As in most industries, from smartphones to firearms, imitation in stove manufacture is the rule rather than the exception, with many brands struggling to outdo each other on a narrow spectrum of infinitesimal gradations in efficiency, or, perhaps, the durability of their firebricks, or, of course, price, and only occasionally coming out with a genuinely innovative product that addresses a specific and relevant need.
One such product is Chilli Penguin’s Woody stove.
At only 285mm deep, it can fit into fireplaces other stoves cannot.
The first job of an installer is to assess if a stove can fit into a fireplace. He needs a minimum depth of hearth and sufficient clearances to combustibles. In the absence of these, he will have to adapt the fireplace, which can easily cost hundreds of pounds and generate a great deal of mess, or persuade the customer to have a different stove. Additionally, in modern shoebox-sized houses, space can be at such a premium that a traditionally-sized fireplace, if being built from scratch, can be an unaffordable luxury, and a narrow stove the depth of the Woody can be very helpful in minimising proportions.
There are other narrow stoves on the market but they tend to be very small; we like the Woody for its wide window, its capacity for a 17 inch log and for all the reliable Chilli Penguin characteristics we have got to know from their previous models. On top of that, it somehow gets away with a 5kW rating, ducking under the requirement for permanent ventilation in older properties, and enjoys a reported efficiency of 82% (for wood burning; 87% for coal), making it Chilli Penguin’s most efficient stove yet.