Burley 4kw range (Thorncombe, Debdale, Launde) review:

The Burley 4KW range are all exactly the same stove with essentially different doors and handles. So they all have the same function, efficiency, fuel economy and build. They're all focused on burning wood, are British made and made from steel with catalysts in the flue to make them among the cleanest stoves currently made. Direct air is standard, and so is a dry fuel requirement, so unless this is your intention I wouldn't even consider continuing with this as an idea.

Burley Debdale 9104-C

Burley Thorncombe 9404-C

Burley Launde 9304-C

Lighting the stove: 7/10

They are very ordinary in this area, which is a good thing. Having a catalyst could slow flue gases and make them more likely to smoke into the room, but there is no big issue which is great. You do however need very dry fuel, as you will very quickly block that catalyst if the fuel is not ideally kiln dried.

Cleanness: 7/10

Burley makes a real point of shouting from the roof tops how clean their stoves are, and to be fair this stove runs at nearly 85% which is ridiculously high. This stove is however going to cloud the glass with mist quite regularly. This is very easy to just wipe off, but a lot of very high efficiency stoves seem to cause clouding of the glass and it's fair to say that this one is a bit of an expert at it. To be fair though, when it is burning I never had anything that disrupted me from seeing those stunning flames, even after running overnight.

Controls & Controllability: 8/10

This stove is really lovely to use. It didn't have any terrible smoking issues when I opened the door and the wooden handles not only look lovely, but they stay cool and have a nice feel. They do send all the Allen keys required to tighten the handles up, which did make me thing that retightening could be an occasional requirement. But once I used the air control I soon forgot about how potentially annoying that could be, and was bowled over by how precisely I could control this tiny stove.

Fuel economy & Burn time: 7/10

Obviously at just short of 85% efficiency this should be a strong point, and it didn't disappoint. The stove was very controllable and was therefore not only the most efficient stove I've tested, but it also had the longest burn time for a stove this size. The economy is reduced by its expensive spares and pickiness with fuel, but the the burn time and fuel economy based on usage is absolutely exceptional.

What I thought:

This stove is costly, the glass mists up, it has expensive parts that will need replacing and you need perfect fuel. But if you look after things, and want the best from the stove you buy, to the fuel you use, then this stove is unbelievably good. If I was looking for a small 4KW stove, even if it was for occasional use I couldn't stop myself from looking at this stove again. I realise I'm a bit of a stove nerd and I care far more about the function than anything else, but this stoves function is so good, for me, I can forgive it's obvious quirks and imperfections.