Esse Ironheart vs Margin Flameview cookstoves

[Burn-1]

WoodburnerAU you have a lot more choices for good to high quality wood stoves down there than we do in the US with not only the brands you mentioned but also Thermalux and Nectre. I'm jealous.

I would love it if we could get the (broken link removed to http://www.pivotstove.com.au/catalogue/cookers/hydronic-stoves/grand-crusine) over here, two ovens, a wok plate and the ability to get a back boiler for heat and hot water. (broken link removed to http://www.youtube.com/user/Pivotheat#p/u/36/GkAw36RhF4Y)

You should check out Pivot Stove and Heating if you haven't already. Their website is great as are their (broken link removed to http://www.youtube.com/user/Pivotheat). They have an excellent six part wood stove cooking class demonstration on Youtube on both an Esse Ironheart as well as the more AGA-like Esse 990.

 

[WoodburnerAU]

Burn-1, Yes I was at Pivot Stoves at the weekend as they are the Esse dealer here, I too thought the Thermalux would be a brillant choice, but sadly it looks far better in Pictures then in real life (my opinion only, not saying anything bad about it).

In my opinion, the Esse 990 has a far better door closure system then any on the others (slam doors) instead of the fiddly closings system of the others and the larger hotplate area is a nice bonus, we will be looking at getting the companion electric stove as well, so all in all a nice look, the enameled range hood is a nice finishing touch, but at this stage is not available for the larger 990 plus companion as the overall width is 90mm wider, hopefully it will be made, or we may just need to put up with the slight difference.

Thats if we decide to go with the ESSE, we will be visiting Pivot Stoves again this weekend with more questions

Plus the pricing is very similar for all the stoves, ESSE, RAYBURN, STANLEY & the THERMALUX GRAND CUISINE so it really gets done to personal preferences.

 

[Obadiah]

Greetings Folks, sorry for the slow reply, was out on my sailboat all last week, relaxing before our wildfire season kicks off here in a few weeks.
Thought I'd share this picture of Glacier National Park from 50 miles to the south. It was a beautiful evening and a marvelous Montana sunset!
Nothing to do with Cookers, just thought some of you would enjoy this picture.

Looks like you have gotten some great advice so far. Greg and Tammie from Pivot Stoves are the ESSE folks for your area, they do a great job!
Tell em Woody from Obadiah's says "g'Day". I love Aussies, great firefighters and firelighters!

Funny how some cookers are a little disappointing when you get up close and personal. The fit and finish lives alot to be desired.

The ESSE's have been a quality stove and the castings are well made in Great Britain.
Amazing how many companies are having their castings made in China.
The cast iron is not the same. The castings are general not the best either, although they are getting much better with time.
So far we have been staying away from these products.

The new ESSE 990 is very exciting! We are anxiously awaiting its arrival here in North America. Can wait to get my hands on one so we can test it.
The new double firebox door with the inner glass is quite unique and clever. The emissions will make it the cleanest cooker we offer and should allow many folks in certain areas very happy.

Happy Sailing!

 

[woodchip]

Glacier National Park is beautiful, nice shots.

We stayed over the border in Waterton Lakes 5 years ago, similar views but from the other direction.

That trip was what started my interest in a wood stove.....

Everywhere we went over there seems to be heated by wood, and no surprise.......... ;-)

 

[WoodburnerAU]

I see you remembered your log-in details Woody :lol: with thanks to Charlie that passed that message on.

I have yet to return to Pivot Stoves, life got in the way.

Hopefully I will get an opportunity next month, no real rush as Spring is in the air and things are slowly warming up. But it would be nice to be able to have a new stove installed by next winter.

 

[Obadiah]

That's great! Thanks Charlie.

Our bookkeeper has been on a 1 yr sabbatical touring Australia with her husband. They are headed back after renewing their visa's.
She said that spring has sprung there and was anxious to get back!

Yeah logging on from an iPhone is not very easy, My laptop has a cookie so it just does it when when I click on.

Hope you enjoy your new cooker. Let us know what you end up with.

 

[charly]

That's great! Thanks Charlie.

Our bookkeeper has been on a 1 yr sabbatical touring Australia with her husband. They are headed back after renewing their visa's.
She said that spring has sprung there and was anxious to get back!

Yeah logging on from an iPhone is not very easy, My laptop has a cookie so it just does it when when I click on.

Hope you enjoy your new cooker. Let us know what you end up with.

Woody, Your very welcome , my friend!

 

[Obadiah]

This thread got me thinking, "why not provide detailed info for folks doing their homework before they purchase their stove?"
So we have been working on some You Tubes, I have almost finished the Esse Ironheart and have posted that info on our "Obadiah's Woodstoves, You Tube" page.
Currently we now have about 30 videos up on the Ironheart.
If you want to see the Cooker in action and watch me take it apart and put it back together again, this is a great place for that info. I show you things that make this the Rolls of cookstoves. It's all in the details and this stove has plenty that set it apart from the pack. I am getting ready to dive into the optional Boiler system, showing you how it installs in the stove and what your options are for "heating domestic hot water with a cookstove"
http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodyChain/videos?query=esse+Ironheart

I am currently working simular videos for the Margin Flameview.
We have stripped the stove to its core and re-assembled it showing you all the details that make the stove what it is. It's construction is obvious once you get the stove apart.
I have been able to understand the frustration and complaints we have received on this stove, much more in depth.
Those videos will be out very soon.

We will actually be comparing the Esse Ironheart, The Flame View and The Oval side by side, looking at Grandmas Cookstove, against, The Margin Flameview.
We look at how these cookstoves install, if they have oval flues......how well each stove burns, how well the oven heats, We look at things like how quick the cooker gets hot and how hot it actually gets. We also concider things like size of the firebox and the access door you use to feed the fire.
The less wood you have to handle to stay warm is important, getting up at 3am to stoke a stove gets old really fast!

It is my desire to do this for every product that Obadiah's offers.
This way folks that have the stove, can know how they work and how to properly maintain their hearth product for safety, even if they did not purchase from us.
The will be able to experience the strengths and weakness, of the product, before spending their hard earned $$ on something that may not be the wisest choice for their installation, or needs.
There are many questions out there that folks need honest answers to, not sales hype.

We have added how to for knowing and caring for firewood, relining chimneys, installing fireplace inserts, even protecting your chimneys from sliding snow on a metal roof and many other subjects.
We will add more info as we have time.
Hopefully this will be helpful to the Hearth.com readers.


Blessings!

 

[charly]

Well Woody, after a full season of burning the Esse, I couldn't be happier. It's kept us warm and at the same time cooked our food. Over night burns are no problem, always enough coals left to just add more wood. A well built stove. I love the adjustable door latches as well. Very well thought out. A big thanks for always being there to answer any questions. As a matter of fact , Miss Esse is running right now.

 

[charly]

After running the Esse all winter, I just opened the tee outside and looked up my chimney pipe. Barely enough build up to scrape with a finger nail. For the first 3 months the pipe still retained the reflective appearance inside. Amazingly clean burn. I was surprised as most of the heat stays in the stove. I see average flue temps of about 300 degrees. So it seems the Esse is holding up to it's 81% efficiency rating.

 

[Obadiah]

Ok as promised, here are the other YouTube's I said I'd post, the Ironheart Boiler is now up as well as how to clean your Ironheart.
http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodyChain/videos?query=esse+Ironheart

Next I will be restoring an Ironheart and repainting it for you on YouTube, coming up this month.

Here is the YT on the Flameview which started this thread, I have taken the stove apart and put it back together again and I am now fixin to burn it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodyChain/videos?query=flameview

Hopefully these will help explain things much better for folks so they can see how the stoves are built and how well they burn.
We do our best to put our opinions aside and just give you an honest assessment of the stoves we offer.
Unfortunately when it comes to cookstoves, few folks have a local dealer where they can go kick the tires so to speak, so we go one further and give you an inside look before you buy.

 

[WoodburnerAU]

G'day again all,
Been a while but the old wood stove split its boiler this winter brrrr, cold without it going even with the woodheater burning.
Not to mention the power bill from using the electric stove for cooking .
So last weekend a trip to Pivot stove in Melbourne, sees us buying a nice new 990WD Esse and all electric companion, rangehood and splashback at a nice saving due to the expo at the time .
So in the next month or so we will have it installed, even though summer will be in full swing I have a feeling xmas dinner will be provided by esse.
And looking forward to a nice toasty winter next year as well.
Cheers all, I'll get back and report when we fire it up.

I'll have to remember to say g'day to Greg for you as well Woody.

 

[Obadiah]

G'day Mate!

That is great news!
You also pulled the trigger on the new Plus 2 too.......wow, I am jealous......
You now have the best of both worlds, old fashion reliable wood, as well as one of the best electric cooking appliances available, The Plus 2.
This will open up a new world in wood cookstove's here on this side of the Pond....
We are pretty excited too.

The 990 is now in America and on its way to the testing lab for North American certifications, will be released for sale here, next year.
Reports are it will be among the cleanest burning cookstove's ever released! So I'll be putting my order in for one of the first that will be released on these shores.
Being an Esse dealer does have its benefits......
Hope you and your family have a Blessed Christmas, we are preparing to give Thanksgiving for all our Blessings here in America this Thursday. Bloody bad day if yer a Turkey though........

Please do give our regards to Greg and the Pivot Gang.

We are looking forward to your ongoing reviews and pics when your all gathered for your Christmas feast, prepared on your new Esse 990.

Cheers!

 

[baydraftmare]

After reading this entire post I'm extreemly interested in the new Esse 905 model range cooker with that electric Plus2 companion. I wonder how WoodburnerAU is liking thiers. It seems like Esse makes a great cookstove, but since I live in NC I won't be cooking with wood more than 6 months out of the year or so and it seems like a waste to drop $5000 + on an Ironheart stove I would only use half the time. The new range cooker seems like a great solution, and I'm hoping it'll be available very soon. Obadiah's post from last year (2011) said maybe this year (2012) they'd be available in the US but they aren't yet on the website. Come on 2013!

 

[Obadiah]

Greetings Baydraftmare, welcome to the best place to find like minded folks who are happy to help.

As far as I know, the 905 won’t be available in North America for a while yet. There was talk a couple years ago about it, but with the worldwide economic slump and rioting in the streets of Great Britain, it was not the best time to launch a new stove in North America. We'll see what the demand for the 990 turns out to be first. If they sell well then I'm sure ESSE will invest in the next round of testing and certification for the North American market. Few folks realize that it is not as simple as bringing the stoves here so we can sell them. All the cookstove's Obadiah's sells are UL listed and many CSA as well. This involves sending a stove to an approved lab like Omni Labs for testing. If we go for a EPA certification, that will involve different tests and expense. Getting a stove from overseas that is listed there, listed here, should be straight forward, it’s not. The testing has to be according to UL or CSA specs, so the European Certs don't apply here. The certification process has to be repeated here by an "Approved Lab" This process cost 10s of thousands of dollars. Currently cookstove's sales amount to less than 3% of woodstoves sold in the USA and as such is exempt from regulation from the EPA, so there is no reason to pay for that testing......yet.

I wish I could simply order a container of stoves from Firebelly Stoves in England as I really like their glass front cooker. I could offer them to my customers, but unless I want to also pay for the testing that gives my customer a UL/CSA sticker, there is no demand, few folks will pay for a stove that their insurance company may have a problem with, let alone the "inspector"... We have offered Amish cookstove's that were not UL listed and they did not sell well, because there is no demand. For that reason, I don't even bother with them anymore. The flip side of this is the price of the stoves. Listed stoves cost more, clean burning cookstove's cost even more. The 990 is going to be in the $9-10k range. EPA certified cookstove's will be in the ??? price range. If your batting an eye at the price of an Ironheart, you better sit down for the rest of the story......The 905 is not the economy model either.

I am seeing some cookstove manufactures price themselves right out of the US/Canadian market in the last few years. Folks no longer seem to have the disposable incomes they used to and they are trying to stretch their money, so they want cookstove's for under $3k, when you get up in the Esse price range that less than 3% of the woodstove market gets very, very small. That is just the reality of it. Esse understands that reality, spreading out the cost involved in doing business in North America, is not always easy and it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. Why the European standards can’t be applied here is the main question, as they are generally stricter than ours, is beyond me, it sure would open up the doors for more affordable clean burning woodstoves and cookstove's on this side of the pond.