the stove industry blog

Watch out for Chinese copies of stoves

posted on Wed Jun 15 2011 by Vicky Naylor

Whilst at the Hearth & Home exhibition, we were rather surprised to see a Chinese manufacturer exhibiting a direct copy of one of our stoves.  I have to admit that I was shocked at how good a copy this was.  The only difference between this copy and our stove was the detailing on the base of the door.  After we had asked the organisors of the exhibition to have this copy stove removed from the show, I then started to think about the effects this stove could have within our market place.  Firstly, as the stove was so similar to ours, it made me think that a member of the public could quite easily purchase this stove and believe they were buying a genuine Franco Belge stove.  These stove copies do not have CE approval so have not been tested to ensure they comply with UK safety regulations.  Secondly, the internal components of this copy stove were not the same as in the Franco Belge stove.  This probably means that when the grate or a firebrick needs replacing in this stove, you won’t be able to find replacements so could be left in a situation where you are scrapping a stove within months of purchasing it.  Now we are aware that there are copies of our stoves in the market place, we would urge you to be sure that you are buying a genuine Franco Belge stove from one of our recognised stockists.  Our stoves are all CE approved and as such must display a data plate with the CE logo on and the serial number of the appliance.  If our stoves have been copied, I am sure other manufacturers will have the same problem too.  Please be vigilant and check to ensure the stove you are spending your hard earned money on is the real thing and not a copy.

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