Have owned our cheerful looking red enamel Shire stove for around 16 years and only had to replace the rear firebrick recently. Easy to light and use, it burns smokeless fuel or logs happily
. Stays in overnight with a few nubs of smokeless fuel coal left in the grate. Some newsprint, kindling and a prod in the morning is usually enough to re-light it. Only kept in overnight in deepest winter as it is so easy to light. The glass stays reasonably clean with a fast fire now and again. Keeping the fast burn forward, adjacent to the glass and not at the rear of the firebox helps clean the glass. A major design flaw in my view are the Shire's mild steel door hinges, retained by very short countersunk head set screws. I have to tighten the screws weekly to prevent the wide heavy door from dropping and scraping the enamel finish on the front ash lip. These cross-head screws are now so badly worn they are difficult to tighten. I usually need to lift the door whenever using it. My supplier found new screws but these are too big so perhaps the hinges have been modified. To hang such a heavy wide door on 'window hinges'is inadequate. Presumably this was done to provide concealed hinges and to save money. The rich tomato red enamel finish model cost almost £100 more when bought but we never regretted going the extra mile for its cheerful warm look even when unlit in Summer. When really hot it turns a deep cherry red colour before returning to its natural colour as it cools. Controls are minimal, just one air adjustment wheel and grate ridler lever but these work well enough when kept clear of dust or debris. In our old house the Shire was recessed into a generous old brick fireplace with a good length of vertical black enamel flue pipe through a fireproof plate into the original chimney above. I usually sweep the chimney annually; some advise says that chimneys should be swept twice a year. Our stove is an original Irish Waterford but I believe the Shire is currently marketed by Aga/Rayburn.Am currently considering a cheaper Firefox 5 multi-fuel for our new house, and the additional controls should be useful.
Stove expert replied:
A fire love story, 16 years is a great length of time. Good review thank you for sharing this.
above is my honest review of the stanley shire stove, didnt realise until after i bought it thsat the castings are from poland or china that aside, the airwash facility doesnt work because it
doesnt have one, it only has a primary air vent, handle is susceptable to popping open (weve had ours changed 3 times} its well priced , pluc.
I have had this stove for 15 year now and use it every year in the winter. It lights quickly, burns very hot so the flue pipe can glow red - it almost eliminates the need for heating in a three
bedroom house, except when very cold! A delightful stove I would recommend to all.
