Clarke (i.e. Machine Mart) stoves - any good?
 

We're thinking of installing a small[ish] wood burning stove in our
breakfast room. We already have a big wood burner in our main room
which has been there for two or three years and we love it. We have
almost unending supplies of wood at the moment (I reckon we have two
or three years worth at least) so a second wood burner makes sense on
a lot of fronts.

Machine Mart have a 17.5% off offer at the moment on all their own
brand stuff so, if their stoves are any good, now would be a good time
to buy. Does anyone here actually have a Clarke stove or know
anything about them?

Other (reasonably priced) brands would be of interest, we're talking
about the 5 to 10kW size I would think.

--
Chris Green

On 1 Aug 2005 08:10:46 GMT, wrote:

Does anyone here actually have a Clarke stove or know
anything about them?

No, they're horrible. Like all those cheap cast iron stoves, they're
more for decoration than use (especially the smaller cheaper
potbellies). Fire them up regularly and you'll have cracking problems.

A much better deal is something built from steel rather than iron. By
and large this means recycling gas cylinders or welding from flat plate.
If you go to someone with an eye for design and a plasma cutter you can
get something much more interesting and you may even beat Machine Mart's
pricing (their big stoves are far from cheap).

Something like a Jotul is of course excellent, but the price!

If you're near Ludlow, here's a chap who makes nice designs.
http://www.sense3d.com/stoves.html

If you're in Bristol or South Wales area, I do custom ones too.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 1 Aug 2005 08:10:46 GMT, wrote:

Does anyone here actually have a Clarke stove or know
anything about them?

No, they're horrible. Like all those cheap cast iron stoves, they're
more for decoration than use (especially the smaller cheaper
potbellies). Fire them up regularly and you'll have cracking problems.

A much better deal is something built from steel rather than iron. By
and large this means recycling gas cylinders or welding from flat plate.
If you go to someone with an eye for design and a plasma cutter you can
get something much more interesting and you may even beat Machine Mart's
pricing (their big stoves are far from cheap).

Something like a Jotul is of course excellent, but the price!

If you're near Ludlow, here's a chap who makes nice designs.
http://www.sense3d.com/stoves.html

To be quite honest they all look rather ugly to me, the sort of bodge
my rather pathetic welding would produce.

If you're in Bristol or South Wales area, I do custom ones too.

Sadly I'm right across the other side of the country in Suffolk.

--
Chris Green

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 1 Aug 2005 08:10:46 GMT, wrote:


Does anyone here actually have a Clarke stove or know
anything about them?


No, they're horrible. Like all those cheap cast iron stoves, they're
more for decoration than use (especially the smaller cheaper
potbellies). Fire them up regularly and you'll have cracking problems.

Sister has the Franklin, this has been in use for over 2 years, and for
the last winter mostly every day. Not cracked yet.

IMO ugly though...

If its for the workshop ... something like these might be better:

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_b...op-Stoves.html

Alex.

snip/

AlexW wrote:
Andy Dingley wrote:
On 1 Aug 2005 08:10:46 GMT, wrote:


Does anyone here actually have a Clarke stove or know
anything about them?


No, they're horrible. Like all those cheap cast iron stoves, they're
more for decoration than use (especially the smaller cheaper
potbellies). Fire them up regularly and you'll have cracking problems.

Sister has the Franklin, this has been in use for over 2 years, and for
the last winter mostly every day. Not cracked yet.

IMO ugly though...

If its for the workshop ... something like these might be better:

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_b...op-Stoves.html

It's for our breakfast room, not a workshop. Thanks for the link
however, they sell the Hunter Herald 14 that we have in the lounge and
like very much and the site looks good for having a wide range to
browse through.

--
Chris Green