Fireview or Progress Hybrid?

We have a Fireview 201 that we did a complete refurb on and we love having it in our 125 year old Victorian house. While we love the looks and heat from our stove we do not think it has enough btu's to heat our home. We are right at the limits for the stove's heating square footage and are fighting 9 foot ceilings, windows the size of storm doors.....your typical this old house scenario. Our two thoughts are to either get a bigger stove....Progress Hybrid....or get another Fireview and run two stoves when needed. Our current stove will heat our house fine until we get 30 or below and then it cannot keep up. Our typical burn times are 7-8 hours. I am assuming the burn times in the 205 Fireview and. It would be more efficient than our current stove. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I assuming the burn times in the 205 would be longer since it is more efficient and newer design

 

A modern FV 205 will be more efficient than the FV 201, but I'm guessing only by 15%. The PH is a much bigger stove and very efficient. Unless the floor plan of the house calls for 2 stoves to distribute the heat, I'd go with the PH. How many sqft are you heating? How many floors? Where do you live?

 

ESVA, before you even get Dennis' full name out, they'll know.........
I'm with fox, give us some more info to work with.
Jeez, excuse me.......Welcome to the forum.
Forgot my manners.

 

Welcome!

The PH puts out a lot more heat than the Fireview. If the Fireview comes close to heating your home, the PH should be just fine for you. And it is a lot easier to run one stove than two. And you save the expense of another flue. And the space lost. I'd definitely go with the PH. But I'd keep the old Fireview. Then, if you find by any chance you would prefer two Fireviews, you can return the PH and order a Fireview. If not, and more likely, then you can sell your old Fireview at the peak of the heating season and get a decent price for it.

 

Yep.

Also, how good is your insulation? How drafty is the house. Be honest. If you don't know, most likely you are under insulated with a good amount of air leaks.

 

We are trying to heat 1600 sq. feet not including the 9 foot ceilings. We lose a ton of heat through our windows which are 33x76. We have storm windows on them and blown in insulation on our clap board siding. Our house is very drafty so we know what we are up against. We did install triple cell insulating window blinds in our boy's bedroom and they made a huge difference. They were'nt cheap...$200 a window due to their size and they have 3 windows in their room.We do have the space to install another stove but we are leaning towards the PH just for the more heat and to only have to run one stove. We love our old Fireview and would never part with it. It's just like our house...old but well built and still running strong.

 

Thats a tough call. I had run two stoves, but now just run the fireview and a pellet stove for when temps really get sub zero or when we are gone for long periods.

With the Ideal stove coming out on the market, I am seriously keeping an eye on adding a second wood stove opposed to buying pellets.

Really depends on the location of the primary stove and the ability for that room to readily move the heat in the house.

Our setup has the fireview in the central part of "old house" heats and does just fine moving the heat over the two stories, but the modern (1870's) additions built around the original house need a boost when its cold. Ceiling fans are a Godsend for moving heat.

We experimented with a larger stoves in the past, but unless it was 10 degrees or less the main part of house was too hot. Especially our bedroom directly above the stove room. (Not of a fan of sleeping in 80 plus degrees).

When it is above 10 degrees the fireview will do a fine job of heating the whole house.

 

ESVA Fireview,

That last post makes it really simple. I feel the same way about my Fireview. It sits, attached to no pipe, in a place of honor in the family room. Some day I hope to use it again. It was too small for my home, and as soon as the PH came out I bought it. No regrets.
I'd get the PH. You can run it to produce a wide range of heat, from on low - no more than the Fireview , to on moderate or high -way more. If you find it does not produce enough heat for you (which I doubt you will find), then you can hook up your old Fireview. If you opt for another Fireview, you'll definitely need two stoves. So go for needing one stove, so much easier. Worst scenario, you use both. But even in that scenario, with the PH there will be many more days when you only need the one stove.

Also, I love my Fireview, but if I could only choose to have one of the stoves, hands down it would be the PH. Before I got the PH, I would never have believed I would feel that way.

 

With the info you provided I would go with a progress hybrid and then run the fire view when the progress is losing ground. Just my two cents worth.

On a different subject is there something you can do to insulate the house better. No matter how you cut it those are two serious heaters for 1600 sq ft.

 

I really need to take a voyage to the wood stove "mecca", then they can put a face with a name.

 

I too had a Fireview and traded up to the PH... Way more heat... We are heating a 1900 sq ft 1840 farmhouse... All reframed within the post and beam with new walls an insulation and Anderson windows.. Floors are a little cool as we have a laid up stone foundation... I want to insulated the floors in the rooms that have no rugs, that should help.. Just giving you an idea of our cool spots of our house... So now we have the PH at one end of our house and an Esse wood Cookstove off of our kitchen... Myself in your situation, I'd leave your cherished Fireview untouched and just add the PH where ever you have room... That in my eyes would give you the best of both worlds... Then you could show people the old and the new. The "Progress" that Woodstock has made.. Plus you have a nice cooking surface... Then you can choose which stove to run or run both if the outdoor temps warrant.. That's a win-win situation in my eyes... If you plan on an install now,, you still have a stove heating you..

It is funny calling Woodstock... I use to say this is Charlie from Schoharie, NY... I think it was Penny that had me laughing when she said you don't have to tell me where your from, when you say Charlie I know who you are... That showed me being a customer of Woodstock's your not just a number,,, your like family

If you get the PH,,,, get the ash pan

Nice thing with the PH,,, you will also enjoy amazing heat just burning the coals down.. It will burn them down to dust as you will see having an ash pan.. Another plus about the PH..

 

One word charlie....Caller ID.
J/K

 

Darn,,, I thought they really just knew my voice

 

We walked into the showroom on Wednesday and Penny greeted my wife by name - we haven't been dealing directly with her with this Beta unit, so I give her full credit for a good memory. Another nice thing is knowing that many of them burn WS stoves at home, so conversations about the stoves aren't a recitation of sales material.

 

I really appreciate all of the feedback that I have gotten. It's a good feeling to know that there are people who will give you an honest answer and advice you can trust. We have decided to hold on to our beloved Fireview 201 and finish the winter out with her. She has been good for us this far so let her finish this season out. We will then wait to see if the PH goes on sale this spring and are also considering the IS. We really like the design that Flamestead had on his stove and the beta reports are coming back extremely positive. We will move our Fireview to another chimney in the house and use it when needed. Thanks again for all of the help. I will be sure to keep you posted on whatever we decide to get and f course post some pics of the install.

 

Wow is this a timely thread. I sold my FV and bought a Progress because the FV simply was not keeping us warm enough. We have burned the Progress for 2 years now, and its MUCH better, but if I had to do it all over again (which I may still do) I wish I kept the FV and ran both stoves during the cold months. I'm in the process of investigating whether my clearances will work in the other location to add the FV.

If it were me, I would install the Progress, use it as the main heat source so that you only deal with one stove most of the time, but keep the FV until you decide the Progress was enough. I am kicking myself for selling the FV too soon.

 

To further mess with your decision, Fire_man, we need a second stove, and were leaning toward a used Fireview or Keystone (wife favors the Keystone). But now that we've experienced the long, slow burn of the Ideal Steel, combined with its big box, we are in a quandary. Do we buy the Ideal Steel, because it will require less attention and burn longer, or try the Keystone, which will physically take up less space in the secondary location and be more aesthetically appropriate for the most formal room in our old house?