Getting conflicting info from local hearth shops

You can go with a hybrid and get the benifits of both all at once; a nice secondary burn with visible flames when you want, and a cat. burn that will go much, much slower which is great for long burns, especially in the shoulder season when you only need a little heat.

There are a few hybrids out there, four that I know of. Two are Woodstock Soapstones, the Ideal Steel and the Progress Hybrid. Another one is the Regency F5100 which appears to be a nice stove although it is by far the biggest of all of them (and about the biggest woodstove made). And finally there is another brand that I cannot think of at the moment but I think it is a Travis industries stove- someone will chime in with the brand and name I am sure.

Lots of us, including me, have the Ideal Steel and have been quite happy with it (first year in production). The price is also very competitive at under $2,000 for a hybrid or a pure cat. stove.

Brian

 

Never owned a cat stove , but don't like the idea of the maintenance required .
I like the simplicity and fire show of a tube stove.
With a tube stove you clean it up once a year , that's it.
Ash drawers and every thing , just more possibilities for things to go wrong .
Just my opinions
The heat swings don't bother me at all.
I have a hall similar to what you have , 3BR 1200 sq ft, you will definitely need some small fans on the floor to move the cold air towered the stove room , with a couple of small fans , temps at other end of my house are about 4 degrees cooler, with out them it was 8-10 degrees

 

go for bigger ,it wont hurt i like my castine but every day i wish i got the oslo

 

As many have stated that comment is just BS from a person who does not know how to run a stove.

 

Did Woodstock come up with another steel hybrid after the Absolute was in production?

 

The Navajo coal hybrid but that's a pretty niche stove. I'm not even sure if it will be available to purchase directly.

 

Coal burning from WS? hmmm... Is it something they produce? Wood fired too I suppose

 

Yes- it burns wood and coal. It was a special project sized and designed for Navajo out west to work with their homes and available resources. Since I have a background in public program policy I followed it as close as I could. Cool stuff.

 

I don't see it on their website. Is there anything (a photo or specs) floating around?

 

THAT is where the bottom draft we need on our Ideal Steel's went!



OFFTOPIC: Most modern stoves will not, and it should not even be tried really, burn coal. Burning coal requires a grate and a draft from underneath to keep it going. And anthracite or 'hard' coal has a lot of gas in it that burns blue, exactly like natural gas or propane. But if one has a stove capable of burning the stuff and access to it at anything even approaching a reasonable price, it really is an interesting experience to burn coal. Very, very different from burning wood. In the end, I prefer burning wood as coal has too many quirks, is a bit more dangerous (the possibility of filling the stove / chimney with gas and then having it all ignite), generates a tremendous amount of ash compared to wood and is just dirty, nasty stuff to handle / store / fill the stove with. But it is interesting to do it for a while and go through the learning curve.

Brian

 

Not that I now of and actually, I forgot about the Absolute; Woodstock produces three hybrids: the Progress, the Ideal Steel and the Absolute Steel.

Brian