Hearth Floor Rebuild for Fireview Install

That is good to know. Probably will be less of an issue when burning around the clock assuming the reload is from a reasonably hot coal base.

Having my last fire tonight; stove top up to 500 presently. Not sure how much paint smell is still left to cure out; will find out in the fall. Had the air down to .75 and soot was building on either side of the andirons and on the soapstone as well. Opened up the air to 2 and was pretty amazed as the box was engulfed in flames and the soot just burns away to nothing from the glass and from most of the soapstone except at the bottom corners. Have always been very conservative with burning; may need to re-train to burn hotter than I have been doing in the past. Lots to learn about with this new stove.

 

Every install is different but I'm surprised you where getting soot on the glass at .75
Do you know the MC of the wood, sounds a little wet. My first year, I had to leave a little flame in the box for the first couple hours on a reload, to avoid smoke stains on the outside edges of the glass, my oak was ~25% MC. The glass stayed much cleaner the second winter with MC in the upper teens. Even better this year, didn't even bother MMing the 3 and 4 year CSSed oak. I should check it this fall for curiosity, will be 4 and 5 year CSSed. And now top covering to boot.

 

Once the warranty is up, you may want to custom install a cat probe. Not necessary, but SO nice to have. Here's mine on a Keystone. The FV would be a little different with the hinged top but still very easy.
http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/i-drilled-the-soapstone-for-a-probe.2223/

And there is a factory port in the back of the stove if you want to go that route.

 

I was burning a combination of black cherry (~15%) and oak (~18%) but did throw in several elm shorts and elbows when the glass darkened a bit. These were dead standing elm, but I did not measure the MC - perhaps it was high. I'm pretty sure it has more to do with me learning how to use this stove than the MC of my wood; I probably turned down the air too quickly after the reload.

I remember reading your posts regarding the custom cat probe install ... no way am I going to drill my stove! I like the simplicity of using the stove top thermometer instead of a cat probe.

 

There is a learning curve. And as good as WS air wash is, the glass can get smokey. If I shut a new load down to zero, as soon as the cat's engaged (and I burn like that often), the glass will get smokey. And I agree, its amazing how well the black just burns right off the next time you have a nice flame show. But if you do that over and over, after a month or two, all that black burning off will leave a grey/white haze of fly ash on the glass. It will wipe right off. I like clear glass.

 

Do you have a pipe thermo? A little more difficult with your rear vent through the wall set up. Be aware, while charing in a new load with the bypass open, when the flames are sucking up the pipe, pipe temp can go to 600F in a Hurry.
My thermo order of usefulness- 1)Cat 2)pipe 3)stovetop YMMV
My single wall pipe can and does go from 100-600F surface temp in as little as 5 min after a reload, air wide open, bypass open. After three years of burning red oak, my stove top has never got above 675-700F. I'm not sure it can, I have to be really pushing it to get there. That's why stove top is low on my list. Every stove and install is different, YMMV

 

Looks like a lot of good info for new cat stove owners, not just the fire view crowd. I personally can not wait for the fall temps to set in so I can light our IS for the first time

 

This thread slipped by me somehow. We're all thrilled that you caved in so easily; We knew you could do it!

You may still have condensation in the pipe that runs down into the stove, or condensation on the frame inside which might bleed out and stain the stone. No big deal to buff it out with steel wool, but with the Fv it's easy to lift the lid and stuff the elbow with newspaper to soak up any moisture that runs down that far.

Yep, you can hear the cat heat shield moving a little under the screws as the cat lights and the shield expands. The Fv draws like mad; I could light a fire when it was 60 out, and have no spillage on my 16' stack. The cat probe won't give the true cat temp but I found it useful for telling me when I could close the bypass and get a light-off. I ran it up to around 1000, cut the air to hold it there for 10-15 minutes, and was guaranteed a light-off, even if the stove top was under 150. They say 250 in the manual so that non-nerds can get a light-off every time. I don't like sending my heat up the flue for that long.

You'll get a little more paint smell every time you hit a new high temp, but not much. You'll hit 550+, no doubt. I ran a lot with the air under .5 since I have a small place, and I would get slow haze buildup over a couple of weeks. I cleaned the glass with vinegar/water after 2 weeks or so. I've never been too concerned with a little haze since I don't watch the fire all that much. Looking forward to your reports this fall. I'm confident that you will continue to be amazed.