The Klover Smart 120 wood pellet cooker and boiler combines cooking and heating the house in one unit.
It is available as a contemporary model or a more traditional version and is now also available as a wood burning cooker stove providing an alternative to pellets. The Klover Smart 120 is RHI approved.
Living about 100 metres from the beach in Cornwall makes life interesting in terms of heating an old, drafty house. There is no mains gas here and most choose oil or LPG to heat with. LPG and
oil were ruled out quickly due to cost and environmental impact. Air source didn't appeal - I know how long anything metal lasts outside here and I have radiators not underfloor heating anyway.I went with a Pellet boiler installed by local guys and can't recommend them or the Klover Smart 120 stove enough. This was a huge investment for me and it took a long time for me to commit. The installers were very helpful - two home visits and many conversations exploring the most appropriate systems, plus they were kind enough to show me their own stove in action at home. For me this was the clincher. Nothing like seeing something actually working well in someone's home. There seems to be so little info on these in the UK which is such a shame as they are just great - I am a real convert.The house has never been so warm (and dry - humidity has been a real issue). And even on really cold days I'm spending about a third on pellets compared to the worst day I had with my electric boiler previously.Some thoughts:Bar the odd clean and filling with pellets, it is fully automated. It acts just like any other boiler - switches itself on when thermostat calls for heat or hot water needs heating. Once satisfied, it switches itself off again.There's something great about a real flame. Great to wake up to in the morning, feel the radiant heat from the stove and the radiators and see the orange glow coming from the stove in the kitchen as I come down stairs.On a cold day it will use several bags of pellets (say 3x 10kg bags at say £2.70 ea - 5 degrees and gales outside) but that's still cheap and my house is right on the coast, partially insulated and drafty. There is no magic bullet here, but I am very pleased.There is a fan which blows air into the crucible while it is heating - these are not silent so expect some noise and locate accordingly. I think this is common with all pellet stoves. When first installed this was fairly noticeable, now 3 weeks later I am getting used to it.Ash is a by-product - don't believe reviews claiming a teacup of ash after a month. Mine has a tray which needs emptying out every 2-5 days depending on the pellet make and how much I use the heating / what power setting etc. Currently on Brites which seem to produce less ash than Ecomind and power 4.You'll also need to regularly clean out the stove - at least every 1-2 weeks according to the instructions. If you want no maintenance then this is not the stove for you (however cleaning is quick and painless)I personally love the appearance - I've gone for the traditional in black, but really it's a modern take on an Aga. I will probably never use the oven or hot plates - but useful to have. It uplifts my kitchen and makes it far classier. Installation is very expensive compared to e.g. Oil boiler, however I believe it has added resale value easily covering install costs, plus I am getting a good RHI incentive. Oh and the house is actually warm for once.On RHI - I have a fairly terrible EPC which for me means more RHI. There are online calculators which will give you a guide on payments, but in my personal experience they are a bit generous.Finally, I would highly recommend a pellet stove, particularly from Klover because they appear to be well built and well thought through, but also the installer for the South West - great guys, fun and friendly, full of tips and in my experience, sound advice. If you want a responsible future proof way to heat your house, and don't want to be hobbled by oil prices which appear to be only going one way, then this could be it.Just be aware of a few simple tasks surrounding the small amount of ash, cleaning and logistics required for getting your pellets. A tonne makes things cheaper, but at a guess that's around 1.5 - 2 cubic meters of space you need for storage.The best thing? Carbon neutral heating and hot water all fully automated, and cheaper than most other fuels. Just a brilliant piece of kit.
We've had this in our kitchen for over two years now and we're really pleased with it. Before we heated our house with a log boiler, so my life has got a great deal easier now and our house
a lot warmer. I come down in the morning to a warm kitchen instead of to a stove I have to light!We have an old 4 bedroom stone cottage and it heats it easily and gives plenty of hot water. Cooking on it did take some getting used to but we've really got it now, and for two thirds of the year do most of our cooking on its great big hotplate and an oven that will get really hot if it's needed. The hob covers are a bonus as the hotplate and oven heat up much quicker.I fill it up once a day with pellets and take the ash out about once a week but you do have to hoover out the flueways around the oven every couple of months.It looks great, easy to use, the RHI payments are a nice bonus and it gives us a warm, cosy house so pretty chuffed with it.
We selected this stove to replace a very thirsty oil-fired Aga which we used for heating hot water and cooking. The Klover is very versatile operating from a standard central heating thermostat
controller which means it is on when we need it and not wasting resources. I am getting used to controlling the stove for both heating and cooking. A tip I have just learnt is that once all your radiators have heated up drop the work rate to 2 (from the normal 4) for the time you want to cook to maintain heat in the oven and cooking plate for the time that you want to cook. I still have a lot to learn but love the stove not just for itâ's appearance, space heating and cooking but that it is far more eco-friendly than the Aga. The other bonus of the Klover is that is eligible for RHI payments too! It also helped that we had very knowledgeable installers. I would certainly recommend a Klover 120 to anyone considering changing a less flexible system. To make the most of the eco-friendly element we installed the Klover alongside solar thermal panels which we have found work well together.
Stove expert replied:
Great comments, any new cooking product will take a time of adjustment but well worth getting to know the product so you can get the most from it. They are beautifully engineered cooker / boilers.
We have only had the stove for a month but I don''t know how we managed without it! We have the red one and it looks beautiful. The house which has always been cold is now beautifully warm and
I cook on it every evening. The hot water is plentiful and lovely and it is simple to program, clean and put the wood pellets in. Would definitely recommend and am really pleased with it.
The Klover 120 is ideal for our 16th Century farmhouse. It does everything! Not only does it do all of our central heating and hot water, I do nearly all of my cooking and meals with it too.
Its especially great for cooking the perfect roast with the spacious oven and the hot plates above.
The Klover gives off enough heat for me to be able to dry all of my washing in front of it too. I am very pleased with it and highly recommend it to everyone!
Stove expert replied:
Great comments, a very versatile product.
We have had the Klover for two and a half years, and are really pleased with it.We never cease to admire the flames visible through the glass of the burner, giving a warm glow in the dark.It
took a few months to understand which heat setting to use and cook with and which to heat the house.A tip for new owners is to fix a clip on thermometer to the flow and return water pipes. This indicates how hot the water is circulating around the system.Overall we are very satisfied with the Klover.
I love the clover smart 120 efficient and very good to cook with however there is no light in the oven. which means you cant see how your food is doing in the oven. You have to be careful or
food will get burn. nevertheless, it cooks well while heating your home at the same time.
Stove expert replied:
This light issue will be requested for future stoves and a retro-fit option will also be discussed with the manufacturer. Nice comments regarding its efficiency with two tasks being carried out at one time.
I had the Klover Smart 120 installed just over a year ago to replace a solid fuel Rayburn because I was concerned about the environmental impact and health implications of using coal. I am still
learning how to use it most efficiently but the new stove has fulfilled all the reasons that I chose it for. It is much cleaner and more economical to run, incredibly efficient - a tiny amount of ash is left and what there is can go straight on the vegetable plot.The kitchen is cleaner and I now have the luxury of a fully automated system and can come home to a warm house. I rarely use my electric cooker and enjoy cooking with the Klover although I''m still learning about timing and making sure it''s working hard at the right time if I need a high temperature for example to bake bread. I keep a kettle on the hob so that saves electricity and I have an airing rack above it.
So my Klover heats the house and water, cooks the dinner, makes the tea and dries the washing all with a very low carbon footprint, so I''m very pleased.
Stove expert replied:
Great comments for this very versatile product, the heart of the home!
We had the Smart 120 wood pellet burner installed nearly three years ago and are delighted with it. My wife said that it was the first time she had genuinely felt warm in Winter in our house
and we have had several different stoves burning wood over the years. It took me a while to get used to not having to chop kindling and lug logs around after 35 years of wood burning. Now I press a button on the thermostat and the house gets hot.
Yes, We sell them, but only after test driving one in our home. Bias, yes we are now. After many years running our home on a log burning cooker boiler and starting a new venture away from home
, I needed something that is totally automatic, I simply am not at home to put the logs in. We now have the 120 Smart in our kitchen where we run 13 rads, hot water and cook on it throughout the year. In the winter it comes on at 6.30 am so we wake up to a cosy home and turns off before we leave. It then is back on again in the afternoon and turns off before we go to bed. It looks stunning and neighbours, friends and family love it. It has a large hob which fits many pans and has the hob covers. The oven fits a huge turkey in and all the trimmings. I cook cakes, bread, puddings and stews all year. It has 3 oven settings which work well. I have even left a chicken in the oven in the morning and come back to a toasty home and a roast when I get back. Now with the traditional style in red, cream and black even an old Aga can be updated. We buy full pallets of pellets about 3 or 4 times a year and keep them in an insulated shed and the bags which are 15 kg are easy to put into the hopper. We also get a very generous payment quarterly via the RHI scheme. It is unique and can''t recommend it enough.
Stove expert replied:
Great comments and a pleasing addition to the home. Much more than just a cooker.
We have had the cream traditional Smart 120 for a year so feel able to review. It is wonderful - provides hot water and cooking all year round with heat in cold weather. For quick cooking when
it''s off we have a butane hob and a camping cooker! Takes a little getting used to, but is now one of our real pleasures as it provides that warm, friendly feel to the centre of the home and provides so many vital functions. Although the oven looks small, it works well and the stove top can take many pans at once. It''s important to remember that it is a wood pellet cooker - expect to clean it regularly!
The only frustration we have with this is that in a power cut, the re-setting process is slow. We are in the process of buying an uninterrupted power supply unit to ease this annoying problem.
We do feel that the design of the Klover control could be more user friendly as it''s easy to muddle up functions.
However, that being said, this is a wonderful investment that we love. It should be more widely promoted as an alternative to the other ''range'' cookers which are less ''green'' and are not as functional.
