Deva 100 Cookstove Q & (hopefully) A. Owners & those considering

[akbear]

Since there seems to be little in the way of reviews over the Hergóm / HearthStone Deva 100 Range Cooker, let's start up a conversation and see what we can accomplish. Hopefully too, we can flush out a few more owners as I can't be the only one in North America that took the plunge and bought one. If not, then I guess I'll wind up being the guinea pig. One caveat, though, this is my first cookstove and the first winter I'll be using it, so if it's just me answering, it will be a learning experience for me as well and/or it may take me time to give back an impression or experience, but it's a start if nothing else.

So, fire away with questions, observations and thoughts and let's see what happens.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for posting akbear. I've only seen this stove on a showroom floor. It sure is a good looker. Why not start by giving us a tour of the stove and its features? The cooktop layout is unusual for a cook stove. Is that a convective vent in front of the flue collar? Is there anything unique about the firebox? How do you clean soot accumulation?

 

[NW Walker]

I agree, it's beautiful. It caught my eye on the showroom floor as well, so much so I grabbed the brochure and it's still on my coffee table. I'd love to hear about your experience as you go through the winter.

 

[akbear]

In front of the top flue exit (I moved the collar to the rear exit on mine of course) is what they claim to be a grilling plate, and even though this is enamelled cast iron, I personally could not imagine using it as such and wanting to clean that area off, plus it's most likely the coolest part of the top (though with a top flue exit I suspect it would get somewhat warmer than my configuration as some of the heat of the collar would conduct into it). In any event, I plan to use the "grill" part as a warming area and since I'm likely overly paranoid about thermal shock (I don't even like to put a pyrex casserole into a preheated oven) I'll be preheating cookware there too. (and it's not as though I've never cooked on a ceramic glass top before, but it's one thing putting a pot of cold water on a cold stovetop and turning on the burner than it is doing that with a burner already on full blazing hot).

It is kind of a shame that they are only importing one model, colour and options as otherwise a cast iron top would have been available as well (but if one really wanted to, or wound up perhaps breaking the top, the simple rectangular top should be easily replaced with whatever one would want I should think). That said, perhaps one of the advantages to the ceramic top (besides ease of cleaning) would be for summer use since it would nearly be as responsive as an electric when it came to time of applying heat to being at cooking temp, and being able to then let the fire die out before the cast iron components had a chance to soak up the heat (and not having to resort to removing a hob for direct flame contact).

For cleaning the airways, there of course is a cleanout door below the oven, but the easiest part is that the ceramic glass top in it's own frame lifts off. The grill plate appears as if it would do the same, but unfortunately when I had the top off, I did not try that, so I can't say for sure if it needs to be unbolted first (by either the collar/cover bolts or if there were two under that securing it to the flueway in the stove). I just didn't pay attention as much as I should, but I do know I'll have to remove the top exit cover to access the bypass part of the flueway should it require removing other bolts below instead of lifting off in one piece. This does, though, bring up an oddity. Using the rear exit on this stove still does mean that to some extent that even while using the bypass, the flueway in that configuration still does a short downflow before it can exit (while it certainly shortens the route that goes fully around the oven, the rear exit still is lower than where it exits the firebox).

 

[akbear]

the firebox on this is larger than the esse ironheart, but log length is slightly shorter. (If I recall correctly, the esse is 1.43 cu ft and takes an 19 1/2" log, the deva is 1.65 cu ft, but takes a 17" log). There is about a 3 inch lip from the bottom of the firebox to the lower edge of the loading door opening and firebrick is on the sides, the back appears to be cast iron (though the back of the stove is insulated). The bottom of the firebox is almost hard to explain, there is a cast iron frame that a firebrick insert fits into the centre, but then there is a cast iron insert that fits into the firebrick which also has a cast iron grate insert in the centre of that. So perhaps the downside would be that firebrick would have to be ordered from the dealer for the stove as I'm unsure one could take generic firebrick and whittle or grind the needed shapes without great difficulty. (I did find a decent pictorial of a breakdown/assembly of the stove on the antiquestoves site, just look down the page for the picture of the deva, click on it and it will take you to that page.) Other than that, it seems quite simple, there are only two controls on the stove, the bypass lever on the front, and the air control on the bottom of the ash door (which seems to be an incredibly small air intake compared to other stoves (especially when comparing to something like the flameview)

 

[charly]

the firebox on this is larger than the esse ironheart, but log length is slightly shorter. (If I recall correctly, the esse is 1.43 cu ft and takes an 19 1/2" log, the deva is 1.65 cu ft, but takes a 17" log). There is about a 3 inch lip from the bottom of the firebox to the lower edge of the loading door opening and firebrick is on the sides, the back appears to be cast iron (though the back of the stove is insulated). The bottom of the firebox is almost hard to explain, there is a cast iron frame that a firebrick insert fits into the centre, but then there is a cast iron insert that fits into the firebrick which also has a cast iron grate insert in the centre of that. So perhaps the downside would be that firebrick would have to be ordered from the dealer for the stove as I'm unsure one could take generic firebrick and whittle or grind the needed shapes without great difficulty. (I did find a decent pictorial of a breakdown/assembly of the stove on the antiquestoves site, just look down the page for the picture of the deva, click on it and it will take you to that page.) Other than that, it seems quite simple, there are only two controls on the stove, the bypass lever on the front, and the air control on the bottom of the ash door (which seems to be an incredibly small air intake compared to other stoves (especially when comparing to something like the flameview)

Here's what easily fits in my Esse... I also have a bypass for the oven heat, a built in pipe damper on the stove outlet, a primary draft at the bottom and a secondary draft at the top of the firebox. You can see the knob in the upper left.. Once my fire is going I completely close my bottom draft and just use the secondary upper draft which creates those nice ghost flames above the fire, thus giving me a super clean burn,, burning off the secondary gases.. Good luck with your new stove.. looks great...

 

[661Lance]

In front of the top flue exit (I moved the collar to the rear exit on mine of course) is what they claim to be a grilling plate, and even though this is enamelled cast iron, I personally could not imagine using it as such and wanting to clean that area off, plus it's most likely the coolest part of the top (though with a top flue exit I suspect it would get somewhat warmer than my configuration as some of the heat of the collar would conduct into it). In any event, I plan to use the "grill" part as a warming area and since I'm likely overly paranoid about thermal shock (I don't even like to put a pyrex casserole into a preheated oven) I'll be preheating cookware there too. (and it's not as though I've never cooked on a ceramic glass top before, but it's one thing putting a pot of cold water on a cold stovetop and turning on the burner than it is doing that with a burner already on full blazing hot).

It is kind of a shame that they are only importing one model, colour and options as otherwise a cast iron top would have been available as well (but if one really wanted to, or wound up perhaps breaking the top, the simple rectangular top should be easily replaced with whatever one would want I should think). That said, perhaps one of the advantages to the ceramic top (besides ease of cleaning) would be for summer use since it would nearly be as responsive as an electric when it came to time of applying heat to being at cooking temp, and being able to then let the fire die out before the cast iron components had a chance to soak up the heat (and not having to resort to removing a hob for direct flame contact).

For cleaning the airways, there of course is a cleanout door below the oven, but the easiest part is that the ceramic glass top in it's own frame lifts off. The grill plate appears as if it would do the same, but unfortunately when I had the top off, I did not try that, so I can't say for sure if it needs to be unbolted first (by either the collar/cover bolts or if there were two under that securing it to the flueway in the stove). I just didn't pay attention as much as I should, but I do know I'll have to remove the top exit cover to access the bypass part of the flueway should it require removing other bolts below instead of lifting off in one piece. This does, though, bring up an oddity. Using the rear exit on this stove still does mean that to some extent that even while using the bypass, the flueway in that configuration still does a short downflow before it can exit (while it certainly shortens the route that goes fully around the oven, the rear exit still is lower than where it exits the firebox).

Hello,
New to this forum, referred here by Woody from Obadiah.
I am planning to buy the Deva 100 to replace our pellet stove insert at our fireplace in the living room with the idea of fuel availability and heat/cooking with or without electricity.
We will be heating a large living room/dining area which goes off to a kitchen and a hallway towards bedrooms. The old Whitfield pellet stove would barely keep up on nights that got down to 15 degrees.

I am purchasing this cooking wood stove just from information on the internet since I don't have access to a showroom. Thank you for the great photos!

I have a few questions to ask you that would be helpful:
What is the fit and finish like? Is it durable?
Do you get plenty of heat to the room?
Can you get a burn that is slow enough to last overnight?
Have you baked much in this oven, and is it fairly even temperature?

I'm sure I will probably come up with more soon.

Thank you,
Lance

 

[akbear]

What is the fit and finish like? Is it durable?

I'm very pleased with the fit and finish of the stove, the front is gloss enamel over cast iron, the sides are gloss enamel over insulated steel and even the back (which is insulated metal, but not gloss enamel) is about what you'd expect to see on the back of a modern large appliance. The worst thing I could say about my stove in particular is that the rail across the front near the top is not tight enough that I can't rotate it (which if it proved to be something that irritated me, it could easily be solved with perhaps a spritz of gorilla glue or a set screw into the holders of that bar), and the bakelite handle for the firebox (the handle portion snaps in with a spring loaded ball bearing catch) holds in place fine, but is somewhat loose and doesn't take any exceptional effort to remove (again something that if it proved bothersome I could think of various fixes or I suppose even simply request a replacement handle, though perhaps it would be as easy as adding a drop of penetrating oil to make the "latching mechanism" more responsive)

Do you get plenty of heat to the room? Can you get a burn that is slow enough to last overnight? Have you baked much in this oven, and is it fairly even temperature?

I'll lump these together into I really can't answer these yet.
I have only so far done a few test fires, and it seems to put out some serious heat (top and front, while the back and sides so far have remained so far touchable except for the very top on the firebox side, but so far even in that one spot I have not gotten a reading that approaches 200). The morning after test fires the cast iron components were still giving off warmth, (and mind you I have not loaded the firebox up, just at most a few pieces of wood at any one time and sizes from maybe 1" to 4" in circumference).

So here again, I can't answer about the oven either yet, at best I have only had a fire big enough or long enough for the oven door thermometer to read 200 or so (I doubt I've yet approached 250). I plan with my future fires to further test with an oven thermometer on the rack in the centre of the oven, so there will be some extra information to come.

Lastly, there will be of course more testing and use to come, it just really hasn't been cold enough to do much yet. Plus, as I had mentioned my first choice would have been the esse, and one of the reasons for that is the esse is rated for 20,800 btu (the deva is rated 46,000). I have a rather small place with canadian envelope walls (also while it does get very cold here, it's very dry and rather wind free, which means that even though it can get past 60 below, the heat isn't being robbed off so easily). My oil heater (toyo laser 30) is only 14,800 btu. so does that mean I'll only be running smaller fires or letting the fire go out or nearly so and letting the stove coast most of the time (and not really be able to answer the will it hold over night question properly) it's all something we'll just have to wait and see just how it plays out.

 

[akbear]

well, you got me to learn something today. After taking a picture of the firebox door handle I then compared it to the ash door handle, which is different as it doesn't have the quick connect fastener on it. So, now we know the firebox handle was designed so one could remove it to keep it cool and just snap it into place when opening the door. So far with the test fires it simply didn't get hot enough to bother doing that.

But, I will say one thing I already learned when I had the stove going, not to grab the handle too close to the pivoting point. In other words, the metal part that the handle snaps into on the door does get hot.

 

[661Lance]

well, you got me to learn something today. After taking a picture of the firebox door handle I then compared it to the ash door handle, which is different as it doesn't have the quick connect fastener on it. So, now we know the firebox handle was designed so one could remove it to keep it cool and just snap it into place when opening the door. So far with the test fires it simply didn't get hot enough to bother doing that.

But, I will say one thing I already learned when I had the stove going, not to grab the handle too close to the pivoting point. In other words, the metal part that the handle snaps into on the door does get hot. View attachment 111806

Thank you for the great feedback! It probably won't be too much longer till the temperature drops to where you will be using this stove for heat and the cooking will be taking place as a bonus. We will probably have our stove by then and be able to add our reviews as well, moving forward with the Deva 100 purchase.

 

[Obadiah]

Yippi Kia! Way to go AKBear! I see Lance found his way here to, so far so good, Thanks!

 

[akbear]

A few observations after running the stove last night. First off I'm just tickled at how easily the smoke cleaned off the firebox glass after having cleaned it for the first time prior the other day with that Rutland 84 conditioning cleaner (the blue creamy stuff). Had I have known that I would have bought some ahead of time and cleaned the glass with it before ever using the stove. Almost wondering if using it on the underside of the glass ceramic top would have made a future stove cleaning easier, although to tell the truth, if beyond that it also suppressed or made a reduction in the amount of soot or smoke that collected on the underside of the top I might not care much for the result as it's enough to see flames through the top above a rapid fire (well, what you'd expect to see through a very heavy set of welding glasses), but really not all that much different from seeing the bright red glow of an electric or halogen burner on a glass topped stove (when the underside of the top was completely clean, though, I must say it was a surprise to suddenly realise the flames could be seen.

Another related item is it would be nice to know what a proper cooktop temperature would be on the stove, though that might be difficult to gauge as just like an electric glass cooktop, there can be so many zones across the top just due to the nature of a ceramic glass cooktop (Depending on the size and momentum of the fire, I've seen temps so far anywhere from 500 to 650 or even 750 right above the flame, but above the oven next to the grill plate (which at the time was about 300 and the top flue exit cap was running around 200) the top was more like 350 in that spot. Of course that all means I should have plenty of different cooking zones available, though I may still resort to an enamelled cast iron trivet on the grill portion should I find any of those to be more than what I want for a low simmer on something. All this brings up another point, or perhaps limitation to the glass cooktop, and that's only flat bottomed stainless or enamelled cookware, no aluminium or uncoated cast iron, and I have yet to find a canner that would be ok on a glass top (though even if I did I'm not sure I'd want to gamble that the glass would support that much weight and heat restriction over such a wide area that if I do wind up canning again I may instead resort to buying a propane turkey fryer should I see one on sale as who really does want all that heat and steam in the house during the heat of the summer). Anyhow, the way they say to gauge this stove is by the oven temperature and say not to add wood past an oven temp of 475 and choke the stove down before it reaches 575.



I did wind up baking a small test loaf of bread, and I'd have to say it came out well enough that I might even repeat the test to see what happens doing it exactly the same way, but in one of the cast iron pans instead which might be a much more appropriate sized pan for that amount of dough without resorting to using the kitchen aid instead of the mini-zo to make up the dough (more about that and lunacy (well, perhaps a day late for the full moon) that lead up to that point over here https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/whos-burning.114036/page-2#post-1523759)

 

[SteveKG]

You might even want more than one trivet. Lodge makes some good ones, though not enamel coated, for something like $7. As far as the top temp's, ok if you are interested just to know. However, with only a little experience you will "know" where to put a pan, depending on what you are cooking. You will need to move pans around to control the heat, but that is no more trouble than turning the knob on a gas stove. I have come to the point where I can have several pots on our stove, all cooking in different areas, and shuffle them around as the process dictates. I never thought about finding out what the actual temperature is though. But the trivets are worth their price without a doubt. I have them hanging on the wall behind the stove for storage and use them quite frequently. With practice, and not very much of it, you'll be in control in no time.

 

[661Lance]

My family and I are really impressed with your bread baking skills!
I have discussed the issue of canning with Woody and going with his recommendation of having a quarter inch thick stainless steel plate made to replace the glass cook-top.
Should solve the problem.
Have you tried cooking meat on the grilling plate yet?

 

[akbear]

You might even want more than one trivet.

I actually have two that I bought off amazon a while back that should I need one I can just slide the rubber feet off and rotated just right it will fit solidly over the grilling plate.

I have discussed the issue of canning with Woody and going with his recommendation of having a quarter inch thick stainless steel plate made to replace the glass cook-top. Should solve the problem. Have you tried cooking meat on the grilling plate yet?

I really don't think I want to grill anything on the grilling plate (even though it's enamel coated, for me it seems like it would be an extra cleaning job I don't want to take on. Instead I'll be using the area as warming area (and prewarming kettles before putting them on the ceramic top), to simmer things and if the lowest temp of all (for me on the top flue exit cap) isn't low enough, then I'll pull out one of the trivets.

A steel top seems a good solution, especially if one plans canning. I imagine if this stove was available here with the standard cast iron top it would be just as heavy as most every other cookstove. Another thought about a modification, I am going to just see what it would cost to have a metal fabricator make a backsplash and warming oven as this does project a good share of heat that I'd rather be directed away from the wall and ceiling above (Not that I've reached any wall temps of worry as of yet, plus on top of that my walls are canadian envelope to start with, but behind the stove it's modified so that behind the tile and cement board there are copper bell standoffs in the airspace and a class A radiant barrier over the studs, I'm the type that would like to see a greater margin there. And of course beyond just the tests and getting a feel for the stove, it's most likely that I'll be looking for the best combination for running the stove slowly as when it comes to heat I probably could have gotten away with buying a sardine stove (http://www.marinestove.com/sardineinfo.htm) but I have yet to come across a woodfired easy bake oven (I'd just have to make very tiny casseroles and baked goods that I'd have to fight the dog over)

 

[akbear]

today was another test of sorts, around 10.30a I got the stove started with one match and 1/4 of a super cedar, not a wisp of smoke in the house (until the neighbour came by later...), so as the day didn't appear to be making any move to break the mid 30s I decided to try a slow fire for the day and cook a kettle of pea soup on it. So after it was going well enough to close down the bypass (yep, I remembered this time) and took the air intake down to about half, I pretty much just added a 3-4 inch thick log maybe spaced as much as an hour apart (white spruce and one of birch or alder, I can never tell the difference unless I see them in the distance when they're budding out and even then I couldn't tell you which ones appear to be green and which ones appear to be red/purple), that kept the oven temp to between 225 and 250 if I didn't let it burn down too much, later on I let it slack off and the oven temp went down to the 200-225 range. Mostly I kept the soup on the grill plate (especially after when my neighbour came by and stuck a few smaller pieces of wood in it and opened the intake back to full, which started my soup to boil over a bit while on the far right front corner of the top. Notice these antics will likely be an ongoing thing and another proof of the too many cooks adage...). Around 6 I no longer added any wood and the fire died out by 6.30 or so. Of course I did have two windows about half way open, and not too long after I did close one of them, but it wasn't until 2.am that the oil heater (set on 70) kicked on and 2.30a that the top was just about cool enough to clean off the remainder of the spill (right over the firebox it was still warm enough that the cleaner dried out too quickly). The firebox window glass cleaned nearly as easy as last time with a few triple size cotton balls and the rutland 84 cleaner, though this time only the middle came away like wet mud on a piece of china, the edges did take a bit of buffing. Considering that I left the fire go down to embers a few times and didn't do much more than toss another piece of wood in most times, I'd say it was a success to see if I could keep just a small fire going throughout a day (and on a lot smaller fire than I've seen my friend's flameview running for the same oven temperature range). It's going to be interesting to see what differences occur in cold weather, though, as a day in january could be as much as 95 degrees less than it was today if it had the gumption to do so.

 

[akbear]

Well, I no longer feel slighted that I missed out on getting an Esse. Last night I had nothing better to do, so I went about seeing how much was involved in giving the Deva a cleaning. Of course we already knew that the top just lifts off (and it's easily done by one person, just push up from underneath with one hand, grab the front edge with the other and then with both hands lift it away)

As I suspected, the grill plate is held down by two bolt sets which only have to be loosened and slid off the prongs (I have since left them off as I'm using the rear exit and while not being transported the cast iron grill plate would hardly have the mind to simply float away, and as for me, do I want to remove 6 bolts or none for a cleaning? (4 bolts holding the top exit cover down and two bolt sets securing the grill plate) Obviously I refastened the bolts holding the top exit coverplate when I put it back together.


Then the grill plate simply lifts off giving full access to the downdraught flueway on the far side of the oven and other areas which need attention (and of course lastly would be to rake the ashes from the bottom through the hatch under the oven)


Compared to other cookstoves I have seen, there really aren't any places that are overly difficult to access, and no baffles or gussets to serve as problem areas, though I came to the conclusion that a long bottle brush and/or an ash vacuum will be much more effective than using the scraper tool, and none that are totally inaccessible from one access point or another. Also I'd like to add some clarification about what I had said about still having some downflow when using the bypass and the rear exit. It's somewhat visible in the picture above, but here is a closeup through the bypass door prior to cleaning

The top of the rear exit is somewhat lower than the bypass doorway, but nowhere near as restrictive or complicated as I had imagined from looking at assembly pictures of this model.

 

[Obadiah]

Sweet! I'm likin Ms. Deva more and more. She sure looks like she is burnin a lot nicer than yer neighbor Sharon's FVeiw.

I just got my first shipment of La Nordica's yesterday. I have a Italy, a Surprema, and a Rosa. I have not had time to uncrate them yet, but I hope to at least get one installed before I bug out to the Caribbean for some badly needed R&R, been a busy season. When I get back I'll share what I find with them.

I also have a Deva that I'll bring in and disassemble and burn before Spring. We'll shoot some more You Tubes. Looking forward to some more cookstove variations of the European gender. They are a compact cookstove for sure, which I guess goes with the territory.

For those wood cookstove folks out there who are preparing a feast on their stove for the Holiday festivities, I'm sponsoring a "Cookstove Cook-off" with lots of great prizes going to the best looking feast prepared on a wood cook stove. For details (broken link removed to http://cookstoves.net/cookstove-cook-off-competition/)

Thanks for postin AK and here is wishin everyone out there in Hearth-land and very Blessed CHRIST-mas! and prosperous New Year! May your Hearths stay warm, your hearts stay generous. In case I don't get back here again before I leave for some SonShine!

 

[Biscuit67]

Hi all... joining the party late. We have been looking for a woodcock stove for a while. We have a large space not that well insulated, its a renovated church.... but the woodcock stove will not be in the main space. We have an area around 1400 square foot to heat. Our main aim is to heat with the possibility of cooking 2 - 3 times a week.

We started looking at the J A Roby as it chuffs out heat, we are in Quebec and thought local would be good (Parts and service etc) When we checked it out it seems ... not sure what the words are.. not chunky, not well made, almost... a few things like hinges are thin and held with a small metal screw. Just wondering about the life of the machine. Loved the fact that it has up to 96,000 BTU and big oven. It is also BIG, but very low !

Next on the list is the Deva 100, love the look of this, so a few questions for AK bear. Can you get it burning all night, does it heat well. What temp can you get the oven to. By the way I've used my cast iron pans for years on our glass top cooker, no problems, just wondering what your thoughts were. Any others you would have gone for.

Thanks so much. This site is a GREAT recourse and we appreciate everyones input.

Cheers,

 

[begreen]

Welcome Biscuit. Give Obidiah's website a look. They have several cookstove options and a lot of info on their website. Heartland makes nice stoves. Another solid beauty would be the Esse Ironheart.
http://woodstoves.net/cookstoves.htm

 

[Biscuit67]

Welcome Biscuit. Give Obidiah's website a look. They have several cookstove options and a lot of info on their website. Heartland makes nice stoves. Another solid beauty would be the Esse Ironheart.
http://woodstoves.net/cookstoves.htm

Hi begreen, yep been mulling over Obidiah's web site for a while, tons of info that has served me well. LOVE the Esse but not quite hot enough fro our space... Also difficult to get in Quebec. Thinking will go for the J A Roby as it is local and gives a lot of heat, cooking will be secondary for us.

Cheers