Woodstock burn times: Are they underated?

[QUOTE="Elm-er Fudd, post: 1484356, member: 9143" I think it has to do with the wood. Everywhere I’ve lived the primary firewood has been Siberian elm, which makes lots of coals and lots of ash. My theory is that the ash insulates the coals and keeps them alive for extended periods.[/QUOTE]
I agree. My red oak does last awhile but burns very cleanly and might not last as long on the backend. Ash on the other hand has a great coal/ash ratio and can hold on to coals for a long time.

 

From the blight most of the ash around here is dead and gone, and if it isn’t gone it’s being swiftly scarfed up by firewood hoarders…pun intended.

 

Hell I’m way south of Alaska and get that a lot
Every 2-3 years a couple weeks where high is double digits below..
You may think my IS is ugly but at 30 below my girls love it!! I fill her 3 or 4 times a day and keep STT between 625 and 700!
So does my wallet love the IS cause when it get
You don’t care what it cost to stay warm!!

 

They’ve managed to keep the IS price down pretty well too which I appreciate. Too bad about the ridiculous hearth insulation requirement.

 

Which I met; but kind of laugh at as my wife’s holland lop rabbit, likes to warm up under wood stove in cold of winter…

 

1350Sq the Fireview will be perfect for. I love ours and I have just under 1600sqft. Of course a lot has to do with insulation, climate, wood etc. But In the dead of winter I do a morning load whenever I get up, and a before or after supper load, and then about 10 to 11PM and overnight load. That's if the temps outside are in the 20'F down to below zero. But any night load takes me through to whatever time I get up in the AM but still have a warm, in the mid sixties house at 7AM or so.

The light show with the Fv is to die for. An absolutely gorgeous stove for any living room.

 

I have a 28X36Ft New England Chalet. Think Cape Cod style home but one side of the house has a cathedral ceiling and upstairs is a single master bedroom. I live in north central Massachusetts, right on the NH border. It gets plenty cold here in the winter. The house was built in 1979, and one of a few back then built for a central woodstove, as it was built in the middle of the first gas crisis if you're old enough to remember that. The original stove was a large smoke dragon. No such thing as Catalytic stoves then.

We built the house with 2X6" R12 walls and a 2X12" R19" ceiling. The house had a 1 car under (for a motorcycle) on one side in the basement. The other side we did insulation and paneling and made it a home office in 1985. I worked for a computer company at the time and was doing a lot of work from home even back then with a dial-up modem. So we had a smaller Dutch West stove in the basement but it had a Cat, which was in 1985. It was amazing. These days, I have a Woodstock Absolute Steel down there, but I usually only use it about 50% of the time. But, if that stove in your living room is needed 24X7 and you are on a budget. Another great stove, but not as pretty, but still good looking in its own way consider the AS, it's $700 less money, has the latest and greatest hybrid catalytic + secondary burn technology, and is a bigger box. The firebox size of Fireview is 1.85 cu ft, and Absolute Steel is 2.45 cu ft. (it's almost as big as an Ideal Steel!) The extra size PLUS the hybrid technology with the secondary burn (and don't forget the large ashpan) makes it a killer for those -15 to -30'F cold spells we infrequently happen. There is something to be said about cubic inches when it comes to hot-rods, motorcycles, and wood stoves. One more nice thing about the AS is it is top or rear exhaust, this can make a nice difference for clearance issues and space requirements on your hearth.

But really if you have a fairly small living room, the Fv is a super choice. $700 isn't pocket change, but this is a long-term item!

Sorry the the length of this posts, but just gave you everything I had that might be helpful.

One more thing. From the Woodstock Soapstove web page:

FIREVIEW WOOD STOVES SOLD OUT FOR 2023!
Our Fireview Wood Stove model has sold out for 2023. To reserve a Fireview Wood Stove for 2024 production please call us at 1-800-866-4344 or visit the Fireview page to place an online reservation.

 

Just had my first 24 hour burn in my rebuilt Fireview. 23 lb load of Aspen/Oak with the air set just about closed at 0. Of coarse the stove wasn’t making any heat and was just warm to the touch at 100 degree stove top but it was nice to see a few good chunks of coals to relight this evenings fire.

 

I'm half tempted to grab a used FV to try n run on low like that in the basement during the spring n fall shoulder season just to keep the basement warm...seems like the house holds temp pretty well until the basement gets cold, then bam, drops like a rock unless it gets pretty sunny n warm during the day.
The wood furnace takes two small loads per day to accomplish the same thing, both basically cold starts. It could be done with one larger load, but the temp swings would be too wide IMO.
Been thinking a soapstone cat stove that can run low n slow might be the stuff...and there's one about an hour from here that seems like a good deal.

 

I have never been able to get 24 hours in my AS BUT I do not have a great draft. I Added 5 feet in height which made a huge difference. I am interested in Oldhippie opinion on the tightness of the FV vs AS. The geometry of my setup did not allow for a FV but I think I would have bought a top exhaust soapstone stove if they made one smaller than the PH.

That being said I can do a night fire and if the day is in the 40s or 30s and sunny I can go 24 hours but the stove is not warm by then. Normal Winter conditions are 7am and 7pm reload, very cold snaps (-10 below at night or more) are every 8 hours but I need to open the air up 100% about 6 hours in to burn down all the coals, if not they will be spilling out the door.

 

The Fireview is perfect for a 12 hour reload schedule where you don’t have to worry about cold starts. Mine is sized just about right for my place where I should be able to go with that loading schedule most of the winter.

 

You could be right about that, less flame makes the cat do most of the work. Once we get through this shoulder season I’ll be burning with more flame for more heat.

 

Those Woodstock hybrids probably let a little more air in for the secondary burn system? Isn’t that secondary air thermostat controlled?

 

I’m pretty sure the cat stays active til I’m down to the coaling stage but I don’t have a cat probe to verify that. My internal flue temp about 20” up was cruising at 400 and stove top at 500-550

 

My understanding it the opposite, due to the AS being their cleanest burning stove, it lets in the least amount of air to create more smolder that the CAT can take care of. But I could be wrong.

 

Yeah I’m not sure either. With the new testing method Woodstock had to tweak the air controls allowing more air to pass the test. This is what I was told by Woodstock when I asked about the PH. Also noticed they tweaked the Fireview when I read the EPA report. Not sure if they had to tweak the other stoves.

We had to retest the Progress using crib wood earlier this year since the EPA rescinded the cordwood test method.
I do not have the full test report yet, but the air damper had to change to allow more air into the stove when the damper is fully closed since the new method tests the stoves in the fully closed and fully open positions. The old test protocols allowed the manufacturer to dictate the low burn & high burn settings and would give the customer room to close it or open the air setting more if needed.

 

This is very informative