Fireview Thoughts

Nice stove and good write-up. You may get a chance to test her out this week. Cold tomorrow night and zero on Tuesday night.

 

Regarding the visibility of air control adjustments, someone on the old forum did this with high temp white paint and a fine paint brush:

 

I have a Woodstock and a Hearthstone. I do think the polish on the Hearthstone is a prettier, but they are both nice.

 

I really liked the look of my old Hearthstone; it too was polished stone plus the cast was enameled. The stone had many different colors in it and over the years these colors became richer. The stones of the Fireview by comparison are unpolished and all mostly the same bluish color. After 25 years with the Hearthstone, I am glad to have a change and really like the stone of the Fireview plus the more matte finish of the cast. Some people see the Fireview as ornate, but it is much less ornate than the Hearthstone it replaced.

 

I might be a bit OCD with the shipping bolts too, but I could envision a backpuff which unseats the cat in its frame.

 

Yeah, a backpuff would lift it for sure.

 

Yeah...My Woodstock doesn't quite have the polish and the cast iron isn't quite as nice looking in my opinion, but it's still great either way. I have a gas unit at home. Pretty great for the 1,000 sq feet space it heats.

 

I'm gonna go with one of my pet theories: Stove is in an air-conditioned house. Humid air gets into the stack in the summer and moisture condenses in the cool stove. This would explain rust-colored stains, and soapstone dust-colored ones, since the stove was new. If it happened after a year burning, the stains would be darker. Cap the top of the stack at the end of the season, or at least lift the top and block the flue with insulation or something. Leave a note in the firebox so you don't try to light a fire in the fall with no draft.
So, HarvestMan, is the Fv delivering the goods in this arctic blast? I'm guessing "Yes."

 

-13 here stove room at 85 ;-)

 

I was giving the Fireview a really quick clean this evening and ran a paint brush and shop vac around the inside top and noticed the same sort of staining. It was under a very thin coat of black soot colored dust. When I removed the black dust the reddish looking stain was in the exact same cloud shaped pattern. I remembered thinking of this thread but was in a hurry to get it heated back up and didn't take a pick. Its not something I'm going to worry about as I wouldn't have thought anything of it unless I had read this thread last week

 

I remember another thread where you posted about this and there were pictures of black stains on the Fireview top. I closed the key damper on my rear flue over summer; also checked for condensation a couple times over summer and did not see anything like this. While I did not take a picture, I would have noticed this if it had been there. It seems to be from combustion as unlikely as that seems - but, I can't say with 100% certainty that your theory is not correct as I only checked a couple times - if the condensation could have happened on a single weird wet inversion day, I suppose that could explain it.

So far so good. Currently 11 and the house is 69 after a 10 hour burn of 1 oak split and 3 small american elm rounds; that would have been impossible with the old stove. Will certainly get a good test this week as winter is finally here.

Wow. I will never get that high - my stove is in a two story section of our house and it is an open floor plan. I did have it up to 75 yesterday and turned on the furnace fans to warm the basement and cool down the upstairs as that is a bit on the warm side for us; we shoot for 71-73 in the day and 68 and above by morning reload.

Welcome to the "exception to the rule" club!

 

Yeah, it's not like air is going to be flowing down there constantly, cool air in the house will stay down. But if your house has a chimney effect with hot air escaping through the attic, or with certain winds, warm humid air could be drawn down the flue and into the stove. Like I say, just a theory but I've seen enough stove rust to make me wonder.

 

brrrrr... that cold weather is coming this way. I just did the 50/50 vinegar and mineral water bath on my cat, after not doing anything but tapping out dust and a mild vacumn previously after 2 full years of burning. We'll see what improvements there might be, if any.

I have noticed the cat seems less anxious to take right off this year, despite my better wood. Hopefully it was worth the effort, event though there really wan't all that much effort.

 

Minus 25C or about 10 below zero this morning. The Regency F5100 was hardly breaking into a sweat (on a half load left for 9 hours) and kept us cozy all night. If serious heat is what you need then this is the 'mother of all wood stoves' for sure.

 

I could probably heat my whole house with one of those hooked up in my garage - open the door to the house and let the heat come on in! Glad you are enjoying your stove.

Still waiting on you to post some more details about the F5100 ...

 

I haven't noticed a huge difference when I have done it but then again, I didn't take scientific measurements or anything. By better wood do you mean drier wood, or higher BTU. Some of the denser woods take longer to really get gassing, so the cat seems to take longer to light.

 

I'll have to get at it one of these days ... "gotta get at that someday ma" remember ma and pa Kettle? lol

 

They make a smaller model as well for less severe cold climates.

 

That is one impressive heater.

 

Of course! My wife and I just watched one over the holidays. It was part of a Ma and Pa Kettle marathon and I only recorded the one not knowing there were more being shown.

Love all the "old" classics that I watched in my youth ... Francis the Talking Mule, Twilight Zone, ...