Filled it up tonight

Hey Welcome jdonna, I may have missed it if you did an intro over in the "Everything Else" forum, but I recognize you from around the internet someplace. So welcome to the best little forum on the net!

I'm still learning my Fv, but I usually have what I consider to be a few too many coals in the bed in the AM. Going to bed about 10:00PM and setting the cruise control at 1, and getting up about 6:30AM. Too many to the point I'd feel I wanted to burn them down a bit before adding a full load.

So last night I did a little experiment here. It was 0'F when I went to bed, I filled the box with good sized oak splits and set the draft open about 1/8 inch more than my usual. ...perfect! Woke up at 6:30AM to a nice much more complete burn, but still nice coals in the bottom of the stove with a 198'F STT (IR gun), that easily lit a new load. 0'F outside and 66 on the far stove wall. I'm fine with that, the ~1650sq ft house was comfortable all night long. I think I've found my new setting for the cold night.

 

Welcome to the forums! Glad you like it

 

Something I found out a long time ago about these Woodstock stoves is they tend to keep a coal bed for a long time. During these colder temps you need to turn it up a notch and don't fear the flame. It may look like the gates of hell for a time and you may be tempted to turn it down but these stoves burn front to back and all that flame is probably just coming from the front top log and will settle down and move on to the next log.

 

I've observed that. It's the getting a feel for the overnight draft settings, when we've got various different temps out there that I am still coming up to speed on. ...and also, as you mention, getting use to the visual burn and not having to worry the a) runaway potential, and b) ending up with a cold stove in the morning.

 

Friend of mine still burns a 25 year old Fireview,,,,, no cat,, load the wood in the side and then lift the top to fill the rest of the stove to the top... Wow,,, talk about throwing some heat out! I walked into the farmhouse entryway -mudroom and had my back to the stove... Soon as I felt that strong heat on my back I turned around to see the old Fireview... Still going strong, could see the flame through the door frame, gasket must have been worn down a bit... Guess they run the stove with the draft closed and let the door frame supply the draft.... I can tell you one thing, I wouldn't be afraid to drive the Fireview as this stove was ran hard and certainly wasn't falling apart... He said he replaces the top stones once in a while and that's about it... A great stove for sure! With the cat,,, soooooo nice an easy to run....

 

Thanks for the welcome everyone, I have been a member on Hearth for 6-7 years. Same screen name.

Todd pointed out that you shouldn't fear the flame, I many times have some flame in the box, especially with a tall stack and draft. Takes some time to figure out when you are going to load the stove. That seems to change depending temps and what fuel you are loading from your stacks. At the end of the day, I would rather come home to coals than no fire. Some of my other stoves were relighted quite frequently, which I am not a fan of.

The wife does not like that job but can handle loading and setting the fireview.

 

I have yet to experience a run-away fire with the fireview, other stoves on my setup yes, there has been nail biting nights watching things.

 

When I had my Fireview, I don't think I ever ran the stove as high as I could have.. I never saw over 550 STT... I agree, in the cat mode I never had the Fireview run away... After one day of running the stove I slept with not a worry.. My wife could run my Fireview as well... It was great that they numbered the draft...

 

I took a steel rule and an engraver to a stove once and filled in the lines and numbers with paint. I maybe hurt the resale value but I didn't care!

 

I remember hitting 750 with my Fireview with the draft at 0 one time, scared the crap out of me! Bypassed for awhile and engaged at a higher setting and all was well.

I haven't had that happen to me on the Keystone yet, it seems a little more controllable and cools down if you shut down the air. I did hit 710 stove top purposely the other day at #1 with a super bright orange cat at 1580 and cut the air down to .75 and she cooled right off instantly. I wanted to find a good temp to set my alarm just incase.

 

Start has been permanently moved to Willow Lake.
Should be OK unless these temps last thru Feb.

 

Thanks Backwoods.

I do not think I have ever reached over 625, would be fun to witness. I can imagine a big load of dry wood with the air cut could accomplish this.

We generally see 440-525 stove top burns with 350-400 for side temps, granted the air setting is usually ran around .4-.7 with a small amount of flame in the box. 10-14 hours of usable heat. We can't seem to get the air cut any further due to wind and pressure fluctuations in this old old log home that can cause some random backpuffs.

Todd, I have witnessed higher temps at 1 and a drop in temp by cutting the air on occasion too.

I hope in the future that wood stock keeps the ultra controllability beyond the new Ideal stove setup. I would never want to go back to a poorly designed un-restricted secondary air inlet system again.

Well back to stuffing the stove, seems the sub zero weather won't quit!

 

I have an Oslo story here. When the corners get to 600ish I'm happy. But I also know that bad times are to come. When I get 700+ on the corners I do Dennis' trick. I open the door for a split then close it. That does it every time.

 

So what is the science behind the "less air/more heat" phenomenon?

Usually my stove likes a setting of 1 or maybe just slightly less. It really seems to go dark and slow way down below that.. so I open it back up to 1. It is very sensitive plus or minus 1/8th inch of the 1 setting. No back puffing ever with this stove in my installation.

Normal cruise range is 500-550ish, with a peak at 625ish. I have never been beyond that (yet).

Also, is there actually a secondary air inlet on the Fv and where is it. I don't see it? (or haven't yet, anyway.) But I totally agree the Fv is a nicely controllable beauty. It has a lot of torque and grunt for those real winter days.

 

Fireview has only one air inlet, right at the slide air control lever. Less air=less primary fire and more smoke contact time with the Cat.

Everyones setup runs a bit differently, draft, chimney height, wind direction/speed and stove location. Ours is on a center brick chimney, lined and insulated. About 28 ft of total stack, with two elbows hooked up. So setting one my stove is a bit different than someones with a stack height of 16 ft and the rest of the variables mixed in.

Seems like your getting some good burns on your stove Oldhippie.

 

I see. Interesting, I will experiment more and see what happens. That's an interesting concept. I petty much get those lazy flames that sometimes die, or ghost flames.. and sometimes the infamous rolling flames. But sometimes I don't get any of that and also don't see the cat ignited, so then I have the tendency to open it up a little. I've read that the cat may be working even if not glowing orange, but boy, it is clearly working when it is glowing orange. I suspect this also has to do with where you are in the burn cycle, the quality of the wood, and the temp of the stove, and may require a combination of all of that.

Very interesting science behind a the whole process.