REALLY appreciate your comments rideau as I'm definitely leaning towards the PH! Spoke with Mike at Woodstock. I agree with you, better to go with the PH and have the ability to put out more heat if needed. The stove will go in the great room, 17x19', in the middle of the19' wall facing the open dinning room & kitchen, if I need a lot of heat, will the stove run me out of the room? So during shoulder season, just fill er up 1/4 full and the stove will still operate properly....not produce too much creosote? Any other advice as a PH owner? Thank you!
Sorry to be a while replying to this.
My PH is on the center wall in the right half of a open room 46 feet by 16 feet, with entrance to center hall in middle of room and both entrance and pass through window to kitchen in the center wall in the left half of the room, ceilings about 8'4". I have very good passive air circulation with my floorplan.
The PH certainly doesn't run us out of the room. As I put more heat out with the stove, more heat flows to the rest of the house, each successive floor in a three story house staying a few degrees cooler than the floor below. I can regulate the amount of heat that the stove produces by adjusting the air flow, and, to a lesser extent, by choosing the wood I burn. Ironwood produces quite a bit more heat than ash.... I can adjust the burn time by adjusting the air flow and/or adjusting the load size, and also by choosing the size of the wood pieces loaded, and whether splits or rounds. Rounds burn more slowly, so for the longest, lowest output fires I load the largest, densest rounds.
If I want a moderate heat output overnight fire in winter I'll load one 15 to 20 pound ironwood round at the back of the stove, for instance. If I want a really toasty livingroom in the evening after dinner on a really cold night, I'll load a good number of only moderately sized maple splits, give the stove a bit more air, and enjoy a magnificent fireshow with gorgeous colored flames and tons of heat. Such evenings, no one ever wants to sleep upstairs in the bedrooms...they'd like to cozy down in front of the fire. So I entice them upstairs by placing soapstone slabs in their beds. Then, I admit, I settle down on the sofa too often...
Small load, low air, long burn, moderate heat;
med-low air, medium burn time, quite a bit of heat;
med air, few hours burn time, great deal of heat.
Med load, low air, 12 hour burn, moderate heat; med air, 6-8 hr burn, great deal heat...
3/4 full, low air, 16 hr burn....too bored to type it all out, but what goes for small load holds as loads get bigger, just different, corresponding burn times. No problem regulating this stove's output at my home.
The stove operates properly on any size load.
I have had absolutely no problem with cresote formation, and very seldom have had any blackening of the window. I get really quite angry with myself if I get any blackening, because it means I have put wet wood in. Any blackening burns off as soon as the fire gets hot and the moisture is out of the too wet wood. Only place any black ever stays is between the andirons and the glass. That comes off very easily once the glass is cool. I just take a slightly moist nylon scrub thing - those flat pads for cleaning non-stick cookware - and scrub for a few seconds, then dry off with a paper towel.
When starting from a cold stove, this stove will heat up very quickly. If it is not very cold out and you have a less than ideal chimney (and maybe anyway), you'll get your fire established much more quickly, and hence get to cat mode faster, if you take care to give the stove good kindling, whether in the form of a home made or purchased fire starter, some birch bark, good dry kindling (small slivers of the base of pine trees do a great job), small very dry twigs, or small scraps of non-pressure treated kiln dried wood. My local lumber yard stacks pallets and wood scraps they don't want, and I go by and help myself once in a while.... If there are hot coals in the stove, just rake the coals forward, put your larger splits in the back, small splits on the bottom in the front, and the stove will give you a good fire really quickly. Under a minute for dry wood to be burning well.
That said, the stove never takes very long to get up and running....from a cold start anywhere from 5 to fifteen minutes for me, if I take care with the kindling; from hot coals, with good dry wood the wood is burning on multiple sides before the door is closed from the reload often. I just let it burn for a minute or so in that case, before reducing the air to just cracked open (unless it is quite cold out) and engaging the cat.
This stove requires an amazingly minimal amount of time spent watching it on start up to assure safe functioning temperature for long established burn, then needs no further monitoring. I've never had it take off on me once the air is adjusted, and have never had any problem quickly adjusting the air.
I have also found it very easy to adjust the temperature of the stove up and/or down when I want to cook, which I do all the time., Do almost all my winter cooking on the stove. Now that the cooktop is availoable, there is much less need to do this, as the simply lifting or lowering of the soapstone tops lets you choose between at least 5 temperatures for cooking.
Feel free to ask any questions. Would be pleased to give any information I can, as will other PH owners, Woodstock owners, and veteran burners. I have found the PH members here to be very willing to be helpful - true of forum members in general, a great group of people with a common goal and interest...good burning, great lifestyle.