The Cadel Sweet 3 Up has a silent natural-convection mode that switches the fan off entirely, and at 37 dB it was the quietest stove in our test by a clear margin. If appliance noise keeps you awake, this is the stove to consider. Here is what it does well, and where it compromises.
Cadel is an Italian maker that shares engineering with the larger Free Point group, and the Sweet 3 Up is its quiet-running living-room model. At around £1,549 it sits in the middle of this comparison on price, but it stands alone on one measure: noise. Its natural-convection silent mode switches off the convection fan, leaving only the soft tick of the auger, which makes it the obvious choice for a bedroom, a quiet snug or anyone sensitive to appliance hum. With a useful 8.2 kW output and a generous hopper, it is far more than a one-trick stove.
| Model | Price | Nominal heat output | Heats rooms up to | Seasonal efficiency | Rating | Link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ★ Top pick Cadel Sweet 3 Up 8 kW Pellet Stove | £1,549.99 | 8.2 kW | ~80 m² | 88.0% | ★ 4.2 | View → |
£1,549.99
8.2 kW · ~80 m² · 88.0%
The verdict from Marta Kowalska, home heating tester
The pick if quiet running matters most. The Cadel Sweet 3 Up has a natural-convection silent mode that switches off the fan entirely, and at 37 dB on low it was the quietest stove in our test by a clear margin, quiet enough to leave running in a bedroom overnight. You still get a useful 8.2 kW that heats a normal 80 m² living room, a generous 18 kg hopper and a solid 88.0% measured efficiency. The trade-off is that without the fan, heat spreads more slowly, so it suits a room where you value calm over the fastest possible warm-up. For anyone sensitive to appliance noise, it is the clear choice.
In silent mode there is no fan roar at all, just the soft tick of the auger and a gently rising warmth.
| Nominal heat output | 8.2 kW |
|---|---|
| Heats rooms up to | ~80 m² |
| Seasonal efficiency (measured) | 88.0% |
| Hopper capacity | 18 kg |
| Pellet consumption | 0.5 to 1.9 kg/h |
| Flue diameter | 80 mm |
| Noise (natural convection) | 37 dB low / 45 dB high |
| Weight | 104 kg |
| Feature | Silent natural-convection mode |
| Standard | EN 14785, Ecodesign 2022 |
| Typical UK price | £1,549 |
The Sweet 3 Up is the right stove if quiet running matters more to you than the fastest possible warm-up. Its natural-convection silent mode switches off the convection fan entirely, and at 37 dB on low it was the quietest stove we measured, below the level of a quiet library, which makes it quiet enough to leave running in a bedroom overnight. Beyond that party trick it is a capable all-rounder: an 8.2 kW output heats a normal 80 m² living room without strain, and the 18 kg hopper is larger than its same-output rivals, so you refill it less often. For anyone sensitive to appliance noise, it is the clear pick.
It is less suited to two cases. If you want a room to warm as fast as possible, the silent mode spreads heat by natural convection rather than a fan, so it is slower to warm a cold room than the fan-driven stoves; you can run the fan when you want speed, but then it is no quieter than the others. And if you want the very lowest running cost, its 88.0% efficiency, while solid, is below the 90-percent stoves, so the MCZ Suite or La Nordica Viviana Plus will use a little less fuel. For a quiet room you value calm in, though, the Cadel is in a class of its own.
The silent natural-convection mode is the whole reason to buy this stove, and it works. By switching off the convection fan and relying on natural convection to circulate warm air, the Sweet 3 Up dropped to a measured 37 dB on its lowest setting, a clear margin below the next-quietest stove here and quiet enough that we left it running in a bedroom overnight without it disturbing sleep. There is no fan roar at all, just the soft, intermittent tick of the auger feeding pellets and a gently rising warmth. For anyone who finds the hum of a convection fan irritating, that silence is transformative, and it is the single thing that sets this stove apart.
The 8.2 kW output heats a normal 80 m² living room without strain, and in fan mode the Sweet 3 Up warms a room at a pace comparable to the other 8 kW stoves here. The trade-off comes in silent mode: with the fan off, heat spreads by natural convection alone, which is gentler and slower, so a cold room takes longer to come up to temperature. In practice we found the sensible approach was to run the fan to warm a cold room quickly, then switch to silent mode once it was comfortable and you wanted calm, which gives you the best of both. Cadel's EN 14785 declaration confirms the nominal 8.2 kW output with a turndown that supports the gentle silent-mode running.
The 18 kg hopper is a genuine practical advantage: it is larger than the hoppers on the other 8 kW stoves here, so it needs filling less often, a useful saving in heavy winter use. We measured the seasonal efficiency at 88.0%, solidly in the A band and only a little behind the very best stoves, so running cost stays sensible. The build is well finished and the 104 kg body is a sensible weight for a single-room stove, easier to position than the heavy ceramic and thermo models. Over our test the glass and door seal stayed clean and tight, and the silent mode showed no downside in combustion quality.
There are two. First, the silent mode's strength is also its limitation: with the fan off, heat spreads more slowly, so the Sweet 3 Up is slower to warm a cold room than a fan-driven stove, and to get speed you have to run the fan and give up the quiet. Second, its 88.0% efficiency, while good, is below the 90-percent stoves here, so it is not quite the cheapest to run. Neither undermines its core appeal: both are the expected trade-offs of a stove engineered around quietness rather than raw speed or peak efficiency.
Best for: a bedroom, a quiet snug or anyone sensitive to appliance noise who values calm over the fastest warm-up. Not the pick if you want the quickest possible heat-up (run any fan-driven stove) or the very lowest running cost (try the MCZ Suite or La Nordica Viviana Plus).
Silent mode switches off the convection fan entirely and relies on natural convection to spread heat. With no fan running, the stove was the quietest in our test at 37 dB on low, quiet enough to leave running in a bedroom overnight, at the cost of slower heat distribution.
Yes. At 37 dB in silent mode it was clearly the quietest stove we measured, below the level of a quiet library. If appliance noise keeps you awake, this is the stove to choose; you give up some warm-up speed compared with running the fan.
Its 8.2 kW output heats a normal living room of about 80 m² without strain, and the generous 18 kg hopper means fewer refills than rivals at the same output. In silent mode the heat spreads more slowly, so allow a little longer to warm a cold room.
The Cadel Sweet 3 Up is our pick for quiet running because it does something no other stove here can: in silent natural-convection mode it measured just 37 dB, quiet enough to leave running in a bedroom overnight, while still offering a useful 8.2 kW, a generous 18 kg hopper and a solid 88.0% efficiency. It is held back only by the fact that silent mode spreads heat more slowly and its efficiency is just below the best, neither of which matters if quiet is your priority. For a bedroom or a calm living room it is the obvious choice. If you want the fastest warm-up or the lowest running cost, the Ravelli Holly 9 and MCZ Suite Comfort Air are the stoves to read next. Before you decide, see our pellet stove vs wood burner and buying guide pages.