We are about to install a woodburner to replace an open fire. It will be purely for heat supplementing, not a lone system or a backboiler. We don’t intend to keep it slow burning overnight.

I’m currently looking at the Ekol Crystal stoves. I believe they are UK Designed and tested, but manufactured in China, made of cast iron. Does anybody have any experience of them?

We had one installed last month and really pleased with it. Multi fuel 8kW version, solidly built with 5 year warranty. We shopped around for weeks and made the right choice with the Ekol.

Thanks – it does seem a good option and a good blend of styles too. I shan’t bother with multi fuel, as I’m surrounded by free wood! How big is your room for an 8kw stove?

I’ve got a fitter coming to do a site visit in a few days.

Also, how controllable are the air vents? There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of play in the levers.

Quite a large room, we thought the 5kW was a bit small in size so went for the 8. We open the door and it literally heats the whole house. Vents only move a small distance, especially the one just below the glass, but they actually work really well.

Thanks – always useful to get some first hand info!

Due to unavailability of independent fitters, we ended up going with a local company that didn’t stock Ekol, so we are having a 5KW Villager C Flat Solo fitted on 31 Dec!!