Buying a stove online can initially appear a good option, you may have enjoyed buying your washing machine, fridge, television or vacuum cleaner online, because most electrical appliances are suitable for all properties.

However, it is unlikely you would buy a central heating boiler online, because not all boilers are suitable for all properties, so you would probably trust the CORGI or Gas Safe registered engineer who will be installing your boiler to help you choose your new boiler.

Because not all wood burning or multi fuel stoves are suitable for all properties, so you should probably trust the HETAS or OFTEC registered engineer who will be installing your stove to help you choose your new stove.

Online stove retailers are unlikely to be HETAS & OFTEC registered or accept liability for allowing you to buy an unsuitable stove. So It is always safer to buy your stove from the same HETAS or OFTEC registered company that will be installing it and by doing so you can save a considerable amount of stress, time and money.

Unlike modern electrical appliances which often only last a few years, a high quality wood burning and muti fuel stoves regularly lasts several decades. Therefore, consulting a HETAS or OFTEC registered company to help you choose the most suitable stove can be a wise investment of your time that you will appreciate for many years to come.

GATFire Ltd is registered with HETAS, OFTEC, SiA, ICO and has been helping people choose their perfect stove for over 16 years.

Buying a stove online may initially appear a cheaper option, but you will also need to spend around £400 buying all of the stove installation accessories required to fit the stove and pay a HETAS or OFTEC registered independent stove installer around £1,000 to install your stove.

Because online stove retailers focus on just selling stoves, to make the online option appear less expensive they can forget to explain that installation can actually cost more than your stove and your installer is very likely to need far more than just one of their cheep "installation kits" (which normally only include a generic stove pipe, register plate, flexible chimney flue liner and rain cowl) to install a stove in compliance with Building Regulations and HETAS & OFTEC rules.

Buying a reasonable quality stove online will cost at least £400, buying all of the stove installation accessories normally required to install a stove will cost around £400 and most HETAS or OFTEC registered independent stove installers will charge at least £1,000 (£400 + £400 + £1,000) = £1,800.

We can supply a choice of high quality EcoDesign DEFRA approved stoves (RRP £799), all of the stove installation accessories normally required to install a stove and provide full installation by one of our teams of HETAS and OFTEC registered engineers for only £999 +vat = £1,198.80.

We offer a selection of over 200 leading brand stoves, but if we do not stock the stove you require because we are one of the UK's largest suppliers & installers of solid fuel burning stoves we can usually supply & install any stove available in the UK for considerably less than if you bought your own stove online and paid someone else to install it.

If you buy a stove online you will have to rely on a HETAS or OFTEC registered independent stove installer and pay them over £1,000 to install it. If something goes wrong during installation or several months later the stove supplier is likely to blame the installer and the installer is likely to blame the stove supplier. This can become a nightmare making it impossible to get a refund from the stove supplier or the installer. The only way to resolve this very common problem is often be pay a reputable stove company to remove the existing stove and then supply & install a suitable new stove.

Online stove retailers will never visit your property so they will not accept responsibility if you buy the wrong stove. Many independent stove installers are very small, inexperienced, do not have real business premises and can fail to maintain their public liability insurance. If your stove installer stops trading any guarantee they have provided can be worthless and it is unlikely you will be able to claim on their insurance.

GATFire is one of England's largest supplier & installer of stoves, are HETAS and OFTEC registered, own our two showrooms & 7000 square foot storage facility and have been helping customers for over 16 years.

HETAS and OFTEC are the only organisations who regulate the solid fuel burning stove industry in the UK. Many online stove retailers are not HETAS or OFTEC registered. If you buy a stove from a company that is not registered with at least one or preferably both of these organisations, if something goes wrong in the future the only way to resolve the problem could be to take expensive legal action.

GATFire Ltd is registered with both HETAS and OFTEC. We are also SiA (Stove industry Association) members and ICO (Information Commissioners Office) registered for data protection & GDPR.

The dramatic increases in gas and electricity prices has un-surprisingly led to a rapid increase in the popularity of solid fuel burning stoves. To cater for this increased demand many new stove companies and stove installers have recently set up businesses. Unfortunately, 60% of new businesses close within the first three years and over 70% close within five years.

if something goes wrong sevral months or even sevral years after installation, if your stove company or stove installer has stopped trading it is unlikely you will be able to claim on any warranty they provided or on their insurance. Therefore, before deciding who will supply & install or just install your new stove you should always check the following:

Is the company registered with Companies House and how long has it been trading ? You can check this here.

Is the company registered for VAT ? You can check this here.

Does the company have its showrooms or does it only rent a storage unit or an accommodation address?

GATFire is one of the UK's largest suppliers & installers of solid fuel burning stoves, we were established over 16 years ago, our company registration number is 07054359 our VAT registration number is 158416887 We own our showrooms in Essex & Kent and a 7000 square foot storage facility.

If your stove company asks for a large deposit or stage payments, it could be because they are in financial difficulty and cannot afford to buy your stove or pay the installers before receiving your upfront payment. Over 60% of new businesses fail within three years. If a stove company goes out of business or your stove installation causes damage to your home you could have nowhere to turn. Additionally, paying a large upfront deposit can incentivise a stove company to delay or reschedule your stove installation for weeks or even months.

GATFire normally requires deposits of only £50.

If something goes wrong with your stove installation in the future, if your stove company or the installers you used do not have public liability insurance or they have not been able to afford to keep up their monthly instalments, you may have nowhere to turn.

Stove installers Public Liability costs thousands of pounds each year, so many smaller installers pay for this in monthly instalments, but if times get tough they can fail to pay for their insurance instalments meaning they are no longer insured.

Therefore, before selecting a company to supply & install or just install your new stove you should always insist on seeing a copy of their insurance and then contact their insurance company to check if it is still valid.

GATFire's public liability insurance is underwritten by AXA, covers up five million pounds per claim and has been paid for in a single premium every year for the last 16 years. You can view our insurance cover in the Insurance link at the bottom of the page or here.

Make sure your stove company provides you with a written quotation which includes a full breakdown of exactly what is included in the price and a copy of their terms & conditions of business. It is important you receive all of this information in writing before you agree to go ahead. This is because unscrupulous stove companies make sales by providing unbelievably low quotations, then adding extremely costly extras on the day of installation. If your stove company is reluctant to provide such basic written information you should seriously reconsider your choice of a of stove companies.

GATFire always provides written quotations which include a breakdown of exactly what is included in the price, a copy of its terms & conditions of business and written confirmation of your installation date.

Solid fuel stoves tend to last many years so people tend not to change their existing stove unless they move home, so most areas have relatively few stove shops. Therefore, many customers are often very un-familiar with how much a new stove should actually cost.

Many stove companies take advantage of a lack of customer awareness to increase the profit they make on each stove, rather than selling more stoves at reasonable prices.

Stove companies who do not advertise their prices should be avoided, because they rely on a salesperson to “design” your stove installation. This can increase the cost of your new stove by hundreds if not thousands of pounds.

Stove companies who do not advertise supplied & installed prices should be avoided, because after you have selected a stove they rely on a compulsory "site survey" to inflate the cost of insulation. This can increase the cost of your new stove by hundreds if not thousands of pounds.

GATFire's prices are completely transparent, all our prices are supplied & installed prices which includes the stove of your choice, all the installation accessories normally required to install a stove and full installation by one of our teams of HETAS & OFTEC registered engineers.

Reviews included in a companies website, review sites, trust sites and social media are easily manipulated by paying for false reviews and cannot always be relied upon. Stove companies who receive personal recommendations receive them because of the quality of the work they do and the price they charge.

GATFire’s combination of experience, quality of workmanship and competitive prices during the last 16 years means over 80% of our new customers come to us because a previous customer has recommended they do so.