Has anyone got any experience with Invicta Wood Burning stoves ? Am looking to add a stove to the living room but am on a limited budget. Guy who quoted for the liner is pushing Jotul but that seems way over the top as far price is concerned. Most DIY shope have the Invicta at around 500€
There are so many things that I like about the EFEL, even when the stove is running at 400 degs and blasting heat out round the house (we have electric heaters in the bedrooms but never need to use them as the stove heats the whole house on one floor- 108sq mtrs) our cat sits underneath it and you can put your hand underneath and it is just warm and not red hot. When we get the chimney sweeps in they also completely clean the stove insides and the senior guy said he was very impressed with the build quality of the stove.. :-)
My chimney needs a liner installing so am happy to pay for that. It's the cost of the stove that I'm worried about. I went to another local shop, not are they more than 200€ more expensive than Castorama online, they want 500€ HT to install it. Need to ask they guy who has quoted the liner to see what he would charge for installing a woodburner if I buy it online.
Hi,
We bought a Jutol enamelled stove two years ago. It looks good and works well but I cannot honestly say it was worth the money. We have also replaced a very old burner in the kitchen and had the problem of the flue being only 125mm. It has taken over a year to decide on a replacement and we even considered bringing one from the UK. We eventually bought a Deville (recommended by the ramonner and neighbours) and are very pleased with it. They are made in France by a company that has been going over 100 years. It is made of a mixture of cast iron and stainless steel so not so heavy. Cost was 750€ against the Jutol equivalent of 1900€. It is easy to light, has clean glass system and large ash tray.
One word of warning to anyone with an existing flue liner wanting to replace a burner. The French installers only want to do the whole job including replacing the flue - say it is an insurance company demand - not true. Our flue is installed into a chimney, is armour plated and cost 1500€ 3 years ago. What they suggested was not of the same standard. Luckily we found a registered chap to do it. Hope this helps.
I bought an Invicta Altea, last year and find it really good with sufficient heat control and it also kept our hall and landing warmish as well. So pleased I have just bought another larger Invicta Alam for the Kitchen. 9kw 75% rendement and it looks nice. 5 year guarantee Euro 599.00 Up to 69 cm logs.
Brico Marche http://produits.bricomarche.com/poele-a-bois-en-fonte-14kw-invicta-...
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Be careful regarding the design, we bought an Invicta which was designed with 2 separate halves, actually joined with bolts, these then broke in half just after the guarantee ran out! Hence our Invicta ended up being very expensive.
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I agree Mike the efel is good and sophisticated on the control side. I wanted that stove, the agent near me was phoned and phoned and phoned to no avail so aftercare would have been the same legend that is france. Told the head office but they wouldn't sell direct so I said I give up and will buy a rival make. Glad to hear you find it very good.
We had an EFEL Stanford 12kw stove installed when we moved into this house and it is absolutely brilliant. We can control the heat output very easily, can have it roaring within 4 mins from cold, never goes out overnight and the longest we have had from a piece of 50cm long dry oak is 14 hours. Love this fire to bits :-)
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Which model did you get Penny ?
After much research, we have just bought a good one at Brico Marche and have been advised that they are nearly as good as the premium Supra which is up to 25% more. We paid around 500 euros and know others who have a similar model and are very happy, hence the choice. Now we just need to get the installer to turn up to finish the job. Good luck.
Well what can I say it's a poor performer in the modern world. Looking at the picture, it appears to have one air vent at the front low down.
It is generally accepted that is a multifuel setup as wood only burners don't need air from below, in fact it cools the fire,. Wood burners need air from the top to feed in and the better ones will pre/super heat that air through pipes around the firebox to feed into the flames from the top producing a much better combustion and output from the same amount of fuel and also keeping the glass cleaner. There is no grate required as wood burns better on a bed of ash so the fire sits lower allowing a better view of the flames.
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My mistake, the stove I am looking at is an Invicta Norik, not Norvik which seems to come from a different company (CAST TEC). Datasheet and website give the eficiency (rendement) as 72%.
There is more than one invictor, old ones were poor on control but did chuck out some heat but newer ones are looking better with fire brick linings so as I said it's model specific and not brand.
Old Goddins were far from efficient, just labelled flam vert was BS as the model and castings had changed in donkeys years. like others they are now progressing so must have some that are now efficient. Again it's model specific and not brand they still have the crappy old inefficient rubbish on sale too.
My other BIL has an old cast iron job that swallows 12-14 sterre a winter, ok quite a large room, stone walls and ceramic tiled floors so it isn't in anyway helping but it is so hot you can't get near it, I know one heck of a lot of heat goes straight up the chimney as seen by my thermal imaging camera. That burner is just rubbish but it's very hot if that's how woodburners are measured.
Steve at first I looked at the 72% efficiency as this is about as lower figure as I have ever seen. So I googled and it said Norvik5 81% which sounds a lot better as to pass DEFRA's test it would need to be somewhere above 75% from looking at the list before.
http://www.casttec.co.uk/images/stove_instructions/NORVIK_5_MANUAL.pdf
Yes there is a price difference but 14 sterre is what 2-3 winters of fuel? so working out more expensive in the long run. As you could use around 40% less wood with a really good burner. What actually happens with high efficiency burners can be read on the Burley doc I attached but in short form they burn much hotter in the combustion area which ignites the creosotes which normally line the chimneys and can lead to chimney fires. by burning these you get about 30% extra heat for nothing (except the increased purchase price of a good burner). Even some of the Jotuls don't manage that level of excellence so it's often model specific and NOT brand which most forum posters forget. I am nothing to do with Burley, but I spoke to the owner and he informed me it cost a lot to get the performance level from good to excellent.
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We opted for a godin woodburner, as we dont have a great area to heat, which I could highly recommend....... Very efficient........and better quality than the invicta at an affordable price.
We bought an invicta last year from our local bricomarché and it was far better than the crap that had been previously installed by supposed professionals. We originally had an italian made plate steel fire which was hit and miss heatwise. When we decided to get the new fire last year money decided which we got, ill need to look up the model, but we werent disappointed the heat output was far superior and burn time was longer. I would recommend one and would buy again.
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Am currently looking at the Norvik, claims 72% efficiency. Doesn't have any firebricks as far as I can see. The 800€ difference between it and the Jotul represents 14 sterre of wood.
Which Invictor? The common one in Brico's a while back the BIL has, nice in the most part but not very controllable. can't close it down enough so gets through quite a few logs in a short time so ends up costing more. They don't burn that efficiently (forget the Flam vert sticker that's smoke and mirrors.
Jotul are quality and burn far more efficiently using less logs and a more complete burn, they are good enough to be listed on the DEFRA site as smokeless area use which is a good sign.
I saw the Invictor newer models have changed with fire brick lining so hopefully more efficient now days but efficiency of 80%+ should be the target if you are permanently resident. I bought on looks and regret it but have made some improvements.
There are some really efficient stoves out there.