Review of Stovax Stockton 5 stove
Stovax Stockton 5 wide
This is a very nice looking stove and the big door gives a great view of the fire. It lit well and the draw was good.
However, I’m really disappointed with a several things. Firstly the quality. We lit it for the first time yesterday and already the black is wearing off the handle at the top. Looks like it was just given one coat of black paint for show, and purchasers need to buy the stove paint sold by Stovax and keep touching it up. We didn’t even use the tool provided to open the door after the first try as it is so heavy that if dropped it could cause accidental damage to the hearth. Instead we used the glove to open the door. The black paint should certainly not be wearing off after the first use! Secondly, the design of the stove has not been thought through properly. The air wash is very stiff and not enough space has been left to adjust it easily when the door is closed. Because it is hot the glove is needed but then the space is too narrow to get hold of the control without opening the door. There is no riddling device to use when burning smokeless fuel. The ash pan is too small and overflowed. The firebox is nice and wide but even so the stove struggled with a chunky log - though I’ve not downrated the stove because of this as I suspect we will need to get the hang of it and only add big logs when it is firing up well. This is our 3rd log burner and replaced a Charnwood back boiler stove which had been installed unsafely by a previous owner. Our first stove was a Nestor Martin and we loved it but we wanted a larger multi fuel in our new home. Unfortunately I’d rate the Stovax Stockton 5 wide stove lower than the other 2 makes.