Progress reports

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Rich L

Minister of Fire
Jan 25, 2008
859
Eastern,Ma.
g-mail.com
Now that we're having some cold weather where are the Progress Hybrid reports ?
?
 
We had the coldest night of the year last night. Temps in the low teens and some serious winds.

I loaded the Progress full on a good coal bed 7:30 pm. Keep in mind, my full is just placing 16" splits loaded a couple inches shy of the top. With 22" splits, it would be about 1/3 more wood. I don't try to pack any at the ends.

Regardless, after notchin the draft down in stages, I set just above closed. Stove top went to 540 after an hour or so. I closed the draft completely at 10:30 with the stove top at 490. At 7:30 am, stove was at 260 and I had tons of coals for a simple reload. House was 67. I am convinced the advertised 16 hour maximum burn time is accurate with 22" splits of decent wood.

I have no real complaints so far. The stove is easy to operate, throws a lot of heat, and is beautiful. I know some have had issues with getting low burns with a big load. I guess I do too to some extent, but it hasn't been an issue with me. Shoulder season loads at 40 to 60% full lead to a perfect, low cat burn that can last for 8 to 12 hours.

My house is drafty and I love the fast, strong heat that comes out of the huge window when the temps drop. The stove is very predictable and I feel like I've been operating it for a lot longer than a week and a half. The construction is also very solid.

I'm trying to think of some quirks or dislikes, but I might still be in the honeymoon period. I guess I could do with a different handle arrangement, but that seems minor.
 
I was getting ready to post a similar thread but Rich beat me to it. I am also very interested to hear how the "early adopters" are doing with their Progress during this cold spell. Is everyone getting overnight heat - at least 8 hours (not just burn time) with their Progress stove? I am tired of getting up during the night to reload a small insert so a full 8 hours of heat on a single load is very important to me. I have a deposit on a Progress plinth base model for delivery in September so naturally I want Progress reports too!
 
I reloaded at about 9:30 last night- mostly ash, birch, and one good piece of beech (all 16"), and awoke to a living room still at 72F, healthy coals, and most of that beech stick (I stuck it in the back) left, which carried Wife through until noon. She raked the coals and re-lit from the remnants. I have a lot of draft, so I'm careful to shut the air all the way down once the cat is engaged so the secondaries stay tame.

With the falling temps, I put in about 5 small splits to make a fast hot fire to keep the living room at 72 until I reload in about an hour (it's 0F here right now). The stove is doing exactly what it's supposed to, and if I had 18" wood, and more hard maple instead of all of this birch, I think I could keep it to two solid fires a day when it's this cold without any trouble. The top stone was still 300 degrees this morning!

It's a really nice stove and I'm glad I went for the first production run.
 
I was also beginning to wonder about this stove now that there's some colder weather reports around. Keeping your house up to desired temps with 12 hour burns in colder weather is a very good thing!

What are your house sizes in square feet? Have any of you noticed how long your stove top temps stay above 500 before it drops off?
 
My house is a 1911 2 story, balloon framed, Colonial Revival sized at just under 1700sf. I've dense packed the walls, air sealed, and spray foamed the cellar, and it's now a heck of a lot better than it was. Previous owner used 900 gallons of oil a year. Now we burn about 4 cord of wood and no oil. I think if I can keep to 2 fires a day, I should maintain that same consumption rate with the larger stove and be warmer, and with less work.

I have not sat around long enough and with a large enough load of wood yet, to see how long the top stone stays at 500. Probably not as long as you might expect based on the behavior of the other WS stoves. I've just reloaded with some 2 year old beech and maple, and the top stone is sitting at 460, the flue at 400, and the firebox is dark, other than the coals. It's ready for bed.
 
buck1200 said:
My house is a 1911 2 story, balloon framed, Colonial Revival sized at just under 1700sf. I've dense packed the walls, air sealed, and spray foamed the cellar, and it's now a heck of a lot better than it was. Previous owner used 900 gallons of oil a year. Now we burn about 4 cord of wood and no oil. I think if I can keep to 2 fires a day, I should maintain that same consumption rate with the larger stove and be warmer, and with less work.

I have not sat around long enough and with a large enough load of wood yet, to see how long the top stone stays at 500. Probably not as long as you might expect based on the behavior of the other WS stoves. I've just reloaded with some 2 year old beech and maple, and the top stone is sitting at 460, the flue at 400, and the firebox is dark, other than the coals. It's ready for bed.
When you say 400 is that probe or surface?
 
I am very,very pleased with operation of this stove in cold temperatures in my 2300 sq ft house.

I loaded up and engaged the cat at 4:45 pm yesterday. I used 16" splits, but also stacked some short ones N/S near the loading door. I set the draft to zero and it kept the stove room near 72 F all evening with outdoor temps around 23F. I got up at 4 am. outdoor temp 7 F, stovetop was 250F and there were still TONS of hot red coals! Room temp was 65 F. Keep in mind this was buring with absolute minimal air setting. I could have burned a little hotter, and probably still gotten nearly a 12 hour burn. I wish I had seasoned 22" splits to try out.

I agree with Waulie's earlier post about getting the stove to burn well for shoulder season. The trick is to load up about half full, that way the firebox does not get super hot so that the secondaries stay very lazy. This gives the longer true cat like burns. Loading up causes the secondaries to kick up, throwing more heat than you might want. I'll bet this stove would do well with a big old unsplit round just cooking slowly away for shoulder season.

Bottom line, so far so good, it makes the Fireview look wimpy in these cold temperatures.
 
fire_man said:
Bottom line, so far so good, it makes the Fireview look wimpy in these cold temperatures.

Oh sure, just rub that in my face! :-S

The PH is on my wish list! It would be cheaper than all the insulation and air sealing that I need. I really have to make the Fireview work hard in these single digit temps
 
Is everyone getting overnight heat - at least 8 hours (not just burn time) with their Progress stove?

Absolutely! With a sort of full load, you can expect to have stove top temps between 300 and 350 after 8 hours, depending on your settings. The other night mine was at 260 after 12 hours. With the size of the stove, you do get some decent heat with a 300 stove top. Obviously, the amount of heat you need depends on your house size and tightness.

My house is just under 1700 square feet, but I have cathedral ceilings and some leaks I need to address. I can't imagine needing to get up to load the Progress in the night even in the coldest temps.
 
Waulie said:
Is everyone getting overnight heat - at least 8 hours (not just burn time) with their Progress stove?

Absolutely! With a sort of full load, you can expect to have stove top temps between 300 and 350 after 8 hours, depending on your settings. The other night mine was at 260 after 12 hours. With the size of the stove, you do get some decent heat with a 300 stove top. Obviously, the amount of heat you need depends on your house size and tightness.

My house is just under 1700 square feet, but I have cathedral ceilings and some leaks I need to address. I can't imagine needing to get up to load the Progress in the night even in the coldest temps.

Thanks Waulie. Sounds like just what I need. I woke up Wednesday morning around 3:30 AM to reload my Drolet insert. The house temperature had already dropped to 57 with outside air temperature around 10 degrees. The small Drolet insert (1.8 cf) works okay as long as the outside temperature is above 25. Any lower and it just can't keep up. I just hope that Woodstock can come up with some ways to make the Progress more controllable by the time I expect to install mine in September.
 
If you were to maintain a stove top of 500-550 with a full load of wood, what kind of burn time are we looking at?
 
If you were to maintain a stove top of 500-550 with a full load of wood, what kind of burn time are we looking at?

Not sure I understand the question, but I'll take a shot.

I've been peaking around 550 with a (less than) full load. I'm usually dropping under 500 within about 3 hours. I haven't been around long enough to get accurate readings, but it definately cruises between 400 and 500 for a long, long time. This is with the draft closed down which extends the low end of the burn at the expense of the high end. I'm sure you could keep it above 500 for a lot longer if you gave it more air and got it hotter to begin with. Keep in mind, though that the Progress at 550 is one massive hot rock! I've have not had the need to try and keep it up there for extended periods.

Maybe someone else will chime in, but I can't imagine anyone is getting up in the middle of the night to feed the Progress. An 8 hour burn on a full load would be a massive amount of heat.
 
Waulie said:
If you were to maintain a stove top of 500-550 with a full load of wood, what kind of burn time are we looking at?

Not sure I understand the question, but I'll take a shot.

I've been peaking around 550 with a (less than) full load. I'm usually dropping under 500 within about 3 hours. I haven't been around long enough to get accurate readings, but it definately cruises between 400 and 500 for a long, long time. This is with the draft closed down which extends the low end of the burn at the expense of the high end. I'm sure you could keep it above 500 for a lot longer if you gave it more air and got it hotter to begin with. Keep in mind, though that the Progress at 550 is one massive hot rock! I've have not had the need to try and keep it up there for extended periods.

Maybe someone else will chime in, but I can't imagine anyone is getting up in the middle of the night to feed the Progress. An 8 hour burn on a full load would be a massive amount of heat.

My post is based off of the need for 500+ temps to heat my house. During the cold winter months, 300-350 does squat for me. I don't care if it could hold that temp for 3 days, cuz my house would be at 60 degrees. Obviously shoulder season is a different ball game but my question is based off of the need for real heat, not 300F.
 
Gotcha. That makes sense. I really can't answer it, though. Maybe we'll get some really cold weather this year and I will get to find out. I would actually love to stretch it's legs! Maybe I'll let the house get down into the 50s sometime and see how fast I can warm it up. ;-)
 
Flatbedford said:
fire_man said:
Bottom line, so far so good, it makes the Fireview look wimpy in these cold temperatures.

Oh sure, just rub that in my face! :-S

The PH is on my wish list! It would be cheaper than all the insulation and air sealing that I need. I really have to make the Fireview work hard in these single digit temps

Sorry, Steve. No disrespect for the Fireview, it will always have a warm place in my memories! It just can't keep up with 2300 sq ft of house with all these windows like the Progress! I just got home after exactly a 12 hour burn on low and there was a nice plump ball of coals in there. I turned the draft up to max and the stove top temp is now at 275 F. This thing could have easily gone 2 more hours on low and let me reload on a hot bed of coals. Now I will reload and it should be good to go until 4am tomorrow morning.
 
Not really disrespect, just reminds me how much better suited for my house the PH is than the Fireview. I will be making the upgrade eventually, just have to put some money aside for it.
 
Is anyone getting slight smoky smell coming off of the Progress at low settings? Mine appears to be coming off the right side (perhaps near the reloading door). I did the dollar bill test and all appears to fine with the door seal.
 
binko said:
Is anyone getting slight smoky smell coming off of the Progress at low settings? Mine appears to be coming off the right side (perhaps near the reloading door). I did the dollar bill test and all appears to fine with the door seal.

Binko, I have that on my progress as well I believe its coming from the top right corner of the top stone, fireman Tony described the smell best, it"s like a sweet woody smell...I believe three or four people on this forum are reporting the same thing, I get the smell when the stove goes black after I engage the cat on a low burn but then when the secondaries kick in the smell goes away.
 
I recognised the Progress smell right away - identical to the Fireview when it was first getting up to temp with no flame in the firebox. Once the secondaries light off the smell goes away or atl least diminishes. It's hard to detect unless I stick my nose almost onto the corner of the lid so I am not too worried about it. I lifted the lid of the stove and the gasket was still white, no signs of smoke stains.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.