It's always a challenge to know what to choose when buying something new - especially a fire/log burner that you're going to have to live with and look at every day. Sometimes style and function do not sit together well, but for the Ivar 8 Low - the two go together really well.
We wanted a simple looking stove with enough heat output for a large room that has a big opening to the rest of the house too. In needed to be efficient, able to be a room sealed system (external air supply) and to have a nice big viewing window that kept the glass clean.
Not often I feel tempted to write a review but the Ivar 8 is a fabulous purchase, and just does what it says.
The big viewing window stays lovely and clear, with rarely any blackening (and any that's there soon disappears if you turn the stove up a little higher). The burn is very controllable with a easy to slide lever that rarely gets too hot to touch with a bare hand. The door handle can heat up, and can mostly be operated wit a bare hand, but a glove is both recommended and supplied with the stove (together with glass cleaner and some touch up stove paint). The ash stays where it should and is easy to remove through a wide opening door and with a low lip to the combustion box. It burns at all levels really well, and we tend to run it at around 2/5 open, making 2 x 1kg logs last well - up to a couple of hours, and the heat generated is superb.
We've yet to find any fault at all with the stove, and so can thoroughly recommend this model.
We bought the external air kit which was easy to fit to the underside (with care because the stove is heavy) and gives a good spigot that nicely fits a 3" or 75mm spiral formed tube/duct.
Our external air supply passes through a thick stone wall and so the tube ended up being almost 3 feet (just under 1 metre) long.This was no problem, and the stove draws the fresh air for combustion well. When testing our room sealing - the stove leak (air drawn from room) was undetetectable - even with some very sensitive airflow metering.
We did buy the solid fuel kit at the same time - in case we ever feel the need to burn something other than wood from our farm - but somehow, given just how good this stove is with wood - it may well end up being a spare part confined to the store room.
In summary - the Dik Guertz Ivar 8 is superb, and we just can't recommend it highly enough.
(Note: We have no connection to the manufacturer or any supplier.)
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28 December 2019