This is the Stovax county 5 and for me this is like coming back home. This is stoves like they used to do them!
I said in my first impressions that this felt familiar, reliable even old school, but with some modern twists, and that really does capture not only the first impressions, but also the genuine character of this stove.
They make a 3 this 5 a 5 wide and an 8. These stoves are incredibly toughly built. Simple, reliable but hard. It has a 5 year warranty, which I very much doubt you’ll need, it genuinely wouldn’t surprise me if this outlived my grand children and they don’t exist yet. You can get it in this wood only version or with a full grate and ashpan for coal use. It has a 5” outlet, and in case it wasn’t clear already. It is built with work, reliability and function in mind.
Lighting 10/10:
This scored very highly here, because again the old ways weren't all wrong. This stove breathes more easily than most stoves nowadays, it gallops up to life and this equally makes it easy to get going again after a long shut down, you also have very little chance of ever struggling with smoke escaping into the room during re-loading.
Clean 6/10:
This stove runs at just short of 80% efficiency. It has all the modern approvals which is impressive, because this isn’t this stoves primary focus. It can run clean, it can also trip you up in this area, so you have to know what you’re trying to achieve. It’ll run clean with ease, and it can run overnight whilst staying clean, but this stove gives you a lot of control. You’re in the driving seat, so you can also get it wrong. This'll grab some, certainly most experienced users, but if you're new to stoves it may be too easy to get it wrong.
Controls 7/10:
This stove is a hark back to the stoves of old. You may be able to tell “I like that”, but it’s not all picturesque nostalgia. The handles get hot and they’re a little fiddly, they are effective though, the stove is much more forgiving from a spillage point of view than some, and not that this should be encouraged, but I suspect it is very forgiving to less than perfect fuel, rough use and high temperatures. Everything is extremely heavy and tough and familiar. If you’re used to stoves and want more of what you know, or you want tough and find that most modern stuff is another way of saying it’s more annoying and doesn’t last as long then you’re going to get on we’ll with this.
Economy 7/10:
Using this stove is like going back in time to all the stoves I grew up using. I’ve not used it before and yet I was an expert with it almost instantly. I got 13 hours out of a net on my first try. It’s cheap to buy and only a lunatic could ever break it. It’s an economic tank.
What I thought:
You know the old Toyota Hilux. It got called invincible and the newer models started having invincible in their model designations. That’s what this is. Stovax has taken the best of the old manufacturer Yeoman, and somehow kept the dream alive whilst ticking all the modern boxes. This stove doesn’t believe in engineered obsolescence, it’s not the cleanest, the handles are a bit fiddly and there’s lots of controls, but if you’re a proper stove user then none of that matters. This stove shouts “there’s no point in 5% cleaner if you use 20% more fuel, or if it needs replacing in 10 years”. This stove is a fantastic piece of familiar and simple engineering that will surely outlive all of us. It’s not for everyone, but if you want function, toughness, if you’ve had stoves before or you’re the sort that would rather keep your current car over being given a Tesla then you and me have something in common and if you like the look then you’ll get on fine.