Review of Stovax Brunel 1A stove
A little work horse but lacks a bit of punch.
We have had the stove for 6 years and it has worked well. However, the first Brunel we bought leaked and caused fumes to vent into the room. To Stovax's credit they did replace the stove. Our stove has a cast finish and has been easy to maintain but due to a wet summer house refurbishment it now needs a lick of paint. We live in an old draughty house and as a result we have over fired the stove resulting in burn through of the baffle plate & fire bricks, this cause the exhaust gap to close resulting in a greatly reduced efficiency. a bit of angle grinding and we got another year out of the baffle plate but eventually it has burnt through, the replacement plate cost £60 and the stove shop chucked a free bit of Mica board our way to replace the fire bricks & window cord.
In general we find the stove easy to control but the key is to make sure your wood / smokeless fuel is dry. top tip - if you spot a constant black spot on the glass, check the sealing chord around the glass as it may have become dislodged causing additional air flow into the stove. Due to the small size it does get a bit tiresome getting all the logs to the right length and it can be a pig to light from cold. If so, pre warm the flue with a hair dryer and the stove will light first time, every time. Over the years we have perfected keeping the stove in over night, dead easy with smokeless but with wood it takes a little more practice. Just make sure you have some dry small wood to put on in the morning and 8 times out of 10 it will relight. If I’m honest I would not buy this stove again, but it has been a good work horse over the years and will finally be demoted to the shed for it's retirement in a few years time. It's good, but not that good....