You seem to be blaming the combuster but I don’t feel that is your problem at all. Also, running the stove without engaging the cat. will not get you more heat; it will give you less heat.

The more I read of your posts, the more I’m puzzled. You say you cannot get the stove over 350 degrees unless it is on a #2 setting. This is just contrary to what others find, including myself. Although we have a Fireview, it is still a cat. stove and we can not leave the setting on 2 else the stove just goes wild. Our normal setting is on .5.

All this leads me to think it must be a combination of things. First the wood itself. You used to clean your chimney once a month. This leads one to think perhaps your wood is not as well seasoned as it should be. Even with the old dirty stove you should not have had to clean the chimney that often. So it had to be caused either by bad wood or the smoke is getting cold before leaving the chimney, which means a lack of draft or poorly insulated chimney.

You stated, “But its just not a way to struggle with the combuster, the small box, plus setting a timer so we dont forget to shut the combuster back down in 15 minutes.” Well, we don’t set a timer and we rarely let the fire go 15 minutes before engaging the cat. Do you see the difference? You wait 15 minutes to shut the combuster back down while we wait to engage the cat. Perhaps you are using your cat. backwards?!! That is a possibility. That also would be why the can needs cleaning often.

btw, this past winter (our first with Woodstock stove) we did clean the cat. after 4 weeks but found each time that it really did not need cleaning at that time. Then we had the prolonged cold in January and February and went way over the 4 week recommended time. It still had very, very little to clean off of the cat. We could have waited another month with ease.

For sure you would have been much better off with the Fireview stove. As for it setting out further, it would only be about 6” maximum as you could put an elbow right at the stove. The Fireview has a larger firebox, although I would still prefer they make a larger one yet. But the Fireview can and does roast us on occasion. It gives lots and lots of heat, which suits me very well as I have a physical problem that demands lots of heat in the winter months.

So, it is a matter of your fuel supply, your chimney, improper use of the cat., or the stove just is too darned small for your needs. It is odd that others seem to get lots of heat from their stove with is the same as yours, so it leaves me puzzled.

I wish you much luck and you definitely have to do something before next winter as what you have is not good. Hopefully you’ll keep us up to date on what happens and we wish you well.

Hi Dennis,
I can tell you that the wood we use in the best you can get for burning.  We stack, split, do all our own wood, and we have been wood stove people for 20+ years. Its a safety thing, it does not take much to build up creosote in a SS chimney, especially since most of the pipe is extended out in the cold temp. on a rancher with a 6 1/2 ft. roof pitch.  Woodstock told us, and the owners manual clearly states to wait till all moisture is burned off on the reload before you engage the combuster.  We have had many conversations about the best way to run the combuster with them.  I also read a thread just ahead of yours that they also own the Keystone and do not run it on 1/2 - to 1., but keep it a bit higher.  Our main problem with the old stove was this is a 1400 sq foot house, the wood stove was really big, so we had to run the damper tamped down, which builds up creosote. It would run us out of the house it was so warm, it was just too big. Causing the pipe to fill quickly. We never burn pine, or bad wood, it is split and stacked and tarped a yr or more in advance with sides open to dry out.  We are into the 3rd year with the Keystone, and we definately know which way to use the combuster.  I understand some people are loving life with their Woodstock stoves, it was Woodstock who suggested that when the heat slacks off, to clean the combuster, check for cracks or any other damage, that most likely after 3 years of constant use, it might need replacing.  I have many PM from people already on here that they are on their 3rd replacement on these things.  Also you should never engage the combuster unless you give time for the wood to give off moisture first. ALL wood has come moisture. (See page 30 of your owners manual, item #4.) So we use a timer and make sure it has 10 min. or so for this burn off. One thing we realize is the fact that we went from a large metal stove with gave off the really hot heat, to a small stove with only soft radiant heat. From day one, after talking with the Woodstock reps. running on 1, does not heat our house with temps outside at freezing.  When we do check the chimney we only find a small amount of dust like material, this stove is the cleanest-safest burning stove around. Running it non-stop all winter and we have only cleaned the stove pipe once. We do know certain kinds of wood give off lots more heat, we use oak mostly when it is really cold outside.  I only wish we had to same luck as a few others here.  I can assure you its not the wood from heating our house for so many years with only wood heat.

Well it certainly sounds like you are doing all you can. I’m really puzzled by this though.

On the chimney, we put up a new SS chimney when we put the new stove in. After burning 24/7 all winter, the thing still looks like new and we have not cleaned it even once. We burn mostly white ash, soft maple and elm with some cherry mixed in. Our wood also has been seasoned very well and I’ve already posted that we have a 7 year supply on hand.

We did have some adjusting to do with running this stove vs. our old stove. After experimenting, I found that when we let the coals burn down, we are best served by putting in at least 2 splits of soft maple in front and the ash in back and on top. That gets the fire going fast. If we are starting a fire in a cold stove, we burn all soft maple at first.

On the timing for engaging the cat., we do a bit different. Rather than 10 or 15 minutes before engaging the cat., we never time it until we have good flame. So if we only have a few hot coals in the bottom, we might let it go for 20 minute or longer before engaging the cat. We also like our chimney temperature to get at least to 400 degrees. However, we do things a bit different than most.

Our stove pipe runs horizontally out through the wall. It meets the SS chimney right at the wall line. It then runs outside the house and up along the house....all outdoors. We find that we have to be very careful with that much horizontal pipe else that gets too hot. So, if the pipe temperature gets to 500 degrees we dial down the draft even though the timing might be way less than 10-15 minutes. It works like a charm. (btw, the horizontal section has more than the required 1/4” raise per foot of pipe.)

Other times I put wood in, maybe 2 or 3 splits on top of a large pile of very hot coals. It starts flaming almost instantly. Then, we might engage the cat. in about 5 minutes. So the time before engaging the cat. can vary a lot. The big thing is to look at the wood and make certain it has charred really nicely.

So, before retiring at night, if we’ve let the coals burn down a lot (in order to give more room for wood), I’ll stock the stove by putting at lease one soft maple split in front. The largest piece of ash or elm will go on the bottom in back. Then it is a matter of filling in whatever will fit nicely to fill the rest of the firebox. Then it depends upon the fire, the stove top temperature and the stove pipe temperature as to how long before we engage the cat.

Usually when we have a full firebox, the cat. will start glowing red within 5 minutes. If the firebox is not full, it will take much longer for the cat. to start glowing. However, once we engage the cat., the heat then builds fast and you can almost see the temperature gauge rising. We usually run the stove from 450 to 550 degrees but on really cold nights we sometimes reach 600 degrees. We’ve had it over 600 degrees just a couple of times and believe me, you feel that heat.

Once again, good luck to you however you decide to correct the problem.

This thread has me puzzled too. Have you inspected the inside guts of the stove like the gaskets and bypass damper plate? Could be something is warped or not sealing properly causing heat loss up the stack?

Todd, I’ve wondered that same thing. With the Fireview, without the cat. engaged pretty much all the heat also goes up the chimney. Get the cat. fired up and heat pours out from the stove.

Darn, we’re going to have to fire our stove up again. Chilly this morning and some chilly weather forecast for a week. Bad part is our apple trees are ready to open the blossoms....and freezing weather expected. So, not many apples for us this next fall.

Looks like our arctic bubble is moving cross the country now. It’s centered over Michigan.  By the end of the week NE will be seeing chilly evenings and considering nighttime fires. Don’t close up that stove yet.