WhatStove?

Review of Heta Inspire 40 stove

Fantastic stove

Ian Wortley 8 years ago

I can't recommend this stove enough. I've had it installed for a few weeks now and it's fabulous.

I installed it myself and I was able to find little in the way of instruction for doing so. I drilled a 5" hole straight through the wall at the back to fit the 4" semi-rigid aluminium pipe I settled on for the external air supply. I filled the gap with fire rated expanding foam (my new least favourite thing on the planet! - found the gloves in the lid too late). I put a bull-nose vent cover on the outside. The pipe was rated to 250 degrees C and before the install I was a bit worried in the event of a down draft that it would get too hot. I need not have worried though. After a couple of initial burns I let the stove run very hot for about 4 hours - so hot that I had to keep the windows open. The inlet pipe barely got warm.

At normal burn temperatures the pipe remains cold with the cold air drawn in from outside.

The huge amount of glass at the front offers a great view of the fire and also transmits the vast majority of the heat. There is a second sheet of metal at the back and this draws room air up keeping the temperature at the back down to a level where I was able to use standard paint on the wall behind at a distance of 11cm with no overheating problems.

The stove is massively efficient. Once it is going it is sufficient to burn one or two logs at a time (alternating) to provide plenty of heat to our 25m2 room.

The level of control over the external air is fantastic. I removed the stop on the controls which is there to comply with defra and keeps the air inlet at at least 40% open. This means that when the stove is not in use I can stop airflow completely which stops air whistling through it on a windy day from the draw through the chimney when not in use.

I found no problems with heat underneath the stove. It gets barely warm in my case.

I experimented with burning as low as I could go. The result was that when you go too low the glass will start to blacken. That was really low though. The airwash is superb. It would need to be really with the amount of glass.

Burning wood taken from a removed hedgerow (ash and thorn) that is not as dry as it could be proved to not be much of a problem as long as I build up a good layer of embers. Ideally though I think properly dry wood is a good idea.

I have only emptied the ash once in the last few weeks (another empty due soon I think). The burn is that efficient. However emptying through the grate (always fully closed when burning wood) to the pan below is not efficient. It's easier to take directly from on top of the grate.

The build quality is excellent and the airflow design is exceptional. The unit came with a hefty glove, but although the top of the door handle can become hot I haven't had to use the glove once, even during that ridiculous burn I did.

We are delighted we chose the Heta stove and when we eventually replace our other stove it will most likely be with a Heta again due to our experience with this stove.

Stove expert replied: Running a stove on max should not exceed periods of 20 - 30mins at any one time, they do need to work but not flat out for prolonged periods. Ideally short periods of fast burn should be undertaken with a slumbering period in between. Wood that is picked from hedgerows should still be dried and used only when the moisture content is less that 20%. Finally as this is a self installation, do get it signed off by your local Building Control Office, this is important when a Hetas Engineer has not been used.

Overall rating:

5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Value for money 5 flames (avg 3.3)
Ease of use 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Ease of lighting 4 flames (avg 4.1)
Firebox size 5 flames (avg 3.9)
How well does the airwash work 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Controllability 5 flames (avg 4.1)
Handle operation 4 flames (avg 3.6)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 3.3)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 3.6)