Review of Scan Andersen 4-5 stove
Great stove
We fitted the Andersen 4-5 about three years ago in place of a 30-40's tiled fire & surround in our late Victorian house.
Anyone thinking of replacing their open fire should just get on with it and fit a stove ! The efficiency is amazing with the added benefits of greater safety, less mess and less hot air racing away out of the room and up the chimney ! Lighting is easy and painless - I use short bits of floorboard kindling with 1 sugar cube sized piece of fire lighter and 1 match. Leaving the door ajar until it races like a rocket engine. We find it very controllable if you make small adjustments. Once the stove has settled we don't generally adjust the air lever during use. I would tend to agree with other reviews that the uncontrolled tertiary air could be reduced a little to slow things down a bit. I suspect that it's factory set/designed with smoke control in mind. So far I've only run the stove on oak, beech, birch, ash. Air wash works well but if you shut the air supply off it will of course soot/goo up. simply burn this blackening off on the next firing rather than attempt to clean it. I've never managed to get it to burn all night (with wood). The stove retains a nice blend of traditional features/lines with a modern touch allowing use in any home. Build quality is superb and the castings (cast panel construction)are just gorgeous being nicely made, well machined and finished. The stainless steel handle formed from round bar can be fitted permanently or used in a removable fashion (square drive spigot & socket) which means it doesn't get hot and is less of a temptation for little fingers. The ash pan is large enough for 7-10 evenings and is well finished, being fabricated from zinc coated steel sheet. The fire box uses vermiculite boards, retained by stainless dowels. The lower baffle has a removable pressed sheet stainless u-section cap to protect its 'flame licked' leading edge. Riddling grate works well but can become temporarily "jammed" with charcoal or nails/screws ( if you burn the odd floorboard or pallet). In all, compared to other brands & typical build quality, I would not hesitate to recommend this stove, or to buy another ! go for it.Stove expert replied: Good feedback with helpful observations!
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