We have the smallest in the range, the compact. No issues upto now, been fitted over a year now, was used heavily over the winter as our only source of Heat in the house due to a faulty boiler.. Lights well and burns brilliant, only a few pieces of oak needed to give good heat all night The log guard could do with being a little bigger in my opinion. Unless I'm not poking the Ash down as often as I should be.
We have had a poor experience with Clock. We bought a Blithfield through our fitter. After one season, the paint surface started to erode, and we are left with the raw metal surface. Clock didn't answer our emails, and then during a phonecall, told us to contact the supplier. We did, and Clock had told the supplier to tell us that the paint wasn't under warranty. They didn't have the guts to tell us themselves. What a poor service from a poor company. The stove itself is ok - the controls are fiddly and it's tedious trying to get a good burn.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience and issue with the paint. Regarding the controls, if your just burning wood then generally have the primary air fully open (right hand dial on the Blithfield with two dials) to light the stove, then once lit, after 30-60mins, you should be able to fully close the primary and regulate on the secondary air (left hand dial). On the Sudbury its just a single dial, so fully open to start with and then start to shut it down after 30-60mins until you find that sweet spot that works for you. Remember every chimney is different, and weather conditions, (especially wind, but also hot and cold weather) can have an effect on how the stove burns. That is one of the things that makes the Clock stove so controllable is the amount of range you have on the air control to dial it in to your specific conditions.
I bought an enamel stove last year, before buying I asked several manufactures how long the enamel was guaranteed for, the reply was that enamel/paintwork is not guaranteed, so far mine is doing well, I started with several small short duration fires to cure the enamel before before moving on to all day use, I burn mainly coal in a 5kw stove
So needs to be smokeless coal, or seasoned/dried wood, hardwood preferably. There is a difference between what will burn and what you should burn on a stove. Especially modern stoves that have to meet tougher standards than in the past, they can be less forgiving than older stoves when it comes to wood quality.
