The Robens Denali Stove

Robens Denali Tent Stove Review

Robens Denali Stove

We've been testing the Robens Volcano tent stove, which has been great for keeping the tent warm and cooking.

Review Score

We liked using the Robens Volcano stove in our tent. It provides a lot more character than an electric heater to warm your tent when it is cold, and you have the added value of using that heat to boil water or cook.

Our Score: 8.3/10

We've given the Robens Denali Stove the Thumbs Up award.

GOWTK Thumbs Up Award
WarmthQualityPracticality

The good

  • The Robens Volcano Stove is a perfect fit for the Robens tents that have a stove pipe fitting. We found it kept the tent very warm, and it's also a good place to cook.

The not so good

  • You may find it fiddly to put up the first time you try it. Practice at home first. You'll be glad of that when you get to the campsite.

This was a hands-on product review. The product was supplied to us to test and conduct the review.

Price Guide

Robens Denali Stove has a recommended retail price of £341.99.

The best price we've found so far is £218.95. That's £123.04 off the RRP of £341.99.

Robens Denali Stove Videos

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Robens Denali Stove Photos

The Robens Denali Stove

The Robens Denali Stove

Robens Volcano Stove

Robens Volcano Stove

Our Review

We mentioned in a previous article why you would want to use a stove in your tent, as well as the sensible precautions you need to take.

The guys at Robens sent a review sample of their new Volcano stove introduced in 2015. It complements the Robens range of explorer tents such as the Robens Kiowa, Mescalero, Chinook Ursa, and Klondike.

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Update

The Robens Volcano Stove has been renamed the Robens Denali Stove.

Putting together the Robens Denali Stove

Robens Volcano Stove kit contents

Robens Volcano Stove kit contents

The stove comes in a box with ample flue, a spark arrester, and a heat shield to protect your tent.

There’s no real assembly required other than slotting the flue together, which you’d have to do each time you pitch your tent.

If your tent is shorter than the flue, you don’t have to use all the flue sections, but the flue does need to be higher than the top of your tent.

On the end of the Robens flue, you place the spark arrester to prevent hot sparks from coming out of the flue and put a hole (or worse) in your tent.

From the spark arrester, you can hang the heat shield.

You can change the height of the heat shield by adjusting the length of the supplied chain. This is to adjust the height, so the shield protects your tent when the stove pipe exits.

Adjusting the heat guard for the flue pipe

Adjusting the heat guard for the flue pipe

On the Robens Kiowa tent we used the stove with, the Kiowa was so tall that we didn’t need to use the chain.

I do recommend you try fitting the stove at home first.

I had to use a file on the heat guard to get rid of some solder joints that stopped it from fitting correctly, and you may need a step ladder until you are familiar with fitting the stovepipe on your tent.

Set-up your stove at home first

Set up your stove at home first

Placing the stove in your tent

The stove's position will be determined by where the opening for a stovepipe is in your tent. Besides that, you’ll want to place the stove away from combustible material (including the sides of the tent) and where it won’t be an obstacle… You don’t want anyone falling onto a hot stove.

The instructions for the Robens tent said that the groundsheet must be rolled back to place the stove on the ground. This is what we did when first testing the stove.

However, the Robens Volcano stove instructions said either roll the groundsheet back or place it on a fire retardant mat (like a heat blanket).

With 5 of us in the Robens tent, plus gear, the thought of rolling back the groundsheet wasn’t going to be practical, so I bought a large flame retardant mat and a fire blanket.

Protecting your tent

Protecting your tent

In the end, we had the groundsheet down, a Robens Kiowa carpet, a fireproof mat, and then the stove.

The stove must be on level ground, whatever you place underneath it.

In the Robens Kiowa, we position the front pointing towards the door, where we could have a fresh air flow coming into the tent.

Here's how we fit the stove in our Robens Kiowa Tent

  1. Before pitching the tent, ensure the flue exit port has been fully opened and that the guy lines are stretched out so you can access them after the tent is pitched.
  2. Pitch the tent.
  3. Place the stove body underneath the flue exit port.
  4. Assemble the sections of the flue.
  5. Add the spark arrester and heat shield to the top of the flue.
  6. Push the flue pipes up through the inside of your tent, poking the top of the flue out of the flue exit port on the tent.
  7. Place the bottom of the flue onto the stove.
  8. Go outside and adjust the guylines to expose the heat shield as much as possible.
  9. Peg out the guylines to add more stability to the flue.
Smoke coming out of the flue

Smoke coming out of the flue after fitting and lighting. Note the flue exit sleeve has been pulled back and the lines pegged out for additional stability.

Lighting the stove

This is just like lighting any other wood-burning stove. Start with some newspaper and small bits of wood, ensuring enough airflow through the door.

Adjusting the airflow

There’s no airflow valve on the Robens Volcano stove.

Instead, the stove’s door can be partially closed in a position that allows air to flow through the stove.

Your tent must be well-ventilated with a good supply of air.

Cooking on the Robens Denali Stove

On top of the stove is a ‘hot plate’.

This can be removed to place cast iron cookware directly over the fire.

We found cast iron griddles work well for cooking on this stove.

 Cooking on the Volcano Stove

Cooking on the Volcano Stove in the tent

You can also place items at the back of this stove to be kept warm by the hot stove surface.

Both an Outwell Collaps kettle and a metal whistling kettle warmed water when sat on the back of the stove. It wasn’t long before the kettle began to whistle. It is not as quick as boiling on a gas stove, but it still works well for boiling water and is a great way to use all that 'free' heat.

We also found a small pie iron that worked well on the back of the stove.

Boiling water on the Volcano stove

Boiling water on the Volcano stove

Putting away the stove

All the flue pipe sections can fit inside the Volcano stove. However, you must transport the spark arrester and heat guard separately.

You should remove all ash from the stove. It would be best also to clean out ash from the flue pipe, as a big ash build-up could cause a chimney fire.

Packing away the Robens Volcano Stove

Packing away the Robens (**Denali**) Volcano Stove

Robens Denali Stove vs Frontier Stove

If you’ve been thinking about getting a wood-burning stove for your tent, you have probably come across the ever-popular Frontier Stove from Anevay. Certainly, the Robens Denali stove looks very similar. So what’s the difference?

The Robens Volcano stove has all the bits necessary to work with their big tipi tents, such as the Robens Ursla, Robens Kiowa, and Robens Klondike tents.

This includes enough length of the flue to reach the top of the tent, a heat shield designed for the flue port on the Robens tents, and a spark arrester.

Although the Robens Denali stove may look much more expensive at first than the Frontier Stove, you would need to buy a few stovepipe extensions, spark arresters, and heat guards for a Frontier Stove to get the equivalent kit.  The Robens Denali stove is a very similar price when you top that all up.

Conclusion

We liked having a warm stove in the tent, and I can see it increasing our camping season throughout the year.

The Robens Volcano stove was simple to put together and easy to use, so it gets the thumbs up from us.

Details

AttributeRobens Denali Stove
RRP£341.99
Best Price£218.95
Product InfoBrand Web Page
Weight (kg)11.5
Pack Size (cm)54.5 x 41 x 26