In this video get an overview of the Nordpeis Bergen wood burning stove from The Tortoise - an independent reviewer of stoves and fires. See how easy the Bergen is to light and control, how clean it is, how long it burns, and final thoughts.
This I have on very good authority is a Nordpeis, that’s the correct pronunciation, a Nordpeis Bergen, and it’s a Scandinavian, very quirky looking powerhouse. Nordpeis is a relatively small manufacturer from Norway. They’re focused on modern, clean, and contemporary wood burning appliances. The Bergen is their big seller in the UK, in part because it suits our fireplace setups. Its 5kW output is also tailored to our most common requirements.
Wanted to open it carefully and not knock my camera down. Lots of space in this stove, and so there’s no excuse for when you’re putting in logs getting lots of air gaps. If you don’t get lots of air gaps, and your fire doesn’t light, well you have only yourself to blame. And a nice little fire lighter in there, which will stick towards the top, sort of in the middle, and finally, we need a match, and this one will be royal blue, which you should get Tortoise matches. The royal blue ones are quite nice actually. I quite like them. Okay, at this point, we push our door too with the handle up and the ignition vent fully over to the right, and this little vent here, pull it out. We’re ready to go.
So it’s lit and up to temperature, and at this point, in this particular case, I’m going to open it and put some fuel on. At that point, we’ll sort of allow that fuel to catch um, but what’s slightly different about this particular stove is we will close the door and then normally the lower sort of sliding control would be the sort of main control, but in this particular case, you shut that completely and then your control is just done from here, which we, at this point, will leave open, and in fact, once that log catches, I’ll open that one as well, but then we’ll close it off.
These stoves have a 5-year warranty. They’re all focused on burning wood, and you can get direct air if you need it as well. They have a 6 inch outlet, and if you’re after something with a bit more flexibility in terms of output, then this has definitely got you covered. This stove will range from three all the way up to 8kW, and finally, this is perhaps the only stove I think that I’ve tested where the interior fire bricks are actually warrantied. They also look quite interesting. They’re not vermiculite board. There’s something called Thermotte, which evidently I’ve got some things to learn about.
This stove is obviously Ecodesign, but it also runs at just under 85% efficiency, which is mad level. You can even run it clean whilst running it overnight, which is fantastic as well. I also like that this has a 6 inch outlet of standard, which means that the DEFRA kit, can be DEFRA approved if you need it, but the DEFRA kit is therefore automatically optional unless you’re in a smokeless zone, which is really, really useful because you get greater levels of function. You can get a longer burn whilst maintaining that incredible level of efficiency, which is fantastic. Obviously, it’s got a huge piece of glass, and it clearly doesn’t struggle to keep that clean either.
Why does it having a 6 inch outlet mean it’s automatically optional to have a DEFRA kit? So if you have a 6 inch outlet, you have to fit it on a 6 inch flu, which means that you don’t need to have a DEFRA approved stove unless you’re in a smokeless zone. Most stoves are fitted on 5 inch flu, and the stove has to be DEFRA approved in order to be fitted on a 5 inch flue.
Right, controls on this appliance, the first thing is when you’re dealing with spillage, this is a very, very high-efficiency stove, and you do want to allow it to burn down uh before reloading. So I’m reloading a little bit earlier, and there is a little bit of spillage. It’s not bad um, but uh generally, you just allow it to burn fully down, and there’s no problem um. We’ve got a stay-cool handle uh and no tool. This is a wood-only stove. There’s no grate or ash pan, so it’s a very, very simple thing to use um. What makes this a little bit different is this control here, which is generally thought of as your main control, in this particular case, is purely for ignition.
I’ve just put on some new fuel, so I’ll open it up, allow that fuel to properly catch or or if I’m lighting the stove, but once that’s happened um basically, I shut this initial ignition control down completely, and then it’s just down to this little slider here um. All of this stays relatively cool, and the handle stays cool so it’s it can all be operated. Basically, I’ve been operating with an empty hand um, so it’s nice and easy to use, and actually when you shut it down, we get these wavy gentle flames. We keep this very pretty clean look, and it burns for hours and hours on a single load of fuel. This will still be chugging away for you know 2 or 3 hours if I want it to be um so yeah really really good control, really nicely measured.
This is a big stove, but nevertheless, we test fuel economy by getting the stove up to operating temperature and then burning just one single net of kiln dried logs on it to see how long it will maintain operating temperature, and this stove did really well. It ran for 10 to 12 hours, which was a fantastic score. It’s really simple and toughly built, and I think it’s going to be relatively low maintenance. I’m also really interested in that interior firebox which has a years warranty, which must be a first that I’ve seen um. Also, when you consider that this is a Norwegian-built stove, it’s really good value for money as well. I think generally overall for economy, this has got to be like a nine or a ten out of 10.
The controls on this stove are a little interesting and quite little also the lack of a 5 inch outlet will obviously stumble some people’s setups, however this Norwegian stove has very high efficiency, and it’s very clean. I like its quirky look with these funny legs. Even the controls are interesting. They’re small and they appear to work the wrong way around, but they’re effective, interesting, and quite neat. I like the stove’s big glass, its stay-cool handle, and I really can’t overstate its overall economy either. It’s simple, toughly built, it’s capable of serious use whilst maintaining very high efficiency, and it’s quirky and interesting enough to stand out.
I realize I’m a terror for car analogies and I was trying to think one with this stove because obviously it’s Norwegian and uh that carries a lot of weight. It’s a bit like a like a German BMW M3 or something you know there’s some weight that’s carried by the name and where it’s from um but it’s genuinely an economic choice because if you want something that’s spectacular that carries all that weight and yet performs over and above what the price point should dictate then the BMW M3 perhaps could be that and without a doubt the Nordpeis Bergen is doing that.
This stove is offering a lot and if you like the look and want something special then obviously check one out uh also if you’ve got any questions or want to offer any comparisons then chuck them in the comments either me or Amy or another one of our fantastic followers will come back to you. It’s good to get lots of opinions, lots of bouncing ideas so if you’ve got anything to say put them in there. It’s far more interesting if we’re chatting about it um but I think this will be an interesting one to chat about cuz I mean, look at that.
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