisfactory for the dimensions. Take this with a pinch of salt, the house is a 200 year old stone end terrace with 800mm thick walls, trust me the house gets freezing in the winter. When purchasing a stove, bear in mind the recommended stove size calculator i assume is for a modern well insulated draught proof house. I'd say the firefox 8 is just about good enough for our room, even when running on full for a few hours it never gets too hot in the room and we havent had really cold weather yet. \n\nSo far I have only burnt well seasoned wood, which according to the figures should give out its highest heat output. As for burning overnight, that is the biggest laugh Ive ever seen, the stove goes through the fattest logs piled high in about 2 hours max. The stove isnt perfectly sealed, so even when shutting down air supply it will still burn pretty quickly. The firebox is suprisingly small, u strugge to get more than a decent log on so i tend to split logs which ultimately mean the burn hotter but considerably quicker. The airwash is ok, but if you do turn it right down you inevitably get black smoke across the bottom of the glass which rises over time. Controlability is ok, it takes a while for the flames to die down when shutting off air supply, I've read the clearviews are almost like gas fires in their controlability i.e. the die down almost instantly. As the air flow control is cast iron, you need to glove to adjust it when hot, I find ours to be sticky and hard to subtly adjust, it being very easy to apply pressure and either it not move or move fully open/closed.\n\nIn terms of looks, the firefox is nice to look at and has a traditional, subtle design that appeals to most. I've found that it takes an hour for the room to really feel any heat from the fire, it seems that the inglenook has to warm up first before it radiates any heat. I would recommend a flue pipe thermometer as a good albeit expensive investment for what is essentially a coil, it tells the optimum operating temperature for the stove, too low and you risk a tar build up and too high and the stove becomes inefficient and you are likely to deteoriate parts quickly. \n\nLike i said, i cant really compare the stove with anything else and Ive tried to highlight the negatives for the most part but overall I'm really satisfied with a stove half the price of its rivals. At the end of the day it burns like a good 'un and has a nice view of the fire.

Overall rating:

3.5 flames

Build Quality 3 flames (avg 4)
Quality of finish 4 flames (avg 4.2)
Value for money 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Ease of use 3 flames (avg 4.1)
Ease of lighting 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Firebox size 2 flames (avg 3.9)
How well does the airwash work 3 flames (avg 3.6)
Controllability 3 flames (avg 3.7)
Handle operation 4 flames (avg 3.7)
How likely are you to buy it again? 4 flames (avg 3.7)
What is your overall satisfaction? 4 flames (avg 3.8)