Review of Stovax Stockton 5 stove
Good value but a few niggles
I have had two of these stoves installed for around 18 months now and on the whole am pleased with them. In purchasing two I was given a good discount, from memory they worked out at just over £500 each with the optional smoke control kit fitted (required if you live in a smoke control area) For the money I was really pleased with the solid construction and thickness of the body of the stoves.
The stoves are quite solidly built, I had reservations about buying a steel rather than cast iron stove, but as yet there have been no signs of distortion or any other problems. The paint has marked in places, but this is to be expected on any stove and is easily remedied with a can of stove paint. They light easily and come up to operating temperature very quickly when using good quality dry wood. With the optional multifuel grate I do struggle to get more than 2 or 3 medium sized logs into the firebox at once, so at full burn regular top ups are required. However I would imagine this is the same for any stove of this output - a larger firebox would mean a larger heat output and probably overheat the room - 5kw stoves by definition have smaller fireboxes! Overfilling can result in the glass blackening in places where logs are too close to the glass, otherwise they generally keep clear. The size of the glass window is good for a 5kw stove and does provide a really good view of the fire. An added benefit is that the manufacturer says it is ok to burn the stove with the door open (taking usual precautions re dogs, rugs, children, granny etc) so if you want to toast a muffin or two you can! This will no doubt play havoc with the efficiency, but for that occasional open fire feel it is worth it. Although I have not intentionally tried to overnight the stove, when I have occasionally used smokeless briquettes I have come down in the morning to find still glowing embers which with a bit of kindling would relight. That said all I ever need to light the things are a sheet or two of paper and a good couple of hand fulls of kindling. My couple of little gripes are as follows: The firebricks supplied don't seem to fit very well, and the instructions provided didn't make it clear where they should be positioned as they are a couple of inches shorter than the firebox is deep. There is no means of securing them to the sides of the stove, other than sliding the back half inch between the body of the stove and the back / top baffle plate. Two bricks are supplied for each side of the stove, and one sits on top of the other again with no means of support other than the back / top baffle plate. They can therefore become dislodged quite easily, and ash builds up behind them. When they start to disintegrate a bit they will become more unstable. Not a major concern as they are cheap to replace and not a complicated shape like some brands, so should always be able to find a suitable size even if stovax stop production. Just need to be a bit more careful in loading the stove than I would otherwise be. The other gripe is the smoke control kit. This basically works by preventing you from shutting down the air wash completely to slow the burn right down. Whilst this helps prevent smoke pollution it does mean that with a strong drawing chimney the fire will roar away even with both dampers shut down as far as they will go. It is impossible to get a nice, gentle burn. this means more top ups than would otherwise be necessary and can overheat the room. This may not be a problem for everyone, it will vary from chimney to chimney (Ours are approx 26ft from the top of the stove to the exit, lined with double wall stainless tube and insulated) I am considering fitting a chimney damper to reduce the draught so hopefully this will solve the problem. If this solves the problem I would remark the control ability as a 4 or 5, as the other controls are easy to use and robust enough to outlast the stove itself. On the whole I think these are great value little stoves. For not much more money than a no name imported job you can have a smart looking, solid well built stove that should last well if properly fired, with the added benefit of knowing that they are properly certified and (hopefully) that spares will continue to be widely available. I would recommend to anyone looking for a smart, efficient small stove that won't break the bank. I don't expect it will last a lifetime, but at £500 quid if I get more than 5 years I will be delighted - and so far all indications are that it should last much longer.Stove expert replied: Try a little fire cement to secure the liners in place it would put your mind at rest and they will be held firmly.