Dave’s father started the business back in 1979 – as a Coal Merchant. Dave took over from his father in the late 80’s and expanded the range of fuels they delivered to include bottled gases – propane & butane, industrial & leisure - as well as logs, kindling and more.

Trudi joined Dave in 2002 and together they developed the business to incorporate the sale of woodburning stoves, becoming HETAS registered installers and creating the thriving stove and fuel shop which you see today.

Yes. Our Installers are all individually registered (as well as the company itself) as HETAS Dry Appliance Installers.

We deliver fuel (bottled gas and prepacked solid fuels) within a 25-30 mile radius of the showroom in Staverton. We can also deliver stoves direct to your home – please call for details.

Wood fires do not need air directed from below to burn successfully. In fact they ‘prefer’ to sit on a bed of ash which helps slow the rate of burn and give maximum efficiency. Hence, woodburning stoves tend to have just a flat base on which to build your fire. Some woodburners have a grate and even an ashpan, but the idea is that you don’t clean out the stove every day - you light each new fire on the ashes of the previous one. Once every week or so (depending on how often you use the stove), you can either shovel the ashes out, or, knock them out into the ashpan if provided, and then start again.

A multifuel stove will have a grate of some description, with or without a riddling mechanism. Solid fuel (smokeless ovoids or anthracite) will burn best if air is directed into the fire from below. The grate needs to be kept clear and must not be allowed to get too clogged up with ash as this restricts the burn of the fuel. In other words, if you burn solid smokeless fuel you will need to knock, (or riddle if possible) the ashes into the ashpan, and empty it every day.

Both have positives and negatives. A cast iron stove is bolted together and the joins sealed with fire cement or similar. This can deterioate over time, bascially creating weak spots within the body of the stove. Another negative is that cast iron can crack if the temperature rises too high. The main positive for a cast iron stove is that it will often hold its heat for longer than a steel one. – but then again, it will often take longer to heat up when you first light it. Steel is more flexible – modern manufacturing methods allow a stove body to be formed into one piece, which means no weak spots. Steel will heat up quicker than cast and although it won’t retain the heat for as long after the fire has died down, it will still stay warm for many hours. Most of the top quality stove manufacturers are now making their stoves out of steel – it’s cheaper than cast too, so weighing up all the pros and cons, we think steel probably comes up trumps.

Either it doesn’t have a decent airwash system, or maybe you aren’t using it properly? Or, more likely, it could just be down to the quality of the wood. If wood has a high moisture content (ie. not properly seasoned), when you burn it in a stove the moisture will leak out of the wood, in the form of a tar like substance. This ‘tar’ is carried by the flue gases, solidifying as soon as it makes contact with a hard surface . This means that not only is your glass blackening up, but also ‘tar’ is being deposited on the inside of your flues and liner. Not a good move. If you are having a problem with blackened glass on your stove, give us a call – we’ll help you ascertain what the problem is and talk you through the solutions.

This simple calculation will give you a good indication of which size stove would be suitable. Measure your room, in metres:
Width x Length x Height = A
Divide ‘A’ by 14

4m x 5m x 2.4m = 48

48 ÷ 14 = 3.42

This room requires 3.42kw of heat to keep the temperature in the room at approx 20˚C when the outside temperature is at approx 1˚C. In real terms, this means you should be looking for a stove with a maximum output of 4-5kw. A stove of this size will produce the extra heat when you need it, but its normal steady rolling (and efficient) burn will be producing an output of approx 3-4kw – just what you need. Of course, these figures are only an indication - you also need to take into account factors like cold draughts, north facing walls, bad insulation......and if you have 2 or 3 internal doorways which can be left open, or stairs in the room, you may wish to choose a larger stove so that you heat other parts of the house. We are happy to talk through all options in more detail.

Examples of smokeless fuel are anthracite (a naturally occurring smokeless, deep mined coal) or any of the ‘ovoids’ (a fuel manufactured for purpose). Avoid ‘ovoids’ with a high petroleum coke base or high sulphur content as they can sometimes damage your liner, particularly if you tend to ‘slumber’, (ie. burn the stove at a very low temperature) for long periods of time. We are happy to discuss fuel options in more detail and can supply the full range, in convenient 25kg plastic bags. If you do not live in our area, contact the Solid Fuel Association to get details of our local coal merchant – www.solidfuel.co.uk or telephone 0845 6014406.

There is nothing wrong with burning softwood, as long as it is seasoned. In fact, because softwood tends to be less dense, it will often ‘season’ ( or dry out) quicker than hardwood – this can be handy if you are looking to fuel your stove from you own supply of wood. The downside of softwood is that it will burn a lot quicker than hardwood, which means you will use a larger quantity to get, and keep, your stove up to temperature. If you’re buying it, it does tend to be cheaper than hardwood, but as you’ll be using more, it won’t really save you any money in the long run.

‘Green’ or ‘unseasoned’ logs will feel heavier and denser than properly seasoned ones. Dry seasoned logs feel bone dry to touch and have a light, airy feel to them. They can sound almost hollow when you tap them. Logs which are delivered on an open truck, in the rain, will often turn up looking very wet. If a seasoned log gets a soaking, it will dry out very quickly as the moisture is only on the surface. Point out the condition of the logs to your supplier and get his assurance that if they don’t dry out once stored under cover, he will refund you. Bring them in, a basket at a time, to dry out by the fire. If they still feel heavy and damp after a day in the dry, and they cause problems when burning, call your log supplier back. A Moisture Meter is a good investment – it takes all the uncertainty away as you, and your log supplier can immediately see what the moisture content of each log is – no argument there! Alternatively, purchase kiln dried logs which have a guaranteed very low moisture content, burning incredibly cleanly and providing a super high heat.

We display Clearview, Charnwood, Westfire, Dunsley and Jetmaster stoves. The stove selection on our ‘Stoves’ page will give details of the exact models. We have a number of different colours, where offered, and normally at least 3 or 4 working models.

There is plenty of space for parking, right outside the showroom.

Monday to Friday: 9.00am – 5.30pm. Saturday: 9.00am - 100pm.

We keep a good stock of the more popular stoves. If we do not have your choice in stock we would expect delivery to us to be between 1 and 4 weeks, dependant on the manufacturer.

Possibly, yes. We would normally carry out a smoke test to check that the clays are in good condition and not going to leak fumes etc . We would also need to ensure that we could make a solid connection from the stove flues to the base of the clay liner. We would point out though that clays aren’t necessarily the best liners to use with a stove. They are very cold, with no insulation, which is not conducive to the rising of flue gases from the stove to the top of the stack. This can also sometimes be a contributory factor with tar problems. We would in fact nearly always recommend that a chimney is lined with an insulated liner (ie. flexible stainless steel). No two jobs are the same however and we would discuss your particular chimney situation in detail, covering all options, whilst carrying out the site survey.

Every job is different, which is why we need to carry out individual surveys. As a rough guide though, most installations would involve lining the chimney, fitting a cowl of some description, fitting a steel register plate at the base and connecting the stove, to the liner, through the plate using stainless steel flues. This type of installation is likely to cost in the region of £800 to £1000 - including parts and labour. There are many other factors to be considered however so if you are thinking of having a stove installed, please do arrange for a survey so that we can provide an estimate, taylormade for your particular chimney and fireplace.

This really depends on how hard your stove is working. The HETAS recommendation is that you have the liner swept at least once a year, dependant on the quality of fuel you are burning and how frequently you use it. We offer a ‘Sweep & Service’ package for all M Davies stove customers which includes sweeping the liner and cleaning and servicing the stove. Servicing the stove basically means checking all seals, fire bricks, the baffle, glass panels etc . If the stove is looking a little tired, we can also re-spray it so it will look like new again!