Ecco Stove from the UK - anyone have experience with one?

[GreenLiving57]

Hi, I have read this forum for years - finally posting!

I'm wondering if any forum members have experience with the Ecco Stove from the UK. It's easy to say "yay or nay" based on marketing and specs - but I'm looking for someone that has actually seen, felt, touched, and/or USED one!
http://eccostove.com/

They do look and sound great, as basically a small masonry stove - but I'm wondering if their performance
is better than other stoves with mass - such as Hearthstone or similar soapstone stoves, or any of the high quality, highly efficient wood burning stoves in todays marketplace?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. It's unlikely that one has done a comparison between this stove and US sold, UL tested stoves so the responses may be subjective at best. Are you considering moving to the UK and purchasing one?

For US made and approved soapstone stoves take a look Woodstock's line. The Progress Hybrid is very efficient.

 

[GreenLiving57]

Hi - I'm in the US, and thinking of shipping one "over the pond"!

The "Ecco Stove" from what I know is the only "hybrid masonry heater/stove" I can find on the market, with actual built in controflow channels - that can be put together, in an hour, with no mortar. I'm definitely NOT trying to sell, or promote these things, I'm just looking for information that would prove/disprove their sales literature - before I cough up the 7 - 8 grand it would cost to get one here to the US. I have found only a vague reference to them on this site in a couple of threads. Most any and every other brand of stoves, there are plenty of "they are GREAT" and "they SUCK" type info out there - not on the Ecco Stove - for a stove that appears to be very different from most everything else on the market today, there is very little concrete customer based information out there. There are two models approved for sale in the US, and the "678" I am looking into, weights in at just over 1200 lbs - and this mass alone is more than double the soapstone stoves I have looked into, which this alone should provide higher overall performance.

I'm a huge fan of masonry heater/stoves. It's dissapointing, that over the years, they really have never taken off widely in the US,and are still extremely expensive, with even the cheapest core kits around 5K, not including install and veneers, which lead even the simplest ones starting around 20K - unless you build one yourself of course.

But you rarely hear of anyone that actually has built a masonry stove complaining about anything other than the cost!

I have been VERY close to purchasing a core-kit and building one myself - but although I'm a handyman - I am not a skilled mason and, and might run into issues. I have looked into the Rocket Mass type heaters that are all the rage with some, but they appear too experimental for my taste.

Hopefully someone on this site, has some info that is not sales literature based - but actual non biased reviews - on the Ecco Stove!

 

[begreen]

I suspect that these stoves are not cheap (~$4000), shipping would be extremely expensive. At ~600# these stoves are not light. It would also be against code and uninsurable without a UL tag. The Progress Hybrid would do the job and it has more mass. Or maybe consider a small Tulikivi?
(broken link removed to https://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can)

 

[GreenLiving57]

Hi, my issue with the Tulikivi - or similar US made masonry heater cores - like Empire, Albie-Core, etc, - all fine products - is getting them built, at a price one can afford! I have actually had an in home quote, and it STARTED at 20K - for a real nice large one more like double that! I'm about 90% sure with my limited masonry skills I could actually build one myself - but if I ran into issues, I would be left with a non-functioning 5000 lb hunk of masonry! I guess I could always call it "art"

My goal is to get a stove that can maintain my home, about 1250 square feet, above 50 degrees, 24/7, and able to go 12 hours between loading time. I'm in a location that can have brutal 20 below winters, and have a LOT of solar glass that is a huge heat loss in the winter.

Although I have a lifetime of using wood stoves - I am not familiar with, and am going to start researching the Progress Hybrid - thank you for the advice!

 

[jetsam]

Masonry stoves can be great for many applications.

Just remember that when comparing steel or iron heaters to stone (concrete/firebrick/soapstone)- forget the marketing, and there is a LOT of false and misleading marketing around soapstone.

Steel and iron have much higher thermal conductivity than stone. Stone has higher thermal capacity than steel or iron. So the metals transmit heat quickly (they are heat conductors), and the stones transmit is slowly (they are heat insulators). Unlike fiberglass insulation, stones can also store a lot of heat.

So if you can only have short hot fires but need long gradual heat, put lots of thermal capacity (stone) around the fire and it will absorb the heat and release it slowly. Making an effective whole house heater this way requires a huge, extremely heavy, and very expensive unit, but they can work well and be incredible to look at.

If you need short hot fires and high heat right away, make the entire stove metal, and the conductive metal will release the heat right away.

Some fancy metal stoves can also do long efficient low heat, but not by insulating the firebox. BKs use a cat and a thermostat to get there.

I don't think you will ever see whole house masonry heaters catch on in the U.S.- too many people have framed houses with basements, and the cost and space requirements of putting in such a heavy unit are high, in a market that has ready access to smaller, lighter, cheaper steel stoves that provide heat more quickly.

Wood stoves themselves are already a niche market... a gas/electric space heater is even lighter, cheaper, easier, and faster to provide heat, and the number of people who have them reflects this. We few masochists here are a really small and strange slice of the market.

 

[peakbagger]

I would probably just get the description of Dick hills home brew masonry heater build one myself

http://www.hotandcold.tv/masonry_stove.html

Of course there is no known listing for home brew stove but arguable its just a fireplace.

 

[Woody Stover]

My goal is to get a stove that can maintain my home, about 1250 square feet, above 50 degrees, 24/7, and able to go 12 hours between loading time. I'm in a location that can have brutal 20 below winters, and have a LOT of solar glass that is a huge heat loss in the winter.

My BIL is on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, and has a Russian fireplace. I would think that a masonry heater would be more suited to a location like his, where the ocean moderates temp extremes. In your location, I would opt for a stove that can increase or decrease its output quickly, to handle the cold snaps that you apparently endure where you live.

 

[collosal mistake]

Hi, I have read this forum for years - finally posting!

I'm wondering if any forum members have experience with the Ecco Stove from the UK. It's easy to say "yay or nay" based on marketing and specs - but I'm looking for someone that has actually seen, felt, touched, and/or USED one!
http://eccostove.com/

They do look and sound great, as basically a small masonry stove - but I'm wondering if their performance
is better than other stoves with mass - such as Hearthstone or similar soapstone stoves, or any of the high quality, highly efficient wood burning stoves in todays marketplace?

Thanks for any feedback.

You are welcome to PM me if you'd like!
There's a reason why it's pretty much impossible on the internet to find genuine owners raving about them (and not dealers leaving reviews) and if you leave an honest unfavourable review, they send a cease and desist letter.
We now have a 12 kw Invicta woodstove in our large loungeroom and are finally warm (and our Invicta only cost us £1200, and looks good!)

 

[armanidog]

You could use a steel woodstove/insert in a masonry jacket. Build a masonry box big enough so a wood stove/insert fits snugly into it. If you want more mass just add layers of brick.
The good thing is that you can replace the stove/insert if needed. You do not need a masonry chimney so you would save the cost of that versus a double wall metal chimney.

 

[begreen]

2018 thread. The OP bought a Hearthstone Heritage I believe.