We’re well into our second year of using the new wood-burning stove in our living area, so it’s high time we shared the nitty-gritty details and a full Barbas Bellfires stove review.
Was the investment worth it? Does it live up to expectations? And, most importantly, does it keep us warm?
Who doesn’t love curling up by the fire and unwinding with a nice glass of wine while reading a book? Okay, so wine and a book may not be what you like to do, but sitting in front of a fire while watching the flames flicker away is really very relaxing.
Our new wood-burning stove is a Barbas Bellfires Universal 6-80. It’s a minimalist built-in model that looks fantastic in period homes like ours and would look great in modern homes, too. It’s also not very deep, making it perfect to install in older chimneys without much space.
It’s extremely powerful, with an 8-12 kW output, suitable for smoke control areas, and has an A energy efficiency rating. In comparison, the wood-burning stove in our Manchester house had an output of just 2-6 kW (the rooms were much smaller).
If you live in a UK smoke control area, you must use a DEFRA-approved stove to comply with regulations. Our Barbas Bellfires Universal 80 complies with regulations, but it’s important to check the stove and regulations where you live before you purchase a stove, as the regulations constantly change.
But let’s get into the Barbas Bellfires Stove review and share all the details and pros and cons of our Universal 6-80 woodburning stove.
Pros of the Barbas Universal 6-80 Wood Burner
It looks great
I think you’ll agree that it looks fantastic and we love the design. It’s sleek and clean, with lots of glass, so you have a large area to watch the flames flicker. The handle is hidden at the side, so it doesn’t detract from the modern design. It comes with a little lever to move the handle and open the door, but we find that it stays cool enough to move with your fingers, even when the stove is running.
It’s easy to use & reliable
It feels and looks high-quality. The materials feel sturdy and it looks like it’s built to last. Everything works as it should, even after two years of fairly heavy use. We’ve had absolutely no issues, and it works as well as the first time we used it.
Barbas offers a 10-year guarantee on their stoves (just the body of the appliance, not the operating parts like cords, glass, etc.), and we feel confident that it will stand the test of time.
Cons of the Barbas Universal 80 Wood Burner
Cleaning it takes too long & isn’t practical
To clean the fireplace, you have to sweep the ash to one side, lift the plate out, remove the ash pan, vacuum the area, and put everything back together. It probably takes 10 – 15 minutes to clean, and I always end up with dirty fingers and ash everywhere.
By comparison, cleaning the Rais Q-tee in our last house was straightforward. You could just pull out the pan, empty it, and get the fire lit. A full clean obviously takes a bit longer, but a quick in-between clean only took seconds.
No matter what wood burner you choose for your home, consider how easy it is to clean before buying it.
Environmental impact
We have solar panels, use eco-friendly wood fibre insulation to insulate our home, and have an electric car. We are doing our best to keep our carbon footprint minimal, but having a wood-burning stove isn’t ideal.
Most stove suppliers will tell you the environmental impact isn’t significant, but I’m not sure how much to believe the stats. The Barbas stove is designed to reduce emissions as much as possible, and it has a system where the combustion particles are reignited before leaving the stove to reduce emissions.
Heat Output
The heat output isn’t as good as expected.
Yes, on paper, it’s very powerful. The room does heat up when we have it on all day and keep it stacked with logs (we only burn dried oak logs). We generally don’t turn it on after around 5 in the afternoon, as we’ll be ready for bed when we can feel a difference in temperature in the room.
You really have to fill it to the max to produce a lot of heat. Obviously, the bigger the fire – the bigger the heat output, so it’s only ever going to put out what you put in, but we feel like our old stove heated the room more quickly.
I’m unsure if we can blame the wood burner for this—our house is old and very draughty. We’re still adding insulation and updating our windows, so hopefully, this will improve in the future.
It damaged our floor
Our parquet floor is warping. The floor in front of the stove gets very, very warm. It’s so warm, in fact, that our parquet flooring has started to shrink and warp.
Our fireplace installer contacted Barbas and we were told that neither had experienced anything like this. They didn’t really manage to come up with a solution, though. Since our issues, I’ve been obsessed with feeling floors in front of wood-burning stoves, and none of the ones I’ve tested get as hot as ours.
According to our fireplace installer, we don’t require a hearth to comply with building regulations where we live, but we will have one installed just to protect the floor.
Is the Barbas Unilux Stove worth buying?
Now that you’ve heard all of our Barbas stove pros and cons, I’m sure you want to know if it’s worth the investment.
We love the look and the quality. Everything else, not so much. It is still a very good option if you only have a shallow chimney and would like a built-in stove.
Would we buy the Barbas Universal stove again? Maybe. Probably not. We don’t regret the purchase, though. It works well and looks fantastic. There are just a few issues -mainly the cleaning aspect – that have dampened our enthusiasm.
How much did our Barbas wood burning stove cost?
Having a wood-burning stove installed is not cheap.
We paid 5844€ for the fireplace, including installation, a chimney liner, and the made-to-measure frame between the wood-burning stove and existing marble mantle.
We don’t have a breakdown of the costs, but I’d assume at least half of that is for the installation. We’re currently looking at adding a hearth, which will be an added expense in the future.
Are wood burners worth having?
We love the look and feel of a wood-burning stove and generally think it’s worth the investment. However, it’s important to consider the environmental impacts and burn wood responsibly.
Wood burners can also be a good investment, and studies have shown that they increase a house’s value by around 4.5%.
FAQ
Most wood burners don’t allow paraffin-based starters. We always use eco-friendly firelighters made from compressed wood or wood wool.
We also make our own firelighters from leftover egg cartons, wood wool and wax.
Always use dried wood, as damp wood won’t burn as well and will produce a lot of smoke. The heat output of damp wood also isn’t as good, so you’ll be wasting money, too.
Hardwood, like oak, is best as it burns slowly. It’s vital never to burn treated or painted wood, as it can release harmful gases.
This will depend on how well your house is insulated, your wood-burning stove and the size of the room.
A kg of wood will produce about 3 kW output. This means that for an 80m³ room, you’ll need an appliance with an output of around 7 kW. For each additional 10m³, you’ll need an additional 0.6 kW.
We use our wood burning stove frequently and use about 3m³ of oak logs annually.
Mike Vessey says
Useful review. We love our wood burner, but the idea of having it without a hearth stone is strange to me.
About the cleaning, why bother. If burning wood the ash only needs to be emptied out once a year, usually at the end of winter. Coal is different of course, but for the ash it is best to leave it where it is (and the wood burns much better if its on a bed of ash).
Christine says
I find the hearth situation weird as well, Mike. I’ve seen lots of similar setups, but we’ll definitely be adding one before we use the fire again. As for cleaning, most days, we just give the fire a quick tidy, but I do like to empty the ash pan (which is tiny) after every use (or at least every second time). That might just be because I like things tidy, having said that, I’ve not given it a full clean for the summer yet ;). I also totally agree with you about the ash; we always leave a nice bed, and agree that the fire burns better.
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