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Review of Stratford TF30 stove

Stratford TF30B

Rob Taylor 15 years ago

Mine uses multifuel, mainly "wildfire" as a base with "free" wood to supply extra heat. It has the room section of flue exposed to give off extra room heat, and (now that the flue is long enough) no downdraft problems on an exposed site. Best feature is high heat output to rads and water, for low fuel feed rate. Being a small burner, with only a small amount of the heat into the room, aided by the exposed flue, with free wood, my whole house and water costs less than £500/year (dependent almost entirely on coal use) to keep warm, and when compared with some larger burners that demand more fuel, ours is extremely efficient, in terms of fuel, cost and effort versus reward.\n\n

Stove expert replied: I would strongly recommend not to burn coal AND wood at the same time. Coal has sulphur in it, wood a fair bit of moisture. Combine the 2 and you have sulphuric acid in your stove and chimney - not a great idea. Also when burning the two types of fuel in combination you will not burn them as efficiently as you would if you had burnt them separately.

Overall rating:

4.5 flames

Build Quality 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Quality of finish 3 flames (avg 3.8)
Value for money 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Ease of use 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Ease of lighting 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Firebox size 5 flames (avg 4.8)
How well does the airwash work 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Controllability 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Handle operation 4 flames (avg 4.3)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 4.8)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 4.8)