WhatStove?

Review of Harmony 23

Harmony 23 - No thanks!

Jane Foden 11 years ago

We bought this stove in May 2012 slightly seduced by the remote control option - just sounded great and perfect for properly controlling the fire. Sadly it just didn't work effectively. The instructions say to turn the air down from the 'lighting setting' as soon as the fire is established to prevent over firing however when you set the remote it puts it straight back up to the firing setting to get to temperature.

The stove was OK in the moderate autumn weather however when we got onto winter proper (I live in Central Scotland) it just could not heat the room effectively at all and we were lucky if we would get to 18C after 4-5 hours of burning - basically we lit the fire when we came home from work and it was only really generating enough heat by the time we were going to bed. Over the Christmas period when we were off work we kept it burning constantly and this was better but still not great considering the amount of wood we were getting through - almost 3 cubic metres in two months seemed a bit excessive to me especially as the Harmony is supposed to be more economical with the wood.

Euroheat were really good and came to see us at home and gave us lots of tips but the stove still didn't work properly. Our supplier/installer ere fantastic and they agreed to swap the stove for something completely different for us and we now have a warm room courtesy of a Jotul F3CB.

My top tip would be that as well as thinking about the size of your room, what you want to burn, looks, price etc that you also carefully consider your lifestyle and how/when you will use the stove. And get a flue thermometer - invaluable piece of kit for a very small cost compared to your stove installation.

Stove expert replied: Invaluable suggestions in the bottom paragraph, an expensive mistake to make if you get the wrong stove as not all suppliers will be so happy to exchange.

Overall rating:

3.5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4.5)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.5)
Value for money 3 flames (avg 3.1)
Ease of use 1 flames (avg 3.2)
Ease of lighting 5 flames (avg 3.4)
Firebox size 3 flames (avg 3.4)
How well does the airwash work 2 flames (avg 3.2)
Controllability 5 flames (avg 3.7)
Handle operation 3 flames (avg 3.8)
How likely are you to buy it again? 1 flames (avg 3.2)
What is your overall satisfaction? 2 flames (avg 3.4)