Lovely review from Mr Gascoigne on Trustpilot, which isn't only such a help for building confidence for prospective customers, but helps us to build the picture of what our system is capable of achieving in proper homes. Layout, volume, levels of insulation and the construction materials - as well as the climate - all make such a difference to heating performance. We know our units will always give more heat and distribute that far more effectively, but it's only with experience that we can more confidently advise on whether your home will be able to use your Recoheat-enhanced stove as the only or primary heat source - thereby saving thousands in heating bills over the course of a few years' use.
Here's the review, which you read on Trustpilot there: Mr Gascoigne – Reviews (trustpilot.com)
"I followed Recoheat online for several months and decided to install one when re-working our wood burning stove installation. I've used stoves for over 20 years as only heat sources and as supplementary ones in different houses. I wanted to install an outside air kit on our stove so that was the opportunity to install the Recoheat this summer. The work on the wall for the air supply behind the stove meant I could site the Recoheat pump outside too.
I've been running the stove with Recoheat for a couple of months, but have really needed it in the last few weeks in cooler weather. The house is a 4 bedroom stone built farmhouse in a coastal southern Scotland. Since fitting the Recoheat I have not run the heating in the house. I will do in the coming months and will report again.
The stove installation is set well back into the original fireplace in a large (6m*4.5m) sitting room with 2.6m ceiling, two windows and two doors. The 5kW stove could heat the room well if the doors were shut but in a cool part of the house, if a door is open there is no hope of being comfortably warm in the room as the heat leaves immediately with cold drafts across the floor.
I used to run the stove with the room door open to the stairs during the day in the hope of heating the upstairs of the house somewhat, while preheating the sitting room for the evening, it made at most 1.5 deg C of difference to the upstairs and though it felt better, neither the upstairs or the living room was comfortable, even after hours of burning.
With the Recoheat running and the stove fuelled intermittently, I am finding a significant difference in the sitting room. With the room door open there is still enough heat in the room to feel comfortable, certainly after a couple of hours have passed as the landing outside the room is noticeably warmer so there is a lot less cold air rushing across the floor. I am seeing an increase in the upstairs temperature of up to 4 degC after 6 hours burning, I expect this would increase if I lit the fire earlier in the day.
I don't find any difference with how the stove operates or lights having the Recoheat in place, either turned on or off.
Yesterday I turned the Recoheat off mid afternoon to swap sockets for the pump and forgot to turn it back on for over 2 hours. The temperature gradient in the room was immediately noticeable when I came back in, I could feel the floor was cold and my head was in warmth, just as the room used to feel last year if we left the door open. 30 minutes with the Recoheat back on sorted it though. That experience moved me to write this review today.
A comment on the noise as I have been asked about it: I wouldn't choose to listen to music in the same room with the Recoheat running as the white noise hiss from the nozzle is audible, especially directly in front of the stove. Otherwise, for example for reading in the room I don't find it distracting or disturbing. The pump is inaudible installed outside. Dealing with Recoheat: I had no problem dealing with Recoheat directly. I asked questions about the recommended options before purchase and got very fast, and useful replies.
I elected to purchase a 330mm flue pipe Recoheat so I could completely replace the lower section of flue rather than buying the 75mm one and having to buy other bits as well. I re-painted our stove while I had the chance and did the Recoheat to match, it took the paint (Calfire stove paint) well and looks excellent.
I have the pump powered via a Wiser Heating smart socket that turns off automatically every day at 2am so I can leave the pump running and the room door open in the evening and the pump takes care of itself after the fire is out. I may experiment with extending this time if I fuel the fire later into the evening.
Needless to say, I recommend Recoheat, particularly if you use a stove for heating more than just occasionally. In a cool house, or a room where temperature gradient means sharing the heat with adjacent spaces is less comfortable, it is superb. For us, it has really expanded the way we can use the stove, and undoubtedly the efficiency of the installation."
Mr Gascoigne subsequently sent us a few additional notes and the pictures of the stunning fireplace.
"The stove is a Dik Geurts Ivar 5.
The house is of unknown age but it's at least 300 years old from church records anyway, the fire is in a room in the oldest part of the house, the cheeks and lintel are typical Dumfries sandstone though the house is granite. The hearth I made from two large Lancashire slates from roofing work on the old farm outbuildings. The fireplace is the original stone one we found behind 2 more recent, smaller fireplaces."
The point about changing the heat profile in the room in 30 minutes - from warm up top and cold below - demonstrates that it is the stirring action of the roiling jet of turbulent air that is so effective, rather than simply adding heat or blowing it off the top of the stove. There's no way additional heat could make that difference in that time with anything smaller than an industrial fan heater. That it is achieved with our small pump and the 8mm jet is down to the whacky physics employed, not by volume of air or energy expended.
It's fascinating to have such an accurate picture of the system in action - thank you so much to Mr Gascoigne.
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