Yes, I know, sometimes I get carried away with a theme, here is yet another monster stove; this is a Hergom Franklin 82 Combination Wood-Burning Stove. I swept this example recently at a Thatched property in Rickling. Although I sweep one or two Hergom stoves, this is the only example of the Hergom 82 that I have seen in the area, or anywhere for that matter! As can be seen from the photo, it is something of a massive beast, and it has to be, as the room in which it is located is a hall type room with a rather high-pitched roof, so it needs a lot of heating to get the place warm. Certainly, when it is in operation kicks out a huge amount of heat – According to the customer that is.

Although the name Hergom would suggest a Scandinavian stove manufacturer, these stoves are actually made in Santander in Spain. The companies advertising blurb tells us that: Hergom’s appliances are well designed, efficient with a sophisticated double combustion system. Through there innovative internal structure Hergom stoves provide maximum heat and fuel performance with minimal emissions of unburnt particles into the atmosphere. Hergom is one of Europe’s largest and most established manufacturers of cast iron stoves and cookers. Their stoves are forged its state the art foundry in Santander in northern Spain, with Hergom owning their own foundry they use the finest cast iron as the primary material in their production stoves, they understand cast iron and its resilience as a material for hearth and fireplace products. Durability, unique forming and thermal initia give cast products the edge in the market.

The company manufacture a range of different models of stove including the E20, E30, E40, the Mnachester, the Crafytsbury, the Glance, the Mallorca, the Sere Inset and the Laredo.

 Industrias Hergóm

S.L. Soto de la Marina,

Santander,

Cantabria

Spain

+34 942 587 000

comercial@hergom.com

https://hergom.com/gbr/home

As I mentioned last week, whilst we were staying in Latchi, Cyprus we popped over to nearby Polis where we went it into the ‘Bio Energy’ stove showroom. Here we met two of the guys who work there, Alex and Simon who were most friendly and welcoming, with Alex happy to spend time talking us through how they do things in Cyprus. They had a wide range of stoves, going from expensive continental stoves to cheaper Chinese options. Apparently, the cheaper Chinese options are vey popular with the Greek populace. Alex explained that they do drop liners, but more commonly they install using factory made chimneys that they buy from Italy. They cover a large area, from Polis all the way over to Paphos and beyond. They also do all their own chimney sweeping for their installs and are the only chimney sweeps on their patch. They did say however that a lot of the Greeks prefer to sweep their own chimneys!!! The stove in the photograph is Swiss made and is unusually loaded from the top. It looks like a soapstone stove, but is actually some sort of granite type rock and in consequence it is extremely heavy. It has become the show room mascot, particularly as it looks a bit like Kevin the Minion!

It was probably noticed that there was no weekly blog from Walden Sweeps during the past two weeks. This was because Claire and I decided to have a spring break in Cyprus and to see if it was any warmer than the weather in the UK. It was certainly a mixed bag, with some sunshine, thunder storms, rain and hail and some warm sunshine, but definitely warmer than the UK! We did however manage one or two swims in the sea every day, with the water similar in warmth to the sea back in the UK in summertime. To warm up after a swim in the sea, we found the Faros restaurant in the Marina at Latchi which had a large wood-burning stove, which was great to defrost in front of. The Faros restaurant was fantastic, with great food and plenty to drink! We would highly recommend it! During the holiday we popped in to the ‘Bio Energy’ stove showroom in Polis and had a really nice chat with the guys who work there, but more about that next week.  We flew back to the UK on Wednesday and were back working again on Thursday, doing a number of jobs across Essex for the Bishop of Chelmsford.

A couple of weeks ago we trekked up to my hometown Liverpool in order to visit Liverpool University with my youngest daughter Katie who has an offer from Liverpool to study Geology. Fortunately, we had as our guide my twin brother Mick a university professor and former senior lecturer at Liverpool. We had a good mooch about and Katie was suitably impressed. I couldn’t resist taking these photos of regency age chimneys in and around Abercromby Square at the heart of the university. I think the look fantastic and are a feature of Liverpool’s rebranded ‘Georgian Quarter’. The city was actually full of tourists, who would have thought it!!!

In recent weeks my blog has mentioned a number of large stoves, so here is another monster stove; this is a Barbas Falcon 66-56 Wood-Burning Stove. I swept this example recently at an address in Bardfield End Green. As can be seen from the photo it is a rather large stove that when it is in operation kicks out a huge amount of heat – According to the customer that is. Like all Barbas stoves, it has a complex series of baffles that have to be removed prior to sweeping. This makes the job somewhat tricky and a little more time consuming than the average job, but that is all in a busy chimney sweeps working day! I like this stove and imagine that it is rather attractive when alight, however I can’t help thinking that when it is not working, it looks rather like a big fish tank?

Barbas Bellfire are based in Holland and Belgium, they employ over 160 staff and produce 120 different models of stove. So, they are a large concern on the continent and have been manufacturing stoves since 1976. They manufacture wood-burning stoves as well as gas fires. Some of their wood-burning stove models include the Evolux 100-45 range, and the Box range. The box is what it says on the tin a box stove in various sizes.

Barbas Bellfire

Hallenstraat 17

5531 AB,

Bladel,

Holland

T: (0)49 733 9200

E: info@barbasbellfires.com

At the end of January, we spent our usual annual couple of days sweeping in Wales, for free! This involves sweeping the chimneys of Claire’s dad’s friends in the Wenvoe farming community. As usual six addresses were swept in and around Wenvoe and much tea was drunk, and cake and biscuits consumed along the way!

However, this years visit with an additional day and two new addresses swept in Swansea. One was Claire’s brother Dan’s Clearview Vision 500 in Mumbles, the other being our accountant’s Hunter Hawk in Bishopston – Quire the dirtiest stove I have ever swept – See Photo!

I know that I have featured Vermont stoves in my blogs previously, but I couldn’t resist choosing this one for this week’s blog, as you can see, it is something of a monster stove. Yes, it is quite a massive stove, with a huge 16Kw output, which is very high considering it is a wood burning stove only. In that wood burns at a much lower temperature than the majority of multi-fuels, i.e. smokeless. Fortunately for the customer, this Vermont stove is located in a very large room, so there is no danger of the room becoming overly hot!

Although Vermont stoves can be classed as Retro stoves, they are rather dated technology now, but attractive all the same and I do see many of them still all around the area; Intrepid’ s, Encore’s, Defiant’ s, Dauntless, Resolute’ s and Vigilante’s. Vermont claim that the Intrepid II has a 10 hour burn interval per each load of wood. This seems an incredibly long period of time, but the stove does have a capacious firebox, albeit long and narrow. Vermont also say that the top surface can be utilized as a cooking hob.

Vermont Stoves uses a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright in their marketing: “The fireplace? The heart of the home itself”. I think that this is a rather nice sentiment. The are based in the USA and their website tells us that; Hearth & Home Technologies is a subsidiary of HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI). HNI is the second-largest office furniture manufacturer in the world, and the leading manufacturer and marketer of gas and biomass-fueled appliances and hearth products. The company has been recognized by Forbes and Fortune magazine as a top company to work for in the U.S.A.

https://www.vermontcastings.com/products/aspen-c3-wood-burning-stove

T: 001 877 863 4350

Not a make of stove that I have featured before in my weekly blog, and yet I do see quite a few Dunsley Stoves around the local area. Usually, the Dunsley’s I do see are the more modern, contemporary models that they manufacture. However, on this occasion I am focusing on this example of a Dunsley Highlander 5 Multi-Fuel Stove that I recently swept at a thatched property in Little Sampford. As can be seen from the photograph the Dunsley Highlander is a more traditional stove design and is a model of stove that Dunsley have been making for many, many years. So we can safely say that it is a tried and trusted design. I also wanted to include it in my blog as the stove was particularly dirty. Indeed, it a had a tar blockage in the flue which I had to remove. As can be seen in one of the photographs, the material I swept down the chimney filled the stove and flue pipe up to and beyond the inspection hatch. Alarmingly, the customer told me another sweep had been to the address a few weeks previously and swept the chimney and failed to remove all these deposits. All the more reason to use a properly qualified and insured chimney sweep to do the work rather than the cheaper fly-by night operators who are out there working with the minimum if any training and no liability or indemnity insurance.

Dunsley are a British Stove manufacturer based in Holnfirth, near Kirklees West Yorkshire. They started making stoves and solid fuel boilers in 1952 under the name Dunsley Heating Appliance Co. Ltd. The company’s website tells us that: With over 70 years of manufacturing fires and heating equipment Dunsley believe we can offer a range of solid fuel fires, multifuel stoves and woodburning stoves to suit all requirements.
Continual development using up to date technology and quality control gives you the best of safety devices and fuel efficiency.

Dunsley Heat Ltd is a family run business formed in 1950 by the Broadbent brothers who developed solid fuel open fire central heating boilers. The Broadbent family still run the business today although the next generation now form the management structure.

Today Dunsley offer more than just boilers, we offer solutions for every heating requirement, including multi-fuel stoves, open fires and woodburning stoves. The Dunsley factory is located in Holmfirth, Yorkshire and it is here that we design and manufacture all our products including Multifuel Stoves, Open Fires and Boilers.

Dunsley Heat Ltd
Bridge Mills
Huddersfield road
Holmfirth
Huddersfield
HD9 3TW

T: 01484 682635

email: sales@dunsleyheat.co.uk

http://dunsleyheat.co.uk/contact%20dunsley.html

Here is a make of stove that I have not come across before, Varde. Yes, not a well known manufacturer of stoves, this example is a Varde Ovne Multi-Fuel Stove which I recently swept at an address in Shepreth. It is unusual as it has the appearance of a contemporary cylindrical stove, but if you look at the photograph closely you will see that it is not truly cylindrical and is only cylindrical at the front of the stove. It does however have a rather capacious fire-box and the customer reports that when a light it really does heat the room most effectively.

Varde is a Danish stove manufacturer, but their stoves are distributed in United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland by the Stovax Group. The Stovax Group is the UK’s largest stove and fireplace producer with a range of designs from contemporary to traditional stoves. Varde produce a range of contemporary looking stoves which include the Bornholm, the Shape 2, the Samso and the Aura 1, Aura 3 and Aura 11.

On their website the sales blurn tells us that: Varde is one of the leading Scandinavian manufacturers of high-efficiency wood burning stoves, focused on combining functionality, quality materials and designer aesthetics.

With a stylish collection of freestanding models, each at the pinnacle of contemporary stove design and incorporating the latest technology, a Varde stove offers complete ease of use and the finest flame experience to bring comforting warmth and an inviting atmosphere into your home.

At Varde, we have a burning passion for creating beautiful stoves that epitomise the fine craftsmanship and design flair that runs throughout our Danish heritage.

About Varde

I do love a contemporary cylindrical stove, they are just so modern and stylish and look fantastic when alight. This example is a Jotul F483 Multi-Fuel Stove that I recently swept in Littlebury, but I do sweep a few other examples of the same stove across the local area. So, although it is at the top end of the stove price range, it is obviously very popular with the consumer. They are not the easiest of stoves to work on as they have a tricky set of small double baffles, two either side of the flue mouth. Fortunately, these are shaped and slot into groves, so providing that you have them the right way around they are not too bad to remove and refit. The thing I’m not to sure about is the installation of this particular stove. I don’t think it was the best of ideas to position it on top of a glass hearth which in turn is placed over carpet, As can be seen from the photograph material has been able to track under the glass hearth and become trapped. I think you will agree that the resultant effect is a bit unsightly. I know the customer who recently bought the property is not happy with it and is going to have the carpet removed and have some form of solid flooring.

 Jotul are a Norweigan company and have been making stoves and fireplaces for over 160 years. Jotul are proud of their global status, selling their products in 43 different countries spread over six continents – Truly a global brand!

Jøtul was founded by Oluf Onsum as Kværner Jernstøberi (Kværner Foundry) in the outskirts of Christiania (now Oslo) in 1853. While stoves initially were the main products, the company had diversified by the beginning of the 20th century, when it produced turbines and lumber equipment.

As the heating appliance manufacture decreased in importance, the production was spun off in 1916 and sold to Herman Anker, one of Kværner’s managers. He founded Jøtul AS in 1920 as a sales organization for its products. The sales stagnated during the depression in the 1920s, and 36-year-old Herman Anker died in 1927, leaving it to his successor, 34-year-old Johannes Gahr to modernize and eventually salvage the company. By 1935, the turnaround had succeeded, and the firm acquired its modern name.

By the 1960s, stoves using liquid fuels, especially kerosene had supplanted wood-burning appliances, a trend that was only reversed in the 1970s, partly due to the 1973 oil crisis. Jøtul used this opportunity to gain a strong international foothold and drastically increased its exports to continental Europe and North America.

The Gahr family sold the business to Norcem in 1977, and a period of international expansion began, as Jøtul acquired a number of foundries and importers abroad. This period lasted for approximately ten years, but came to an end during the recession in the late 1980s, when Jøtul once again focussed on the domestic market. However, it has resumed its international diversification in the 21st century, and today its products are sold worldwide.

In March 2018, Jøtul was acquired by the global private equity firm OpenGate Capital. Along with management, OpenGate has crafted a plan to boost performance and eliminate inefficiencies in Jøtul’s operations. In addition, OpenGate Capital is actively searching for add-on targets to further drive Jøtul’s growth. In November 2018, OpenGate and Jøtul completed the add-on acquisition of AICO, an Italian and French based pellet-burning stove leader.

https://www.jotul.co.uk/