Progress Hybrid , closed off air feed

Interesting. I wonder how that compares to my home. As an example, the Heritage at my Father In-Law's heated his place a lot better than the Heritage did when I had one. His home is just as old, but not as drafty.

It might just be me or it might my home. But, when the Heritage was running at 600 it felt identical to a cast iron of the same size stove (the Encore) running at 600. The 30 and the Defiant running at 650-700 feels nearly the same as the Vigilant when it ran at the same temp.

And this is where we are at.

Here are the problems I face:
King: Takes an 8" liner. Two of the locations can not do an 8" liner and those two locations would be the most ideal spots for the King. Also, the cost is quite high. I believe the King is a little north of $4k in the northeast

The Progress: Burn times seem to vary drastically from owner to owner. I want to buy the Progress. I like how that stove looks more than any BK stove or the Woodstock Steel stove. But, I do not know which owners most represent what I will experience. Since the stove is responsible for such a small amount of space (about 700 sq ft per stove when all are running during cold temps) combined with draftiness, it is hard to determine what I can expect.

I think that is why I was frustrated to learn that the Progress does not perform like the Fireview. I love the control and burn times of the Fireview and thought for sure that if the Fireview produced 10-12 hours of usable heat for the majority of the owners, then the Progress should be a consistent 15-20 hours burner.

Woodstock Steel: It's less costly, bigger and supposed to be more controllable then the Progress. Will this translate to to good burn times during cold winter temps? Will it give me 15-20 hour burns during shoulder season and milder winter temps?

Pellet add-on boiler: I've been thinking about this. Get a large add-on pellet boiler with the big hopper feeder and have it running low in the background to provide even temps throughout the house with wood stoves running to get the temps up higher. This would extend the burn times of the stoves but add the expense of pellets. Will it even out in terms of dropping my wood consumption (I buy my wood at $150 cord for hard wood and $65 for pine)?

That's where I am at.

But, I do know that I will need to replace the two VC stoves when they cats and assembly packages deteriorate since the cost of that maintenance is about twice the cost that I bought the stoves for.

Right now I am leaning towards expanding the opening of the kitchen fireplace since I can demo that myself and have it finished for minimal costs, and place the Woodstock Steel stove in there. Because, of the two VC stoves, the Encore's cat/package is the oldest.[/quote]

 

Nice pic! Thanks!

What were your peak stove top temps and how many hours did the stove stay over 300 degrees?

 

One good thing about the PH I've learned.. It will start a new load of wood on just a handful of coals...or less...

 

Sounds like a heck of a burn on three splits> maintained ~70F in 1200 sqft of vaulted plus 300-400? sqft of bedroom, for 10 hours and still had a couple of hours left in it, it sounds like. You must have a tight well insulated house. Any heat on in the first floor?

 

Does your PH have an ash pan?

 

Does yours? I am assuming it does not since you spoke about the stove holding coals well. I have found that stoves with ash pan grates tend to have the coals fall through or been away quicker (the VC stoves do this).

 

Yes BB, mine has an ash pan.. Believe or not it still holds the coals very well... in fact the ash pan has nothing in it but fine powder..

 

The Keystone has 1/4" slits every inch or so in the floor. The perimeter of the slits is about an inch smaller on all sides than the pan to keep the ash from spilling over the sides of the ash pan. After a year of burning, my ash pan chamber is clean other than some dust. Most of the ash will stay in the firebox unless you agitate it a little. I like to keep about an inch of ash to hold the coals. No coals over 1/4" can get in the pan. Very controllable. I think all WS stoves with pans are like this. I have used other ash pans that were a POS and not worth the hassle.

 

You can see the slots in the ash grate in this video.. Also nothing but powder is in the ash pan. Pan is big...

 

Couple things, I think a BIG part of why the burn times vary greatly on the PH is two fold; 1) Users vary greatly I. The type and size of wood they are burning. I also noticed the same thing when I was reading about it on h.com last year. I found the guys getting longer burn times were more robust stove users, burning large splits which again I find makes a huge difference in this stove. I don't know if that is the case on all stoves? 2) The leaks they had initially which have been solved /fixed and tweaked, may have cut some burn times. Mine was fixed, and I'm burning much better and longer now. I also had too dry of wood last year, it was 10+ years CSS cedar, pine and oak. It was like burning gasoline sometimes.

I can't tell you obviously if the PH will work for you 100%. BUT, I can tell you it will heat 700 sq ft to 90 degrees, with windows wide open with it 10 degrees outside. And it could hold that temp for 6 or 8 hours on a load. How do I know? Well, it can bake me out of my 1200 + cath. ceilings with 2 full size 8' sliding glass doors wide open, at 20 degrees outside. We host parties here often in winter, and just leave the doors open, folks like the deck and view, heat is never an issue.

Hard to say exactly as I didn't see when it started going down and was already below 300 when I looked. But, that does not mean its not heating the 1200 ft. I find the stove seems to give out more heat near the end, during the coaling stage. It throws a lot of heat during that time, which lasts a long time. My best guestimate would be between 8 and 10 hours, and the last 2 hours or so it was dropping below 300 very slowly.

Actually, the house is average insulation, however, the top floor (stove room) is almost all glass on 3 sides floor to ceiling, and the glass windows are terrible. I replaced the two pane glass which was leaking (fogging inside), and they did a really bad job of it. The new glass does not fit properly so it's as if they are all cracked 1/4". The throw in I'm on the water, un-obstructed to the strong Atlantic Ocean winds. When it blows 10mph on LI, my house gets 20, when it is 20, my house gets 40... Lastly, the house is on stilts, so there is cold air blowing under the house since it's 10' off the ground. I do have oil hot air heat in the house, and now keep it on 62. It kicks on for 2-5 minutes about 2 times a night, not much at all. The other rooms on the 1st floor tend to stay between 62 and 65. Soon, I'll be redoing my kitchen which is opposite the stove in the great room. At that time I'll add another duct on that side to bring warm air down to the other side of the house which will help.

Yes it does. I can not see owning the PH without it. It's so functional, easy to use, and as you mentioned does not steal any coals. The only time anything goes in it, is when you rake the ash and coals, and only the ash goes thru. Woodstock did a great job with the ashcan.

 

Hence my longing for a more controlled burn!

 

BBAR when you break it down like that- one stove per 700 sqft- I can see your interest in a BK. Lots of stoves would heat that, but not for 15 hours with the draftiness. Not enough draft to try a King on a 6" liner?

 

If I could find one use, I would give it a go. But, at a price tag of over $4k for a new one, that's a bit of a gamble. Especially once you take into account that all six stove have cost me a total of $1,800.

Just not sure what to do.

 

Nice post.... Comes down to without a doubt, the PH is a serious heater...I'll agree to that.. The amazing thing,,, this stove is a serious heater with the draft closed! Never ever have I had to push this stove, never getting it over 400-500 on average ..

Your right the ash grate is very cool, letting nothing but ash fines get through... They thought of everything... And only having to dump it on average of once a week is sweet, sometimes longer..

 

Good point. But I didn't mean uncontrollably, what I meant was buring normall, full blast with a full load, that is what can be done. Before learning the stove last year I had the pleasure of moving an entire party outside onto the deck on a 10 degree evening out because I loaded the stove knowing the doors were going to be open all night. The first hour was ok, but then then it took off and the heat started really emitting, and baked us out. Now I know better and tone down the load, and turn down the air quickly to keep it from blazing too much. It's actually very controllable. However, having said that: last night I had a terrible burn for some reason. We were sitting by the stove watching tv and I put 1 large split of tree of heaven in, and 2 very small splits of maple onto a hot coal bed which I did no rake because there was not much left (so I thought). It li up quickly and took off with blazing secondaries, the kind where it looks like a propane bbq upside down. It blazzed for 2 hours before it started settling down. It was not very cold out (37), but there was some wind on it.

Anyway, Ithink yoru only real solution will be to put a beatiful PH stove in the most used area for nice heat, nice abviance... and then install radiant floor heating for th rest!

Have you evern thought about putting a cook stove in the "kitchen"? You said on of yoru loations is the Kitchen, why not a cook stove like the Essex...?

 

Here are the challenges with that:

• Not enough room for a cook stove and a regular stove, which is a must have during non-winter months.
• Most cook stoves have short burn times and/or small fireboxes.
• Most are rated for small areas.

Even though I am heating a small amount of square feet, I still need a good punch of a large stove for quick heat when the place has gone cold, for the longer burn times, and flexibility when larger stoves would allow me to run two stoves as oppose to running all three during certain points of the winter.

 

Gotcha. But I would think 2 PH's would heat the place. Then put in a cook stove in the kitchen to suppliment it on those really cold days if needed. But if space won't allow it scratch that....

Like I said, Radiant floor heating!

 

Check out this stove on Obadiahs website.. There are some nice pictures on the website of the firebox, etc.. It's a full size woodstove with secondary tubes... Plus you can get thermostatic blowers.... sweet... I believe it's about in the 3000 dollar range verses 5000 for the Esse... They are just allowing the stove into the US now.. Super clean burning too.
J.A. Roby Cuisiniere Woodburning Cookstove

*Please Note: This stove is certified with an emission level as low as 1.349 Gr/Hr and has an efficiency rating of 78.6% (LHV). These results were obtained within official tests conducted by the CSA B 415.1-10 emission standard, which is the Canadian environmental standard that is closest to the environmental standard of the U.S. EPA, and the ULC-S-627.00 safety standard, which is the Canadian equivalent to the UL safety standard in the USA.



A recreation of the old style cookstoves, this new design from J.A. Roby is improved to be economically friendly and efficient without losing the old style grandeur.

A flash to the past without losing the convenience of the future, the Cuisiniere allows you to cook your meals while heating your home. Moreover, with emission levels as low as 1.349 Gr/Hr and an efficiency rating of 78.6% (LHV), this cookstove is environmentally friendly and efficient, with results obtained from official tests according to Canadian environmental standard CSA B 415.1-10 (The Canadian equivalent to the U.S. EPA environmental standard). This wood cookstove also meets the Canadian Safety Standard ULC-S-627.00 (The Canadian equivalent to the UL Safety Standard in the USA).

Features

• One cast iron door model (burning stove side)
• High efficiency 88% with dry seasonned wood
• Low emissions 1.34Gr/hr
• Efficency Rating (LHV) 78.6%
• Oven for cooking provided with glass door
• Food warmer
• Thermometers on the oven and food warmer
• Chromed handles
• Heating by convection and radiation
• Air wash system for burning stove firebox side
• Ash drawer
• Log length 19"
• Heat up to 2,300 ft²
• Offered in metallic black

 

WOW! Charlie, that site has ALOT of cool cookstoves: http://www.woodstoves.net/cookstoves.htm

KRYKEE!! I wish I had space for one of those bad boys!

 

That's who I bought my Esse from.. Woody... Great guy.. Like Woodstock, he stands behind what he sells 100%. He's even taking care of people he sold to and made things right out of his own pockets, even if the manufacturer wouldn't .. That's what kind of guy Woody is... No worries about buying a thing from Woody! I love that new stove! Course I'm happy with my Esse too...