Michelle Macken and her Reginald Stove

When Michelle and her husband decided on making changes to their home, one of the first things they did was to replace their open fire and reduce their dependency on their oil heating. So why did they choose the Stanley? "It came down to aesthetics. We liked the way the Reginald  looked. It had more of a homely look which we wanted. Then we looked at the number of radiators we needed to heat. We bought it on the basis that it heats 12 radiators but we are fact getting much more, around 14 radiators. We also turn the radiator off in the sitting room as it would otherwise be too hot"

Another reason was safety and control "I love the fact that it is safe for the kids (Michelle has 2 children aged 5 and 7) and offers controllability over an open fire. I can light the stove in the morning when everyone is getting up, let it heat all the radiators and damp it down. Before picking up the kids, I throw a bit more coal into it and this keeps it going to about tea time. Another big benefit for us is that it has reduced drafts throughout the house as the chimney is no longer opening out into our sitting room."

So has Michelle noticed any differences in her heating bills? "Despite this spring being very cold, we didn't have to turn on the oil very much which we reckon made us a saving in oil terms of €500. In addition we found the volume of fuel we were using versus the open fire was a lot more economical and makes it easier to budget the amount of fuel we need to purchase"