I am used to the Fireview, so I will be comparing it with the new Progress. I have completed the official Dennis break in fires, and ran one overnight 12 hour low-burn fire. I have not pushed the stove hard yet - still babying it a little but I think it's ready to get pushed (if it ever gets cold!).
1. The time to get from a stone cold stove to engaging the cat is MUCH quicker than with the FV. This surprised me, since the Progress is a much more MASSIVE stove. I can load,light, and engage the cat within 25 minutes (other FV owners may routinely engage in 25 minutes, but I went slower). Reloads are also very quick, the flue temp and stovetop temps respond much quicker than the FV. I think this is because there is just more air entering the firebox. There is Primary,Secondary and anti-backpuff air entering the box. Once the fire gets going, I noticed secondaries develop even before engaging the cat - unlike with the FV.
2. Hearth temps are amazingly cool with the attached ashlip. I don't understand why this stove needs a higher R value than the FV. I could hardly hold my hand on my hearth when the FV was cranking, but my hearth is barely warm with the Progress. The stove sits so high, and the lip deflects the heat very well. My nearby Hardwood floor used to shrink up during the winter and develop big gaps directly in front of the Fireview. I will be interested to see what happens now.
3. WS installed a smoke baffle. Its a hinged plate about 5 inches wide that mounts inside the firebox and hangs down about an inch or so below the door opening's top edge. It gets in the way a little when you try to load a split at the very top of the door opening. It was added to prevent smoke spillage when reloading. I removed it, and sure enough I got some smoke - nothing terrible but I see why the plate was added.
4. The window stays crystal clear. Now that my break-in fires are finished, I have noticed the window is perfectly clear, even after burning overnight at
draft lever = 0 (low burn mode).
5. The secondaries seem to last about 2.5 hours, then there is no flame on the wood unless you raise the draft lever above zero.
6. Burn times do seem as advertised (12 hrs easy). I loaded up with 16" splits of oak and soft maple, and tried to add a few loose chunks to fill the rest of the 22" wide firebox. I engaged the cat at 6:30 last night. This morning at 5:30 there were good coals, stovetop was at 225, and I reloaded no problem. This was using a slow burn. I think it would have been even better if I had true 22 inch splits. Room temps (in stove room) are about 5 degrees warmer than with the FV at the same outdoor temp.
7. The stove definitely heats the room quicker than the FV. I think there are 2 factors at play: 1. The glass area is HUGE, tons of heat spills out. 2. The stove has no airspace between soapstone panels, unlike the FV. It's an inner steel firebox directly in contact with outer layers of soapstone, so there is quicker heat transfer to the outside world.
8. The stove does "Woof", ignites built-up smoke while on low burn. But happily the woof does not seem to be exiting the stove thru the draft inlet, as did the FV. So far, NO woofing smoke has entered the house.
9. I keep setting off the smoke alarm, each time at a higher stove temperature. I am pretty sure its the paint curing. Highest stove temp so far is 550 on top.
10. The iconel screen gave me fits at first, but after speaking with WS all is good. It was not formed into the correct shape, so it did not lock into place. It was easy to fix, but I only noticed it because I remembered the guys at WS showing it to me at the BBQ.
11. The loading door feels like I am closing a bank vault. It's heavy and very solid. The latch sucks it nice and tight into the gasket - it feels top quality.
12. Cat cleaning looks every bit as simple and quick as the FV. Now that I understand the iconel screen, it's also very easy to clean.
13. I don't have good stove temp vs time plots yet (hopefully Ciccio will chime in, I think he has some good records).
This was from my 4th break-in fire, which consisted of some cottonwood and soft maple filling about 40% of the firebox:
T= 0 stone cold stove
T= 30 minutes engage cat, stovetop (center) = 250 F
T=60 minutes 350 F
T=90 minutes 425 F
T=2 hrs 410 F
T = 2.5 400 F
T= 3 hrs 360F
T=3.5 hrs 350F
bedtime.
So far I like this stove a lot it and I am REALLY excited, - it definitely looks like a keeper. But I want to get used to it under different conditions before making final determinations (shoulder season burns, Arctic cold, operation by wife , etc). Stay tuned....
1. The time to get from a stone cold stove to engaging the cat is MUCH quicker than with the FV. This surprised me, since the Progress is a much more MASSIVE stove. I can load,light, and engage the cat within 25 minutes (other FV owners may routinely engage in 25 minutes, but I went slower). Reloads are also very quick, the flue temp and stovetop temps respond much quicker than the FV. I think this is because there is just more air entering the firebox. There is Primary,Secondary and anti-backpuff air entering the box. Once the fire gets going, I noticed secondaries develop even before engaging the cat - unlike with the FV.
2. Hearth temps are amazingly cool with the attached ashlip. I don't understand why this stove needs a higher R value than the FV. I could hardly hold my hand on my hearth when the FV was cranking, but my hearth is barely warm with the Progress. The stove sits so high, and the lip deflects the heat very well. My nearby Hardwood floor used to shrink up during the winter and develop big gaps directly in front of the Fireview. I will be interested to see what happens now.
3. WS installed a smoke baffle. Its a hinged plate about 5 inches wide that mounts inside the firebox and hangs down about an inch or so below the door opening's top edge. It gets in the way a little when you try to load a split at the very top of the door opening. It was added to prevent smoke spillage when reloading. I removed it, and sure enough I got some smoke - nothing terrible but I see why the plate was added.
4. The window stays crystal clear. Now that my break-in fires are finished, I have noticed the window is perfectly clear, even after burning overnight at
draft lever = 0 (low burn mode).
5. The secondaries seem to last about 2.5 hours, then there is no flame on the wood unless you raise the draft lever above zero.
6. Burn times do seem as advertised (12 hrs easy). I loaded up with 16" splits of oak and soft maple, and tried to add a few loose chunks to fill the rest of the 22" wide firebox. I engaged the cat at 6:30 last night. This morning at 5:30 there were good coals, stovetop was at 225, and I reloaded no problem. This was using a slow burn. I think it would have been even better if I had true 22 inch splits. Room temps (in stove room) are about 5 degrees warmer than with the FV at the same outdoor temp.
7. The stove definitely heats the room quicker than the FV. I think there are 2 factors at play: 1. The glass area is HUGE, tons of heat spills out. 2. The stove has no airspace between soapstone panels, unlike the FV. It's an inner steel firebox directly in contact with outer layers of soapstone, so there is quicker heat transfer to the outside world.
8. The stove does "Woof", ignites built-up smoke while on low burn. But happily the woof does not seem to be exiting the stove thru the draft inlet, as did the FV. So far, NO woofing smoke has entered the house.
9. I keep setting off the smoke alarm, each time at a higher stove temperature. I am pretty sure its the paint curing. Highest stove temp so far is 550 on top.
10. The iconel screen gave me fits at first, but after speaking with WS all is good. It was not formed into the correct shape, so it did not lock into place. It was easy to fix, but I only noticed it because I remembered the guys at WS showing it to me at the BBQ.
11. The loading door feels like I am closing a bank vault. It's heavy and very solid. The latch sucks it nice and tight into the gasket - it feels top quality.
12. Cat cleaning looks every bit as simple and quick as the FV. Now that I understand the iconel screen, it's also very easy to clean.
13. I don't have good stove temp vs time plots yet (hopefully Ciccio will chime in, I think he has some good records).
This was from my 4th break-in fire, which consisted of some cottonwood and soft maple filling about 40% of the firebox:
T= 0 stone cold stove
T= 30 minutes engage cat, stovetop (center) = 250 F
T=60 minutes 350 F
T=90 minutes 425 F
T=2 hrs 410 F
T = 2.5 400 F
T= 3 hrs 360F
T=3.5 hrs 350F
bedtime.
So far I like this stove a lot it and I am REALLY excited, - it definitely looks like a keeper. But I want to get used to it under different conditions before making final determinations (shoulder season burns, Arctic cold, operation by wife , etc). Stay tuned....
