Arada – Aarrow – Acorn 4 Multi-fuel wood burning stove
as this is a fine little stove that we have installed in may varied situations. This is an Arada Company stove that is proudly British designed & built. These stoves are not only made in Dorset in the south of the U.K. but the materials as much as possible are also locally sourced. The first Aarrow stoves were made over 25 years ago & they have built the brand on excellence of design, impeccable quality & superior performance or at least that is what the company say.1. Acorn 4 – Steel Construction? : The Aarrow Acorn 4 is a Pre-stressed steel design that offers superior strength to the first steel designs that used to have trouble with the steel warping and is the main reason that some people still say that steel is not the best option for a Wood Burning or Multifuel stove! While this used to be a very valid & true statement, the quality & design of the steel stoves has come so far in the last few years & the steel used & the designs are such that it’s very VERY rare that you will find any warping issues or indeed any issues whatsoever with the new breed of pre-stressed steel body designs. In fact we have NEVER had a warping issue in our time as wood burning & Multifuel Stove suppliers & we have been doing this since 1987. So if you are worried about the modern-day British Steel Stove then I would like to put your mind at rest right now. You have nothing to worry about Aarrow have a lifetime guarantee on the stove body of this little beauty. No worries!
2. Acorn 4 – Wood or Solid Fuel?: This is a dinky little stove that we have put into caravans and canal boats where size and space is important. Yet this little bundle of joy punches above its weight. Due to its size we would recommend that it is used primarily as a solid fuel stove as the size of the fire-box is very limited and timber needs to be chopped up quite small. This however is our opinion and it does work very well on timber it’s just we don’t like cutting & chopping wood all day long! If however your local wood supplier is able to provide you this service then it’s a great little woodburner.
3. Acorn 4 – Air-wash?: All makes & manufacturers offer air-wash on their stoves and these all work to various degrees of success. As this is also dependant of the flue system & type of fuel burned we cannot offer an all singing dancing answer right here only our professional opinion based upon many years of installing Multi-fuel and Wood burning stoves. The Aarrow Acon4 does not have the best air-wash system and I suppose that this may partly be down to the size & price of the product, however we found that although these do smoke up with timber, that with a good hot fire this has a very real tendency to almost self clean, but you have to run them hot to do this. Due to the rather small window I think the smoking up is probably exaggerated somewhat and with Multi-Fuel offering the cleanest burning we again would really suggest that this is
the preferred fuel option with this little stove. If however this is not an issue then go ahead you can burn almost anything on this little incinerator of a stove!
4. Acon 4 – Top or rear flue outlet?: It’s very reassuring that even on a little stove like the Acorn the attention to the details has included options like the top or rear outlet. It’s our professional opinion that the rear outlet should only be used if the top can’t be. This decision is based on years of installing stoves which has shown us that the top outlet is the very best & the rear outlet is really a compromise. Coming off the top the smoke is free to travel its natural course which is especially an advantage when the flue draft is low and struggling. To come off the rear will only magnify any flue draft issues & can lead to spillage of smoke and/or more importantly C02 into your living environment which at best will be annoying & at worst could prove lethal. If you look carefully at the Acorn 4 as with most stoves there is an air intake at the top of in this case the door it’s self, this is level with the rear flue outlet so as you can appreciate any flue issues and you can have smoke & C02 spilling out from the air intakes even if your fire is sealed well in every other area. So in conclusion wherever possible Marshland Stoves would advise you to come off the top of your stove to preempt any issues and give your system the best chance of trouble-free & safe usage.
5. Acorn 4 – Kilowatt output?: Your Aarrow Acorn 4 will provide you with around
1-4 Kw of heat & as you can appreciate this will be primarily down to the fuel used, the amount of fuel used, and the time the stove has been running. Other things that may affect this to a lesser degree i.e what is the starting temperature of your room?, your insulation and draft proofing?, your room layout? i.e. do you have lots of large windows and doorways?, is it double glazed? and how is your flue performing? all these issues are taken into considering poor performance with regards to heat output. Other things like the weather really can affect the working of your stove, wind & high & low pressure can all have varying effects on your stove performance. If you do have intermittent issues with your stove it’s worth noting the weather conditions at the time.
6. Acorn 4 – Conclusion?: So in concluding I will mention that it has an external riddling system so that you need not open the door to riddle your stove & that it has primary & secondary air to help you control the temperature & economy of your use. It comes with a dinky Ash Tray with an ash lip for a cleaner hearth. all in all it’s a top little stove that we are not ashamed to recommend especially for putting Multi-fuel & wood burning options into caravans & Canal boats!
7. Acorn 4 – Pro’s & Con’s: The pros of the Acorn 4 wood burning & Multifuel stove are that due to its size & output it is suitable to smaller rooms, caravans & canal boats. The build quality & its lifetime guarantee on the steel case should give you great confidence when purchasing. It has all the user-friendly airwash & external riddling system & its pleasing to the eye. The cons are that this stove does take very small hunks of timber which means more time in the chopping shed or a supplier that can accommodate this fact. The air-wash is somewhat rudimentary in form & does not work as well as we would like it to & so fuel choice is important as is moisture content. run hot & with dry fuel it will serve you well, run it low with wet fuel it will tend to smoke up.
