Progress Hybrid Installed 12/21 replacing Fireview

3600 sq ft home, zone 5, 1100sq feet windows. Fireview couldn't heat it. Progress does. On a woodlot 75 feet above, 200 feet back from a miles long lake on the south shore facing NNW.
Most remarkable points about the stove: Combustion complete. 8 full days burning, not enough ash yet to have to remove any. (No lip, no ashpan). Produces significantly more heat from same amount of wood versus Fireview. Easier to start than fireview. Requires less monitoring than Fireview. HOME IS WARM> Hearth is cooler. Clearances and top venting allows stove to be set further back on pad (fireview pad) leaving 12+ inches in front of window and wood floor in front of hearth is MUCH cooler than with fireview. Temperature remains at a steady reasonable level for far longer than fireview.
My problem: Top venting on Progress removes a 90 degree bend, and my previously excellent draft has become an exceptional draft.
I'm going to fiddle with some woodstock suggestions, but may need to install a section of excel pipe with a damper embedded. I burn maple (well seasoned 12 inch splits from big tree), beech and ironwood (logs to 10 inch, well seasoned, unsplit). Have filled firebox usually 1/3 full up to 1/2 full. Fire starts almost immediately, stovetop temperature on starting from cold is 250 degrees within 10-15 minutes. Secondaries start at this point, I engage cat and close damper to zero. Stove burns gases for a long time, then settles down to a slower burn. Stovetop temperature does not exceed 420 degrees, is usually about 375. Maintains this temperture for about 6-7 hours. Then gradually cools as wood to coals to ashes. When only ash remaining, stove temp is still 250. Room temp usually goes from 72 to 68. Stove relights immedately--as soon as door is closed--with a new load of wood. Christmas Day cooked my turkey on top of the stove...put two soapstone slabs the size of a fireview top slab on either side of the Progress top, leaving a few inches in the center uncovered with a thermometer on the uncovered slab. Put my old Fireview thermometer on the "fireview" slab. Put my 25 pound turkey in a heavy magnalite covered roasting pan, put it on the stove , built an ironwood fire, and left it. It cooked perfectly in seven hours...the best turkey I ever had. Thoroughly cooked but moist and tender. Temp on slab remained at 420, on fireview slab immediately under pan at 350, for the entire 7 hour cooking time.
I have not completely filled the firebox, because (a) I haven't needed the heat and (b) I'm burning with the damper completely closed and am a bit concerned about building a bigger fire, since I have no way of damping a fire if it gets too hot. With this stove at 400 and the same amount of wood (or less) as Fireview, the house is 7-10 degrees warmer on first floor, much warmer 2nd and 3rd. I actually didn't wear socks on my hardwood floor one day...no heat in the basement and the floors were warm. Usually noticably cooler on landing betwen 1st and 2nd floor, but I didn't notice a temperature change going from 1st to 3rd floor with the Progress Hybrid. Woodstock has some suggestions for trying to get a longer slower burn, which I will be trying. Meanwhile, I am very happy with what I have and could live with the 8-9 hour burns I am getting. This stove is far easier to tend than the fireview and I feel much safer. The fireview took much longer to "reach equilibrium" and required attention for a good half hour with each new load of wood. Any distraction in the process and one could quickly have an outrageous fire with soaring stovetop temperatures, which took a good twenty minutes to half hour to subsequently manage. This never happens with the PH. It starts very quickly and one never need be distracted in the engaging process. Once the fire is set, it stays at such a consistent temperture for so long it is no worry. Then again,as my son says, there isn't anything I can do if the stove does get too hot because the damper is already closed all the way, so I might as well not worry....so we don't build big fires. But I'm not sure we will unless it is 30 below out. We're getting lots of level heat out of this fabulous stove. I used to think the Fireview was remarkable. I cannot believe the difference in the two stoves. This is easier to use, uses less wood for the same heat by a long shot, produces much more heat, heats the floor in front of the window less, keeps the window beautifully clean, and has a huge viewing window with a magnificent fire for viewing. Incidentally, I feel it is safer because it keeps the room warm enough that people and pets don't get too close to it, a problem I had at the end of the Fireview cycle when the house cooled considerably. I ordered without the lip because I do all my cooking on the stove (essentially) and don't want a hot piece of iron sticking out where I stand...a consideration for anyone who plans to do much cooking on their stove. Decided against a plinth for the same reason (and I didn't want to wait):
I think that mass of hot cast iron at my feet is asking for trouble, and, as I get older, I have a concern about hot cast iron under the loading door. I love this stove.

No. It is burning the wood more efficiently. I have far less ash after the burn.

Am uninformed about the smaller secondary air plate. Will look into it if my other experiments don't work. Thanks.
Wanted short legs (very much) because I was concerned the long leg version would impose more than I wished in the room, and might make the stove higher than was comfortable for me from a cooking perspective. Woodstock told me they were not testing the stove for clearances with short legs, so went with the long legs. Long legs have been no problem, either visually or practically. I do not have the ash pan...don't think I'd like the way that looks, and ash removal was never a problem for me with the Fireview. This stove will be a lot easier than the Fireview. I did order Woodstock's rake with my stove, and use it to rake any embers and most ash to the front of the firebox before each reload...because I believe having the most heat there starts the stove up fastest...not that that has been a problem with this stove. Actually, maybe I should try stopping that...might help to get a slower burn started. I like the rake. Was using a short poker for this purpose with the Fireview.
To SE WI: Keep it on your short list. Pictures...I have a few and a movie or two on my SD card...really of the fire versus the installation...will go over them, then look into how to post pictures here....for someone with a son at MSFT I am VERY computer compromised. If I don't get it done, I'll get someone to do it for me next weekend.
I'd recommend this stove to anyone with a largish house/cold climate. This stove actually takes less space than a Fireview because of its top vent and reduced clearance. It is not dependent on electricty (no blowers). It is great for cooking almost anything...I cook oatmeal, eggs, sandwiches, potatoes, soups, roasts, pasta sauces, winter squash; even bake bread. Keep tea nad hot water on the stove all the time. I have four spare Fireview top pieces I ordered years ago. Keep them on top of the stove...two when cooking, 4 otherwise. Bedtime I wrap each in a beach towel and put it at the foot of each bed under the covers. Keeps the bed toasty and is still warm the next morning. A sister and her husband came up from Atlanta in December and took THREE to bed with them...and slept for 12 hours! Once started my car when it was 35 below and no power for the block heater by heating slabs and putting on car hood sandwiched between blankets. Worked like a charm. Point being...this is a great stove to have if there is a major extended power outage. Just be sure you have a supply of water handy when bad weather threatens...it won't run a pump. Other than that, you don't need a generator back up if you have this stove. With a smaller house, this is also true with Woodstock's other stoves....though the Fireview is NOT capable of cooking a turkey....doesn't keep as consistent a temperature for as long..at least in my experience. This stove is capable of putting out a massive amount of heat, and the heat is very comfortable...warms you like the sun
Woodstock's stoves are beautiful, their parts are reasonably priiced, during the 8 years I have had the pleasure of doing business with Woodstock they have been ever courteous and extraordinarily accommodating.
My only other comment at this time...I read thehearth.com site forum on wood....I can't believe how much wood people are burning. I do have great wood-maple, ironwood, beech. Keeping my Fireview burning with a full load, I found I used about a cord every 6 weeks during real winter weather, when never letting the fire go out. Less wood in milder weather. Burning the Progress Hybrid the way I am I am not using more wood, though I will obviously if I ever fill the firebox completely. I only expect to need more heat when it is really cold.
Do your research before buying a stove. by all means. I did mine in 2004 and have never regretted my decision to go with Woodstock.
Here's a short story: built my home in 1976. Designed for 5 Rumford fireplaces in a massive central chimney. Worked hard to locate the "best" mason so plans would be followed carefully for the Rumfords. Whole house built framed for the chimney and the mason put the base in the wrong place. So I scrapped plans for chimney and filled in the framed area. Never would have planned the fireplaces if these stoves had existed then...oh well. My Woodstock sits where the living room fireplace would have been. 650+ pounds in the weakest spot in the house. I really ought to put a post under it in the basement...joists are 2x 12 Douglas Fir, 2 layers of plywood over that---3/4 inch and 5/8 inch...then 5/4 x 6 long board (16 foot minimum length) white oak flooring. So I don't think anything is going anywhere. But I'll be more comfortable with a post under this area.

Woodstock had some suggestions that they think will control the secondaries...simple changes in the way I use my damper and combuster..different than the way one usualy does. If they work, I'll post the suggestions here. Am away from home right now. Can't wait to get back to -25 degrees, my stove and a foot of snow.
If Woodstock's suggestions don't work, I'm going to get a section of double wall excel stovepipe with built in damper to give me more control over air in the stove. Woodstock did confirm my son's recommendation of a stovepipe damper. I'm actually not certain it isn't a good idea for anyone who doesn't have a problem getting enough draft to get a stovepipe damper. Aside from giving more control over air in the stove, it would be a great safety factor in the event of a runaway fire, since one cannot shut off the air supply to a Progress Hybrid.
Generally this stove is incredibly easy to start, and throws a huge amount of heat on a half load of wood, while maintaining a nice safe steady stovetop temperature in the 400 degee range for many hours. It produces much more and steadier heat tan a Fireview, at least in my installation. But my draft is huge....the chimney whistles. I have a few movies of one of my first fires and you can clearly hear the whistle. I'll try to post the movies, which cover the first twenty minutes of a fire started 2/1/2 days after I got the stove, detailing time from lighting from ash only and stovetop temperature changes. It's pretty impressive, especially since this is a brand new stove that has its own learning curve, and I did lots of things in a less than ideal way...I'll probably try to post them to Microsoft's skydrive, (I think -hope-I can post movies as well as photos to this site) so if anyone wants to see then they can PM me their e-mail address and I can give them access to the movies once I post them. You can view them without having to download them.