The Salisbury is a very plain and simple and suits a wide variety of interiors. The Salisbury is available in 5 models - The Salisbury 4, Salisbury 5, Salisbury 5 log store, Salisbury 6 and Salisbury 8.
We had one season with this great woodburner before the handle seized up and we were unable to use it at all. Chesneys advised us on what to do BUT it was impossible as the handle grub screw
had fused into the body and the whole attachment had to be cut out of the bodywork, fixed, and welded back in, a piece put over the hole, and repainted. It is now working wonderfully again thanks to our woodburner fitter. No thanks to Chesneys who simply say that since it is out of warranty they won't pay the £114 for all the hard work to put it right. Beware a badly constructed handle mechanism.
Stove expert replied:
Try graphite powder / spray on movable parts to prevent future seizing, especially important when the fire is not in operation during the summer months.
Following my first review of this stove, I hope the following update to our user experiences will be of help to potential purchasers.
When the top baffle fire brick broke and collapsed onto
the fire after only 6 months of use, I simply had to make contact with the supplying dealer! True to his word this exceptionally helpful dealer principal arrived and supplied and fitted a new back fire brick (the perforated one) and top baffle brick free of charge, he also fitted a front panel for the fire box, this one having no holes like the previous cast iron one and is angled which significantly increases the size of the fire box, it also stops almost all of the ash falling out of the fire like it had been doing previously.
The dealer also gave us a bag of kiln dried wood because he thought that our seasoned 20 to 30% wood might be still slightly too damp and one of the reasons why the fire bricks had broken.
Using the kiln dried wood the fire lit very easily but when throttled down there were still quite large deposits left on the glass door. We are now stacking our seasoned wood against the fire in the alcove, in effect force drying it further and are rotating the stack so that we are only ever burning almost ZERO % humidity wood.
The overall performance is now a lot better than previously, but having said that I still strongly believe there are far better stoves on the market with more systems of fire control than this Chesney of ours!
We have had our Chesney Salisbury 5 for just over 2 years now, and I loved it when we first got it and I still love it. It is so easy to light and control and it looks great. What is not to
love? Like many people on this review site, we agonised a bit over which stove to get; reviews were never 100% positive. The salesman in our local shop was very enthusiastic about the Chesney, which perversely put us off. We scoured the reviews, toured the county woodburning stoves stockists, finally went back to our local shop and decided on some other stove that I can't recall. The salesman again took us up the shop to take a final look at the Chesney, which he had fired up in the shop, and we were sold: we were just ready at that point to see what a great stove it was. We've certainly not regretted the decision. I do tend to light it when it's not that cold just because I can and because I love that orange glow.
Have had my stove for 2 seasons now but have increasing "expansion" noise problems which is there all the time,no matter the temperature.Had it serviced 2 months ago,engineer said nothing wrong
!!! The noise lessens substantially when the door is open.Any help would be very much appreciated.
Stove expert replied:
Expansion noise is not common but nevertheless annoying. Are you certain that it is the stove that is the cause and not the flue system? Have you made the supplier aware? Ratings reflect this issue.
Fitted 2 weeks ago and used every evening since. Really pleased we chose the Salisbury 5 over what is a massive choice of 5kw stoves on the market. Was drawn to the Salisbury by its looks and
clean lines, but dismissed it because it isn't British made, it's actually made in Bulgaria. I found this out by contacting Chesney's direct. Initially we were convinced we should buy a British made stove but after visiting many showrooms and doing a lot of internet research we came back to the Salisbury 5. Why, because it just looks so right. It is very sturdily built and is incredibly heavy! The handle is a work of art and the one simple air flow control makes using the stove a doddle. A couple of tiny gripes. The glass door does need a clean after each burn, not a lot, just a wipe with damp kitchen paper dipped in ash. For some reason the top right hand side of the glass always gets a bit sooty. We have only burnt kiln dried ash and birch so it's not to do with moisture content. Also after a full evening session when opening the door ash tends to accumulate on the door stove rope and falls onto the hearth. Not a biggy at all really. Other than these two niggles the Salisbury 5 is superb. Highly recommended.
Stove expert replied:
A good solid stove that is well rated.
Had this stove fitted in August but on refueling the smoke spills out of the fire and fills the house. Have changed to kiln dried wood, changed cowl and increased the height of the flue with
no improvement. Now too worried to use the stove because of the fumes. Installer is perplexed and Chesney say there is no problem with the stove. Anybody else suffering the same issue???
Stove expert replied:
Have you an airbrick or room ventilator fitted? Does the flue draw match the requirements of the manufacturer? Is there another chimney in the property? This is likely to be a installation / flue problem so would recommend further investigation. Make sure that you have a carbon monoxide alarm fitted.
There is usually a reason why the flue gases are not lifting away from the firebox, not enough air in the room, not enough draw in the flue. Another chimney in the property is stronger that the one being used which is giving a negative pressure preventing the gases from rising quickly when the door is open.
If nothing is found to be at fault, a flue fan may be the best way forward, there are several options on the market.
Having bought a number of log burners the Salisbury is proving one of my regrettable buys. Problems with the damper , it seems to expand when hot and gets jerky, the removal of ashes and having
to clean the glass which from time to time soots up doesn't help. There are much better stoves out there and I am afraid the next stove I buy won't be a Chesney.
Stove expert replied:
Do check that the wood being burnt has a moisture content of less than 20% and keep the air controls open so that the glass can stay clean. Perhaps the damper arm / hole location gets too tight when hot and a slight modification could improve this operation, further investigation is recommended. All stoves will require ash removal - you do not say what the actual problem is with this on the Salisbury stove!
I did my research as well and in the end you just need to make your decision, glad I went for the Salisbury. I don't understand the few negative comments here, maybe to do with your installation
? The firebox was a slight concern but I went for the nice shape and big clear window. This stove is efficient, gives plenty of heat and lights very easy. I recommend this stove a lot, not the cheapest one but worth every penny!!
I'm a chronic worrier about big purchases, so you can imagine the sleepless nights I've had choosing a stove for our new house, especially since it's something my wife and I have been hankering
after for years. We don't have money to spare (much less burn) so I was anxious not to get this wrong. The more I researched, the further I seemed to get away from consensus. Websites like this one are excellent, but so many of the reviews seem to be more about bad experiences with drafts, flues and timber than with the actual stoves themselves. Eventually, it was conversations with our stove installer and some excellent local salesmen that led me to the Chesney Salisbury. We have a well insulated though quite large room, and didn't need a large stove. We were advised to get a 5KW, but settled on a 4.6 (the model is the Salisbury 4) as it strikes me as a bit daft to get something so hot that we''d be opening windows and peeling off layers of clothing once it got going -and there's a saving of a couple of hundred quid over the 5. I note that the Chesney range includes quite a variety of sizes and outputs, so I guess you'd be covered for any type of room anyway. Price wise, it's about mid market. Not as cheap as some we've seen, but certainly not overpriced. What it is, though, is a really solid bit of construction and design. Everything is robust and the handle and lever are beautifully smooth to operate. Our house is 1930s and we didn't want to get something that looked as if it came out of a Charles Dickens drama (which ruled out Clearview, which was the other make we'd been recommended), neither did we want some achingly cool piece of Scandi designer kit. Chesney's designers have a really lovely sense of economy and proportion. This is a clean and elegant looking stove, that fits equally well in a period or modern home. At risk of sounding obvious, it looks like a stove, properly so, without being faffy or overly ornate. Since we bought it, I keep seeing Chesneys in interiors magazines, so perhaps we're accidentally on trend. Back to my anxieties. I worried about installation, but this proved a very easy fit. I worried about how easy it would be to light, but it's sooo simple: If the flue's cold, we chuck in a few balls of newspaper first to warm it up, to stop downdraft. Lob in a single firelighter with a few sticks of kindling, let them get to a good flame, then pop a log on and you''re away. There is only one lever to operate. Out for a fast burn or to get started, halfway in to drop the flame down once it's under way, all the way in to let it die down. That's it. You'll be up to optimum temperature within the hour. The glass cleans itself. We've been burning logs most evenings for a couple of weeks now and haven't yet needed to clean out the ash. You just leave a bed of it in the bottom for the next time you light up. the level seems to stay constant. We've been getting through 3 to 4 logs an evening. The first couple of burns are a bit wiffy, as the paint cures or dries or whatever it does, but that's quickly gone. No clouds of smoke, no nasty smells, no irritating hissing noises. Beautiful flame patterns. Love this stove. Love it. As first timers, we could have got it so wrong, but we really seem to have lucked out. They even threw in, and this is important, a gorgeous pair of black suede Chesney branded fire resistant gauntlets as a bonus. I enjoy wearing them possibly a bit too much. They make me feel like a domestic Darth Vader.
Stove expert replied:
Pleased to hear your are happy with the stove and the quality, design and operation are what is said on the literature. Now enjoy and relax!
I nearly didn't purchase this stove purely down to the reviews on here but thankfully I made the right purchase and I'm very happy with the Salisbury 5kw and feel the need to defend it. I have
used mixed seasoned hard and soft wood (30% moisture) and also kiln dried oak (under 20%) and the glass stays clear for a good few hours but does eventually look a little dirty at the end of the night. As to be expected, I find the oak gives out more heat and burns a bit longer but obviously costs more to buy. I live in a 1960's 3 bedroom semi detached house which has a suspended downstairs floor, as you can imagine this type of house lets in plenty of air which must be contributing to how well this stove is performing. I had the stove installed by a local company (HEATAS certified), we had a chimney liner and new cowling fitted which is creating a very good draw. I find the single push/pull rod smooth in operation and I've always had full control over the air entering the firebox. As with any stove they all seem to differ when lighting and have their own quirky personalities :) I find this stove lights best when I use kindling split from the kiln dried oak. I use 8 pieces of kindling and build a small Jenga tower placing a single firelighter at the bottom and a smallish split log (quarter) on top of the tower. The firelighters I use are wax coated wood shavings but I suppose any will do the job. Once the firefighter has been lit, I leave the door slightly open for only 3-5 minutes and find closing it fully sooner rather than later works much better but this may be down to the decent draw I have from the chimney. This gets the temperature up to 200C very quickly and this is when I add a slightly larger log and then its ready to go for the evening. I find the cheap soft wood kindling from petrol stations doesn't work for me, its burns way too quickly and doesn't give the small log time to catch fire. As expected the firebox isn't that big but to be honest I wouldn't want to add anymore than two large split logs at a time as 250C - 350C is more than enough for our smallish living room. To be honest we have to leave the doors open and find the hallway and dinning room do eventually benefit from the heat spreading through. I don't find this stove makes that much mess, Chesney's must have changed the design since one of the previous reviews. As others have mentioned the door handle gets very hot but isn't this the case with most stoves? One thing that annoyed me initially was the ongoing smell when curing the paint, Chesney's say this goes away after the first few burns but it doesn't. The only way to stop this stove from giving off this unpleasant smell is to give it a very hot burn, I took the stove to 600C + for a couple of hours and the smell was no more. Please don't leave your stove unattended when operating at this heat, it is quite concerning at first but just make sure parts of the stove don't start glowing (over firing) but I can safely say this stove didn't over fire at 600C. All in all this is a very well made stove that looks great in our living room and I'd certainly recommend it, but like any stove your chimney set up, room ventilation and quality of fuel can drastically affect its performance.
Stove expert replied:
Do take note that operating a stove at this temperature is not recommended, short periods of fast burn (20 mins max) is recommended as prolonged periods of high temperatures (that exceed normal usage) will expose internal components to higher temperatures than normal and can lead to distortion or a shortening of their life. The curing of the paint should not require the high temperature burn as stated in this review.
We have a Hunter Hawk 4kw stove in our kitchen. We wanted to progress from an open fire in our lounge to a new wood burner and after much research chose and purchased a Salisbury 5 wood burner
.The build quality of this stove is evident and the airflow operates from a single push me pull you rod (cool to touch) making control easy. The firebox is quite small, easy to clean and doesn't require a grate, if burning wood. The window is constantly clear regardless of wood type burnt and heat generated, very impressive. We understand the designer of Chesney stoves moved from another well known manufacturer and re-designed the product, hence the clear glass on this product! The door handle will get hot so requires a glove to open.We purchased the stove separately and got our own HEATAS people to fit, far cheaper than paying through any 'showroom'.I'm fitting my own granite surround cost? circa £100. Via a 'showroom'? - £1,000. One point, this stove will not last through the night on a low setting, it's not designed to, whereas our little ol'Hunter will still be glowing merrily next morning!Overall, a very well made, quality product from a British Company.
