I installed this wood burner into a new single story extension at our home. It is installed in a corner and looks really good. The heat output is great and it doesn''t burn through logs that
quickly which is also a plus, so highly efficient. However, there are a couple of issues. Firstly, it is difficult to clean out the ash. The door is spring loaded so you have to try and prop it open. You can either try and do this with your body as you clean it, not a good idea as you get soot on your arm and back, or find a pole and wedge it in the door. The floor space at the bottom of the firebox is small and ridged, so make sure you get a small ash spade, both in terms of length of handle and width of spade, otherwise you will be bashing the stone inside and missing ash between the ridges.I went for the external vent option, which is great as you don''t get any draughts inside the room. However, this does mean that when you open the door to put more wood in, all the smoke comes into the room. Doesn''t matter if you open the door quickly or open it a little bit to equalize the pressure in the room first. makes no difference. very annoying! Surely they could put a vent direction mechanism connected to the door? That way when you open the door it takes air from inside the room, when you close it, it takes air from the outside vent. On the top of the stove there is a metal cover that is held on by magnets. This means that heat from the stove does not get transferred much to the metal plate. So if you want to put a stove fan on it, it may not get hot enough to work. I have tried a fan on it and it doesn't work. I haven't tried an electric one yet.The depth of the firebox is small so you''ll be cleaning out the ash after every 3 to 4 fires. There is also a lot of large bits of charcoal left after every fire, which I have not come across before. Because of the outside air vent option, if it is slightly windy outside and you want to clean out the firebox you'll be dusting the room for a week. As soon as you open the door ash gets blown into the room and not up the chimney! The air wash system is not great, unless you have the fire on full blast the glass gets sooted up quickly. The glass itself is very easy to clean with a damp cloth dipped in ash.Ash does get lodged between the door and the firebox and this causes 2 problems. 1, when you open the door to clean or put more wood on ash spills out onto the floor. 2 ash easily gets onto the fiberglass seal at the bottom of the door and if you don't clean it properly it will leak smoke and fumes into the room when you first light the fire.Would I buy this again or recommend it? No. It is expensive for what it is, you are clearly paying for the design, which is really good, but practically it is a pain!
Stove expert replied:
European stoves often come with a self closing door mechanism, this may be able to be disabled but the UK distributor would need to be contacted for advice to see if this is possible. Ash should be left in the base of the stove to enable the wood to burn efficiently so thorough cleaning of every crevice is not expected.
You should not get smoke coming back into the room if the flue draw is adequate, you may wish the get this checked.
Then styling is really aesthetically pleasing on the eye but it is not a large firebox.
