The Franco Belge Monaco stove is a traditional cast iron stove with quite a high output to the room.
The Franco Belge stoves are popular where the flue dimensions of the chimney are restricted as a lot of the Franco Belge stoves have got a 125mm flue diameter.
There is one plain glass on the Franco Belge Monaco stove with some simple relief work around the door.
Had this Monaco three seasons. Not used very much,but baffle plate keeps falling down into the grate. I am the only person who loads the stove,so I am careful not to disturb the plate by ramming
too much wood in..but it still falls. forward when the stove is hot. I find it difficult to damp the stove down too..I use well dried wood and the thing runs too hot even when the dampers are fully closed. Pity..it looks good.
Stove expert replied:
If the stove is over-drawing (you have no way of shutting down to a slumber mode) then this may have caused a slight distortion to the baffle plate and hence it not staying in place. A stove should be controllable and the flue may require a damper or stabilizer to address the lack of control currently.
Hi have found this website very interesting,with some of the issues we had for example,smoke bellowing out when door is closed,like the previousperson we also have to redecorate because of smoke
.Just had my fire cleaned on 5th march,and the chimney sweep man had trouble getting flue baffle plate out,why beacause it's warped,like many other'swhich i have read about. No wander i have had alot of smoke coming out as i open door.Spoke to acr(Vicki)very unhelpful actually saying i had the fire too hot and also burning wrong fuel or di not have a cap on top of flue, what she was saying rang bells with me as i had read this from a previous un happy customer.When i said to (Vicki)acr that had read alot of reviews and everyone coming up with same problem its obviously a manufactoring fault wasn't interested go back to where we purchased the fire ,nothing like passing the buck.
We replaced a warped baffle flue on our 2008 Monaco - within days the new one had dropped. This was initially due to using the wrong bolts to retain the half moon retaining piece. They must
be stainless steel, and if you use penny (large) washers made of stainless steel that will help preventing this happening again.Within days though our new flue baffle dropped - it was the correct part for the stove, I can only think that either the pathetically short lugs have worn away or the frame itself has warped it. I read the reviews and comments on this site - I found the comment from Aaron Jury (a year ago) about using fibreboard very interesting, so I bought a half-sheet of vermiculite fibreboard (about 30 quid) and we made a template of a side fire brick to fit next to the existing one, it's a bit fiddly but not too bad. I then cut the 2 new side fire bricks. Fibreboard is very easy to cut with a wood saw and a hacksaw, then sanded down to size. Best to over cut, very easy to sand (apologies for stating the obvious). I inserted the 2 new fibre board fire bricks flush next to the existing ones. They eventually fitted v snugly. I noticed they half-obscured one of the back ventilation holes, so opened that up by drilling. The flue baffle now sits securely on these pieces of fireboard and, so far, is as solid as a rock. There is nowhere for it to go - they hold the sides in place. Obviously the design is very poor and Franco-Belge (or whoever owns them now) should have sorted it out, but this works for us and seems, so far, like a good solution. The fibreboard is 25mm, so doesn't take up too much space in the firebox.Please note that I am not a HETAS engineer, so you do this at your own risk, but I would like to thank Aaron Jury (who is) for the initial idea. Hope it helps anyone else with the same problem.
Stove expert replied:
Sound a neat solution. Any alterations to a stove though are done outside the normal warranty conditions that apply.
Do suggest you do not buy this stove unless you are prepared to replacie warped baffles on a regular basis. We were told when we bought ours that Franco-Belge had addressed the issue but it
seems this is untrue. The poor designed baffle appears to be made out of sub-standard materials. We also have a Hase stove - it is way, way better than the Monaco. Vorsprung durch Technik I guess!
I have had my Monaco stove for 2 years , although I believe it is 2010 model, defra approved as top air vent can not be shut all the way , the chimney is lined with 6m of 5" liner .
I only
burn wood and have had no problems at all the stove has a lovely flame pattern and glass remains clear ,I am aware that some people have had problems so keeping fingers crossed .
Bought this log burner one year ago, the complete baffle system is rusted through, I am very disappointed, I should have gone for a cheaper one, might have been better off, now I have to try
to get it sorted with the supplier, if its going to be at my cost, and is too expensive I will get rid of it, and go for a cheaper one!!!!
For years we had an open fire where we burned wood, solid fuel and coal. When the fire back needed replacing, we reluctantly decided to fit a stove as we live in a smoke control area. It was
definitely the best decision we have ever made - the room with an open fire was draughty when the fire was on and cold when it was not. We also were continually decorating to remove soot traces from the chimney breast. After spending weeks trawling around the stove suppliers and getting totally conflicting information, we spotted the Franco Belge range. We were impressed by the look of them and liked the large window of the Monaco. We were however put off by the reviews and the baffle plate issues. I contacted FB and was told that a recent modification (2012) has stopped any issues with the baffle plate, so we bought one off the internet (several hundred pounds cheaper than the local suppliers). The installation was completed a year ago and we have a superb stove that has burned virtually every night for 4/5 hours since (yes, even in the summer months as my wife so loves Franco). We had a chimney liner connected and pot cover to enable the stove to be controllable - I would certainly recommend this to stop the stove over burning. We have burned soft and hard wood logs and lots of old pallets, Franco is so controllable. We have the DEFRA approved version being in a smokeless zone (there is a small air vent in the back of the stove that allows a little flow of air at all times, so the stove will not stay alight all night). When Franco arrived I adjusted the weight (two nuts and bolts) on the base of the baffle plate to enable the holding pegs to be as far on the front as possible. So far we have had no issues with the baffle plate, finding it easy to remove and replace for cleaning. The glass stays very clear IF the wood burned is dry, wet wood will produce some screen blackening but the glass self cleans as the fire gets hot. Non scratching glass cleaner removes any deposits within a few minutes the following day. Overall we are extremely pleased with 'Franco', great heat, nothing dropped off as yet and a great view of the fire when burning. The detachable handle is great, meaning that we do not need an ugly glove in our lounge
I have been a Hetas installer for some yrs now and have fitted 1000s of stoves and I have the Franco belge Monaco in my front room as it is one of the best around, in my opinion. I am aware
of the failing baffle so I replaced all the internal lining and baffle with vermiculite fire board 25mm. 3yrs later with serious amount of use all is still fine.
Great stove but there is definitely a design issue with the baffle. Our Monaco has been installed for five years and the first baffle warped and was replaced at a nominal cost by the dealer
after two and a half years. This week I've noticed that the baffle has warped and dropped once again which got me thinking there must be an issue so I investigated on the web and I am amazed at the number of people who have had the same problem.I agree that the two lugs on the inner casing are pathetically too short and cannot sufficiently retain the baffle plate. I hope the dealer is equally sympathetic this time when I approach him for a replacement plate. Incidentally, we only burn well seasoned wood and have never used solid fuel so the argument that we operate the stove too hot is rubbish. The most annoying thing about this is that two of our friends bought much, much cheaper stoves at about the same time and have not had a single issue with their supposedly "inferior" stoves. However, we are going to be faced with significant maintenance costs every few years plus having the stove out of action as we await spare parts to be delivered. Franco Belge need to pull their finger out and accept that they've dropped a clanger with this stove design and issue a retro-fit solution to the short lugs issue and re-design the baffle plate to avoid the burn-out of the bolts that retain the half moon cleat at the rear. AVOID THIS MODEL if you want trouble-free heating.
Stove expert replied:
Two baffle plates in five years is not excessive, disappointing maybe. Consumable items will need replaceing on any stove.
I posted a review on here some time ago about the flue baffle warping and failing, I had 3 baffles in 4 years.
The stove was replaced with a franco belge savoy which is truly excellent.
We bought our Monaco about 5 years ago, to say it was disappointing is putting it mildly.The first baffle lasted about two and a half years before it dropped out. Over the next two and a half
years we went through another two baffles, and in the end I was not prepared to put up with the poor quality and expense of replaceing them. All three baffles were out of shape, my thought are that the fire runs out of control due to the poor heat controls.I have now purchased a Villager Espri Duo. The heat control is excellent and the look of the fire is excellent, highly recommended.
