The joy of a cat stove. No flame at all but a good heat producing load. After I loaded these images I had to get up and now we have those beautiful rolling flames. Stove top temperature 690 degrees. A bit hotter than intended actually. There are 3 small splits and one round (about 4" diameter). All white ash. That should keep us warm all night.
Nicely done, sir! I don’t think I’ve actually seen your stove before. I love interesting doors like that. Looks beautiful.
I still cant get my head wrapped around how there can be that much heat and no flames.... I'm also surprised that you can get those temps out of that little amount of wood, and that you say it will keep you warm all night... I still have not used a woodstove (really want to replace the old stove here, but don't know what I should get) , but learning tons here. Backwoods Savage, what temp were you shooting for? I assume you could lower the temp by turning down an air control?
Have to love a soapstone stove !!! It’s amazing how much heat you get from a small load. I have yet to put a full firebox load in...
Looks very familiar Dennis! We love our Fireview! It’s amazing how much heat this little stove puts out on very little wood. I put 5 splits in at 8 last night and it was still 76 at 6am with 30 outside and a beautiful coal bed just waiting and STT still 200. Hot enough I had to wear gloves to reload. I’ve had a few stoves over the years but never one that held a fire like this. All that soapstone really holds the heat and radiates it beautifully. We’re heating 2100 sq ft in Maine and keeping the stove room around 80 most of the time. We couldn’t afford to do that with any other heat source.
Eckie Backwoods speaketh the truth If your in the learning mode and going to replace a old wood stove for sure at least consider a Cat equipped model. I just reloaded my Cat stove after 18 hours on enough coals for a restart. This stove is only 1.8 cu ft. 29F outdoors and 73F inside. I will run my STT up to 700 occasionally before shutting it down for the long burn. Normally I catch it at 625 for my shut down point. It seems that 2 manufacturers have led the pack on Cat stove's for years. Woodstock and Blaze King.
It’s a real pleasure to have put all the thought and energy into the wood and then to really enjoy the great heat it gives you back.
Thanks Cash. That is not the door as the door is on the side. They just put the window in because most folks like to see the fire and it is helpful for controlling the fire. I should add that with the naked eye, not so much glow can be seen as what you get when taking a picture. Perhaps that is because of the camera flash.
Nice! I had to let our fire go out yesterday. It was 79 on our living level and I couldn't burn any slower. I think the high temp was mid sixties. When is winter going to show up?
I too was amazed when we got the stove! One of my first memories of it was that I always get up in the night (as most older guys do) so it is natural to check on the stove. The house was real warm but I could not even see a hot coal! Wow! Stove temperature was somewhere around 600. I went back to bed. It is very common to get those temps with a small amount of wood. Usually any time before Christmas it is rare to put more than 3 pieces of wood in the stove unless they are super thin or junk wood. I was not shooting for any particular temp; just for an overnight fire but apparently put in one too many last night. btw, I did put a couple pieces in this morning around 8:00 and the house temp then was down to 73. On turning down the draft to control. One has to be a bit careful on this point. If the stove is hot like that, turning the control down can have the opposite effect of what you want. It seems counter but giving a bit more draft can work wonders. If it starts getting too hot, one can always open the bypass so heat stops going through the cat. Sounds strange but I found the learning of this stove is rather quick. We love it! And best of all is it cut our wood needs at least in half.
For clarification, I believe Backwoods and wasnt questioning the truth of his statements...I hope it wasn't taken that way. I'm just amazed and don't understand how all that works. Personally, trying to figure out what stove I (we) should get is mind boggling. So many options, and obviously information and opinions on here. I thought I was set on an Absolute Steel, but am second guessing. Guess I am trying to figure out the perfect stove, which may or may not exist. Backwoods Savage, you can run that stove with visible flame and enjoy the fire show, correct? Can that be done without overheating the house? And if so, is that done by contolling the amount and species you put in the stove, or some other aspect of the stove? Sorry for somewhat derailing your thread, trying to get me some learning.
Eckie, I doubt you could go wrong with the AS. It is a bit different from the fireview and actually should be a better stove. Some day the fireview will be redone into a hybrid like the AS. But without a doubt the beauty of the fireview is hard to beat with or without a fire in it. Yes, it can and most times is run with visible flame but not a roaring flame; just an easy flame that is a pleasure to look at for those who like to stare at the flames. It simply is controlled with draft. Now the kicker. If and/or when you have one of those super duper cold spells with lots of below zero weather and cold wind to boot, you just make sure you have flame and the stove will give you more heat even though sometimes the stovetop reading might not go as high. That is because more of the heat then comes from all parts of the stove whereas if in full cat mode so that no flame, the heat is coming mostly from the stove top. I hope this made sense to you.
Thanks Backwoods Savage for the info, it does make sense. My main concerns with selecting a stove is the layout of my house (meaning airflow and heat movement, so will I be able to move the heat and not overheat the stove room, even with the far side fan), clearances and hearth protection (would rather not have to re-do what I have), and my current chimney which we had relined when we purchased the house (again, hoping I can use what we have and not have to modify). We don't have any stove venders nearby, nearest one that i know of, thats a decent size, is an hour-ish away, so "professional" in person advice is difficult to get...
I am a believer that you get much better radiant heat with soapstone with cast being second and steel coming in last. However good reports keep coming in for the AS ans IS. The only real thing I can go by though with complete confidence is my own experience. For a background, we had an Ashley stove previous to buying the fireview. We got tired of being uncomfortable in the winter and started looking. How uncomfortable? It was so bad we even moved our kitchen table to directly in front of the stove, usually shortly after Christmas. We also closed off part of the house. We also had to run an electric heater in the bathroom before taking a shower. We had to move the air to try getting it down the hall toward bath and bedroom. btw, this is when we learned about the proper way to move the warm air and it is not by blowing said warm air! It is by blowing the cool air, but fan on low speed to keep away from unwanted drafts. btw, we even fought frozen water pipes off and on. No more! We then also burned from 6-7 cord of wood and a couple winters even more. Once in the UP we burned about 9 cord. Now we burn from 2 1/2 to 4 cord with around 3 being the norm. So we started looking and had a few dollars saved up. We went to several places and quickly found there are so-called salesmen there but we found none that really knew much at all outside of what the manufacturers literature showed. Nuts! One day I remembered we had looked at the Woodstock soapstone stoves but had to rule them out because we were close to being in the poor house. Yet I remember how nice they looked and some points I had discovered that made them sound ideal. We sent for literature. Later they sent us to one of their customers who turned out to be someone I had done business with before plus I knew some of his relatives. He sold me! We ordered one the next day. It did not take long to fall in love with this stove. I've owned several stoves plus been around many more. And suddenly, we were warm in our house! We still wondered what it would be like when the real cold hit. It was amazing!!! We stayed warm all winter. We no longer changed the house. We did not close off part of the house. We no longer try to move the air. Instead of the house always being way below 70, we now keep it usually at 80 all winter and love it. I sit here now like during mid winter with a t-shirt on. The furthest room from the stove room does not drop much from the stove room; at most 1-2 degrees. We've not had frozen pipes since installing the fireview and the coldest we've had is -26. If I can help further, do not hesitate to ask.
Backwoods Savage, sounds like you made a great purchase on the perfect stove for you! What is the layout of your house in terms of stove location and air/heat movement? I'm a bit envious of folks that have their stove in a central spot so it can heat well, or in the basement. If I could find a stove that would heat the whole house comfortably (without stove room being unbearable), that would be great. But I also want the stove for when power goes out since we have a heat pump. I appreciate your assistance. I may try to start a new thread explaining my situation, layout and needs/ preferences and concerns, and see what kind of advice and ideas people can offer.
Stove is about 12' from end and no problem getting heat to all rooms even off the hallway. However, as I've stated many times, for those who have problems in far rooms, a small desk fan, running on lowest speed and sitting on floor can work wonders when set in the cool area and blowing cool toward the stove room.
Sounds like I need to invest in a soapstone stove... could you share a link to yours, if you have a link? We've got the old Atlanta Stove Works "Woodsman" stove, all cast iron, and I have to get the basement up to about 87 before any noticeable heat flow up to first or second floor. We've also got 2100 sq ft. But I only got 1 cord for this winter, to supplement the oil furnace.. am thinking about ordering another half cord, as I think the wife is starting to like the heat/smell of the wood stove fire. Alternative option is leaving this stove here and planning on soapstone for next house in a few years. So happy I read this thread and learning about how much heat folks are getting with much less wood!
Backwoods Savage and Maina...do y'all believe the success you're having is because of the Fireview being soapstone, or because you have become experienced and efficient in how to run your stove in your setup? My question is based on SilentHatch's statement above pertaining to the soapstone stove being the answer. I know they are slower to get up to heat, but if they somehow allow for better heating and distribution of heat, that could be a big factor in stove selection.
