What’s Going On with Woodstock Soapstone?

Well, you aren't wrong...those Englander were an excellent value!
My inlaws are still using the NC 30 I put in their new house...a 13 would have been more appropriately sized, but the 30 was the one on a blowout price deal...it works...FIL gets carried away and the windowstats have to be engaged sometimes

 

Guilty! Been there done that! Many times!

 

I don't think I ever said that cat stoves aren't any good. I will re-read my posts but do not remember saying that....at all. The OP of this thread posted that there are issues with customer service and cats.

As far as the $1500 over 15 years amount was arrived at, another member suggested that the replacement cost of a cat averaged out to that amount. I thought it was an amount achieved at reasonably. But calling it untruthful and negative is borderline accusatory. Another wording may have been better.


I and everyone else know that you unequivocally support woodstock and their products. You have posted about this for years. Not only on here (FHC) but also on hearth. (BTW, those earlier years over there were some good ones! Just as the early years here were the best!!!)

Stihl/husky; Ford/Chevy. Covered/Uncovered. Horizontal/Vertical. And so many other decades worth of threads!! It all boils down to what a person wants, no?

Is there anything that a little vinegar and water can't freshen up?

 

We'll let you slide since you haven't been to a gtg, so you don't know about the porta potties afterward...

 

yooperdave it was probably me that said I pay on average $100 dollars a year in cat cost.
I had an NC-13 stove, it wasn’t stoves fault it was too small for my needs. My uncle is a lot like you and has had his Fisher Grandma bear for 25 years. I used similar, short version my house is bigger with higher ceilings, he burns 8 cord average winter I burn burn 4 with cat. Yes I have to order and clean cats. For me that is easier than 4 more cord of wood. You saved $100 a year. I would spend that $100 on processing 4 more cord.

that’s $25 a cord, it costs me more than that in gas and oil (chainsaw and splitter) diesel for tractor, chains, bar oil, filter etc etc

not to mention time that I can spend on FHC giving you a hard time.. which is more fun
In spring we Brothers and I will go help him with his cords as he is close to Dennis age

 

Interesting discussion. I'm just reading it all now. That said I have a bit of experience with manufacturing and sourcing of components, be it cast iron, fasteners, steel, etc. that's literally my job. I can say that there's quite a few foundries, in the States and elsewhere. But it takes time and dedicated personnel to be able to source these things. Tariffs have complicated procurement, I'll leave it at that because it's so complicated. I hope Woodstock stoves has more of this figured out than how they had it operating before. It takes people, dedicated people at that, to keep the supply chain going. You simply cannot just let it go as it was operating previously, because that method doesn't work anymore. I used to work in an industry that used a lot of catalyst materials ( regenerative thermal oxidizers, RTO) and I bought all of the catalyst for that company.

I don't have a cat stove, but I appreciate their efficiency.

 

I probably spend 100$ per year on cats too. That’s not unreasonable at all. Totally worth it.

 

Hmmmm? Failed to read anywhere in this extensive discussion about the life of combustors in relation to how they are cared for and operated. I lot of variables can change life dependency quite a bit. Type of fuel, moisture content, burn rate, cleaning, etc. Attached is a picture that I took yesterday of our 6 year old Woodstock steel unit. Should have wiped off the glass for clarity. Just fly ash. I only brush off fly ash every few burns and clean it thoroughly before every burn season. No complaints as it still is working ok. To each his own!

 

I am reading/hearing different times that CATs last for the Ideal/Absolute Steel (3 years) vs the Fireview (5 years) I wonder if the restricted airflow to create lower emissions of the newer stoves has impacted the CAT life. I know I put my AS CAT through the ringer by running it with my less than ideal flue height

 

Mine probably are still good, but they take more care after 2 years, higher temps before engaging, stalling if shutting air too quickly.. My flue is tall and draft is significantly higher than needed..

BDF (May he RIP) who had thermocouples and posted real life data said it was cheaper to replace. He Brian, was an incredible resource

 

It can be assumed that a catalyst is cared for and operated in compliance with the owner's manual.

Your cat looks hot in that photo but "years" of cat life is a very poor way to quantify anything. See, a cat can last 100 years if you never use it. One fire per year and it will look great after 10 years. No, the correct way to define the age of a catalyst is by hours of active catalytic activity. I use my stove every day for about 9 months per year but not everybody does that.

Definitely don't replace a cat until it dies. My cats need to be replaced after about 12,000 hours which I usually do in 2-3 years.

I believe that the burn rate has more to do with cat life than any cleaning regimen. Clogging with ash is a different problem.

 

Common sense should relate combustor life with hours of use. No way to deny that fact, but performance related to what one burns is also obvious. Other than that, you are spot on!

 

Reading all of this about cat stoves reinforces the decision we made about 25 years ago to go non-cat with our Jotul 500. Of course we are not in the “glaciated north” like many of you so our consumption of fire wood is much less as well!

 

The problem is that many excellent noncat designs are now off the market and replaced with band aid cats. Hearthstones for example. Even the newest noncats are often boogered up with very high minimum burn rates to eek out a tiny bit less emissions.

I have a noncat stove too and would have no problem burning a noncat in the home as well if I had not been spoiled by the long burn times that only a cat stove can provide. It's been just above freezing here for several days and I can load the stove once per day with no matches or kindling. That's with bigleaf maple, so not great wood. House stays in the 70s. Very low effort.

 

Exactly the point I was trying to make!

 

I called the Woodstock parts department yesterday and no one answered. First time this has ever happened.

 

Today I went to order two replacement gaskets. Price for the gaskets was $17.00. Shipping cost $30.00 from NH to NJ. Uh, no thanks.