Review of Stovax Stockton 5 stove
Good little stove, but needs a lot of time to get to know.
Finally after 18 months, I think I can say we have mastered this stove. Firstly I can't compare this with other stoves as this is our first. We had an open fire before where your front got warm an your back was cold. So It took a number of years to get the other half to agree to a stove, and we are both happy with it overall. First of all it's not a quiet stove ours creaks when heating and cooling so virtually all the time, and the air wash system on full heat sounds like a real roar.The heat output varies a lot depending on what you burn and how fast. We have a four bedroom house and when about 4-6c outside I can keep most of it from getting cold, keeping it just warm (not nice and toasty though) but, bearing in mind that hot air rises so some rooms downstairs don't and couldn't get the heat regardless of what we'd had, this, with the lounge doors open. A flue temp gauge was sold to us and that has proven useful in getting to know the stove. Ours is multi-fuel so with my engineers viewpoint that means anything goes, I've burnt everything from old wardrobes, builders offcuts, coal, dried branches from the garden, and seasoned hardwood logs. Patience is key, wet wood doesn't burn well and over-seasoned, or kiln dried wood burns to fast, though the heat output is great, Burning this with the lounge doors closed and we can be sitting in shorts in nearly 40c!! Even with the lounge doors wide open 25/26c is possible. However the penalty is consumption. Our flue thermometer goes from 0-900c with best operation indicated at 270 to 470c, with wood that's too dry the temp is nearly always above 470c, sometimes to 900c! and when logs are too big or too damp( or both ) it struggles above 200c. Tips I do have: if its died down to much, or difficult to light, open the door about a couple of centimeters for a few minutes to get it going. Split logs up so you can get 3-4 pieces in at a time. Don't use the door vent when burning wood, that will allow an ash bed to develop, and the burn will be better. I keep the airwash open full all the time and if any more air is needed, I use the "hidden" rear vent. When it's burning well with good wood, I find only the airwash vent needs to be open. Drawbacks for the Stockton 5, the handle split pin keeps working it's way loose, the riddle system is not good, it keeps sticking and is hard to move. The ash pan doesn't collect the ash properly across the full width of the fire so ash goes round the sides so you need to clean out with a shovel so it could have been a better fit and taller too. Overall though..tons better than an open fire, I've even heated food on it, and boiled a kettle.
Stove expert replied: Use the thermometer to check you are not overfiring the stove, if you exceed the recommended temperatures it can lead to distortion of the stove and will shorten the internal parts so beware. Never use wood that has a moisture content in excess of 20% and house hold coal should not be used on a closed appliance. Multifuel means wood or smokeless fuel.
- Be the first to comment
- 219 You and 194 others