Had our Firefox 5 for a year now (the rounder version – not the squared off one) and have burned exclusively wood.

As I understand it, the £42 kit replaces the grate and ashpan (and possible the bars across the front of the grate?) to provide a lower bed for the ash, more room in the stove, and less likelihood of logs rolling onto the glass.

Anyone got it, what do you think of it, and is it messy to clear excess ash now the ashpan is redundant? (or does the fire create less ash now there is no airflow from below and it can’t drop down away from the fire?)

bump

Got a Firefox and have considered that kit but decided to use coal more as I got bored with putting wood on every 20 minutes. The stoves not big enough to get decent size logs in IMO. Oh….and it was fu*king up our chimney.

If logs wer ruining your chimney they must of been wet!

We ordered a load of hardwood last year and as long as we opened up the vents at the end of the evening we ended up with the firebricks inside the stove nice and clean (beige) so I’m fairly happy its burning clean.

I had some douglas fir as well but only burnt the odd log at a time as it instantly blackened the stove, trying to burn it exclusively turned everything into a tarry mess.

But like darren it was a bit tight to get large logs in, thats why I’m considering the wood kit. No intention of burning coal so as long as not having the ashpan doesn’t create a mess I think I’ll go for it.

“If logs wer ruining your chimney they must of been wet!”

or slow burning with the vents closed to save putting logs on the fire……

If logs wer ruining your chimney they must of been wet!

My parents clogged the chimney on their wood burner using pine. Sap built up and meant there wasn’t enough draw.

We were burning a lot of pine because of where the log guy worked and yes vents pretty much closed.

vents closed then your sending all the shit up your chimney instead of burning it off + your burning crap wood so thats why your filling it all the time. might as well be burning corn on the cob centers.

Well I bought the kit and just fitted it. Huge improvement in space for fuel; before and after pics:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p2dnaw]IMG_20140920_121028[/url] by Ollie and Sally, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p2e8ea]IMG_20140920_125750[/url] by Ollie and Sally, on Flickr

Same amount of fuel loaded before and after shows just how much more space there is, also I think the front fret that stops the fuel falling against the glass looks better than the standard bars:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p2dVDs]IMG_20140920_125852[/url] by Ollie and Sally, on Flickr

Took me a while to work out how to secure the fret using the nuts and bolts, eventually worked out that you put the nut halfway onto the bolt, then screw bolt in from back of fret. Place into fire and then unscrew bolts until snug against cast side plates and then the nut spins up against the back of the fret to act as a set nut. To clear the ash you lift the fret up so either undo the bolt a tad or, I suspect its designed that you set the nuts so there is enough movement to lift the fret with needing to adjust them.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p2effA]IMG_20140920_131111[/url] by Ollie and Sally, on Flickr

The multi-fuel bits I removed look to be worth well over £100 new so if I decide to sell them they could well fetch enough to pay for the £50 wood kit 🙂

Interesting thanks for those pics. Think im just going to get another stove in a year though. As when I do get hardwood logs only about a 1/4 fit and the rest I have to spend time cutting/chopping down.

Trailrat, yes I know however opening them fully means im added logs all the time. If it had bigger capacity I wouldn’t have this issue…hence ^^

how do you guys rate the firefox 5 stove? build quality? easy of use? etc.

I am looking for a small stove for our living room and that looks almost exactly the same as a Valor Brunswick 5 I have had my eye on.

I use a supplier who offers 9″ logs for small stoves, the bigger ones still need splitting with an axe but I only had to saw one or two from last year, I used a builders bag and ran out early spring. Even with a larger stove I would still split some down as you need some smaller pieces to put on the kindling, I can only put a large log on once the stove is properly up and running i.e. at least an hour after lighting.

Reckon I use about 4 large logs an evening, last year I was splitting the odd log into kindling but this time I have a huge box of kindling from some old pine wardrobes. This year I got two builders bags for £135 and reckon that will easily keep me going into the spring (and the central heating off until we are into winter proper)

Its my first stove but I’m very happy with it.

The ashpan seemed a bit rubbish but from today thats out anyway. The internal door latch only just clears the frame so it sometimes catches. The fire rope around the door and glass still looks new at one year old, and as you can see from the firebricks in the pics, mine has been burning very clean, just wiping down the glass every now and then.

Also not had any problems at all with it overheating, got a gauge on the flue above the fire and even when we forget to close the vents it hasn’t gone much over 200c.

Got a ecofan copy on the top which helps throw the heat into the room (less sitting in front of the stove to catch the warmth).

Having been looking at the wood kit I’ve realised all the parts including doors and the top casting are available as spares which is good if something does crack.

Our room is about 25 sq m (5×4) with a large bay window and I don’t think I’d want a larger stove, much prefer to run this one properly than trying to tame a bigger stove that leaves us sweating, if it gets too cold for the stove to keep the room warm we would have the heating on for the rest of the house anyway. My parents have an older Aarrow stove that is meant to be a 5kw but that may be in the days of under-rating them to avoid the ventilation requirements, and that used to be too hot for the room, although they did burn coal not wood. I remember not being able to sit on the floor as it was too hot.

That Valor does look very similar, I suspect it is made by the same Chinese company that make the Firefox. The body, door hinges, the fret inside and the control layout are the same so its just the legs and door that look different.

Cheers for the reply spooky, I’m looking at a few different stoves just now, however this is definitely one of the more affordable ones so it is good to here a positive review about it.

the firefox is a great stove, ours has been great for 4 years, on every day in the winter. i fitted a flueliner and also insulated the chimney void with vermiculite which has made a massive difference, slowing the burn right down and making the fire run much hotter. haven’t even got to last years logs yet, burning all the old wood from the renovation, and will be for at least all next year…

spchantler, I believe we need to fit a liner in our chimney as it is just a brick built chimney with no clay liner at present. You are only the second person I have seen mention insulating the liner with vermiculite.
My only concern with insulating the chimney is creating a bridge for moisture to pass from the outside wall into the house, have you noticed any downside to the insulation?

Our installer was against fitting a liner even when he realised I was expecting to pay for one. 60’s bungalow and chimney in good condition/smoke test passed.

Seems to run fine although I do wonder if the stove would be easier to get up to temperature, sometimes it can take a couple of hours to the stage where you can shut down the vents enough to get everything glowing red with lazy slow flames. Once its there its fine and I can throw in what ever ungainly hunks of wood that will fit through the door, but it takes a bit of effort to get it to that stage.

spchantler, is it a pretty basic job to fit a liner? I decided to go with the installers recommendation and then fit a liner later if I wasn’t happy; I am happy but seeing as you have seen the ‘before and after’ with the same stove it is interesting to hear how much difference you think its made.

Do you have a standard small bore brick chimney or something bigger/older that would benefit more from a liner? Mine is a small bore and and probably six metres in length (bungalow) but in a windy/exposed location.

as the gases go up a chimney they swirl around in a vortex. if your chimney is square what happens is you get, in effect, 4 small vortexes in each corner, slowing down the venting of the gases, reducing draw. as the gas goes up the chimney it cools down and can condense on the chimney walls. these gases are composed of steam, carbon monoxide, and sulphur, which will form acidic compounds that over time can eat into the brickwork. the effect of fitting a liner and vermiculite is that the gases stay hotter for longer, giving them less chance to condense, allowing you to close the fire down more, giving you a more efficient burn. i’m putting on a few pieces of wood on a night these days, the bottom vent closed within a minute of lighting and the top vent open just a fraction

i fitted it myself, its not a massive job, but not easy if your chimney has bends in it, you need proper access onto the roof and two people, one to push it down and one to guide it down from below. the vermiculite can be mixed with cement and a small amount of water and poured down the top, or poured in loose. i’ve not noticed any damp problems, i’m in a mid terrace, but i have seen problems with condensate in cases where people have fitted liners without the insulation

Cheers spchantler, good to know.

spooky its a small chimney, 9 inch brick built around 1900, in good condition. when we first moved in i fitted it temporarily without the liner as there where more pressing jobs, it worked ok but is vastly improved with the liner and insulation, getting to the stage of slow flames and glow that you describe within 20 mins or so..
definitely worth doing in my opinion

Before this thread gets too old…did you use a single wall liner and then use the vermiculite, or twin wall insulated and and vermiculite?

(I’m glad I came back to check this as I didn’t realise you’d replied twice in succession, I only read the final post 😳 )