Fireview Reload Schedule

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Dutch

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Dec 5, 2012
30
Southern WI
I aplologize if this has been already discussed, however, I was unable to find an answer by searching.

I am currently running a Jotul F55 to heat my 1500 square foot, moderately insulated home. When I made the purchase I wanted a stove that would potentially run, or at least keep my house warm, for 12 hours. Well the stove is performing as expected during the deep months of winter. At the end of the burn cycle the house temps are about 67 degrees or so and at the peak of a reload, about 74 or so. This is exactly what I would like, however, as soon as the temps outside begin to rise, so do the house temps. At the end of a burn cycle, the house will be about 70 degrees, putting my reload temps at about 77 degrees. This is too much and I must let the stove go out and am relighting fires rather frequently.

I am by no means unhappy, but I have someone willing to take the stove off my hands for pretty much what I paid for it (got a pretty good deal). The stove would be replaced with a Fireview. I would then be able to keep the stove running longer. My question is what temps will a Fireview maintain if reloads are stretched out to nearly 12 hours. The numbers I am hoping to hear are home size, outside temps, inside starting temps, inside temps after 12 hrs. I understand this may not be how you folks run your stoves so feel free to explain how you run your stove. My instincts tell me I should leave well enough alone, but who can resist the opportunity to get a new stove.

Thanks in advance,

Dutch
 
I had a Rangeley heating a 1300 sq ft 2 story but the rooms are small and the stove room is only 10x13.I couldn't run the fans fast enough to keep the stove room below 90+.I have a Fireview now in the 1800 (year built) poorly insulated house and it does awesome.I get better burn times with the Fireview where as my best burn time with the Rangeley was around 9 hrs and the Fireview 12 hrs.Please get more opinions because all our sittuations are different.I could only run the Rangeley at 300 to 350 to get these temps and i had creasote dripping from my cap cause i couldn't reach it to clean it.It caught fire 1 night and the stove had to go.If you can run it at 400 and above you'll be fine.Also look into Woodstocks warranty and check the price on a Fireview and the Progress Hybrid so if you do have to upsize you know what pocket change it will cost ya.This was just my experience but i can tell you.If that Jotul were good for my setup,i'd have missed out on the better stove i have now.I can't believe that 55 isn't warming your house better than that though.Not downing the Rangeley or calling it junk i just like this 1 better.Love a cat.Just my opinion.
 
1 more thing,if the Fireview is big enough (coming soon in more replies).lol You'll have alot better control of your fire and temps.
 
From what I understand the Jotul is a very nice stove you have and it doesn't sound like you are really all that unhappy... however as someone who is on his third stove in 6 seasons I can fully appreciate the desire to improve even when things seem almost good enough :)

At any rate I can't really determine how well the FV will do for heating your place but I would guess it would do well for your shoulder season concerns. If nothing else I would expect you can extend your burns much longer (with corresponding lower heat level) and avoid cold starts as frequently during shoulder season. Assuming you have good air movement in the house I don't expect you would have issues heating 1500sqft - I was heating over 2500 for 3 seasons and although we were mostly satisfied with slightly lower temps than you target I imagine heating some 40% less space will allow you to raise the temps quite a bit.

I had plenty of nice long burns with the FV - plenty of hot coals to re-start etc. Good wood is the key - but that is no different than your Jotul eh?
 
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Here's the problem. The F55 is nearly a 3 cu ft firebox stove. It is closer to the Progress than it is the Fireview. If the F55 is only getting your 1,500 sq ft home to 74 during the colder temps, than the Fireview will have a hard time giving you both the heat and the burn times to accomplish this.

This also means your home is less moderately insulated than you are allowing yourself to believe.
 
I am hardly even pushing this stove at all. I havent even used two face cords yet. I could easily keep my house at about 90 degrees if I liked. I sided with the "oversize your stove" side of the debate. I really can't reload my stove prior to 12 hours or my temps will climb into the 80's.
 
Dutch said:
I am hardly even pushing this stove at all. I havent even used two face cords yet. I could easily keep my house at about 90 degrees if I liked. I sided with the "oversize your stove" side of the debate. I really can't reload my stove prior to 12 hours or my temps will climb into the 80's.
Click to expand...
Okay. I thought you were also having problems getting a 12 hour burn out of it.


Then, yes, I think the Fireview would work well. Based on the reports here, combined with how you are describing your current situation, the Fireview should meet your needs. During colder temps you might not get the 12 hour burns, but, maybe you will.

I thought you were "only" able to get the home up to 74 with the Jotul. That is why I thought the Fireview wasn't the right solution. But, if you can get the home temps into the 80s, downsizing to the Fireview isn't an issue.

Congrats on being the rare owner that bought too much stove for their home. It really is a rarity.
 
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Can you not just load less into the stove when outside temps are higher?

In shoulder season I can load every 12 hours but I'm usually starting a new fire each time. It is pretty rare for me to have useable coals (and meaningful heat) after 12 hours. 2000sf antique, now moderately insulated house in Zone 5 New England.

Evening temps about 68, morning about 63 in cold weather. Thermostat is at the far end of the house from the stove.
 
I'm going about 8-10 hours on soft maple with my Fireview,,1300 ft first floor and two beds up stairs and a bath ,plus another back sitting room with a bath and bedroom upstairs. My Esse heats the back part by the kitchen and the Fireview the front of the house... Maintains 70 degrees no problem on a low burn,, plus we have 2 doggie doors off the stove room that bleed cold air in 24/7... One thing about the fireview,,, I always have coals to reload on,,, always... no fire starts for me. Stove has been restarted from cold once since November,,,, Hard wood will probably get me much longer burns as well. 6 cords of silver maple to get through first. Woodstock's warrantee is hard to beat, not stuck with a stove that doesn't work out.... you won't lose a dime for your trial time with your new stove.
 
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Got up to 31 degrees today so just reloading the FireView now from 7 am this morning, so an easy 11 hours on Silver Maple...I usually never let the stove top drop below 250 degrees... 10 minutes on the draft set less the half and she's ready to engage the cat again.... I load it before heading to bed around 10 or 11, just threw in a couple of ugly odd ball blocks and a small round. Again I love the stove for it's simplistic mechanical design...soooo nice to run:). Lifted the top up the other day with some coals , lifted out the cat with gloves, close the top brushed the cat off and back in the stove again....Doesn't get any easier then that to do some cat maintenance. Very little dust on the cat...
 
Dutch said:
I am currently running a Jotul F55 to heat my 1500 square foot, moderately insulated home. When I made the purchase I wanted a stove that would potentially run, or at least keep my house warm, for 12 hours. Well the stove is performing as expected during the deep months of winter. At the end of the burn cycle the house temps are about 67 degrees or so and at the peak of a reload, about 74 or so. This is exactly what I would like, however, as soon as the temps outside begin to rise, so do the house temps. At the end of a burn cycle, the house will be about 70 degrees, putting my reload temps at about 77 degrees. This is too much and I must let the stove go out and am relighting fires rather frequently.

I am by no means unhappy, but I have someone willing to take the stove off my hands for pretty much what I paid for it (got a pretty good deal). The stove would be replaced with a Fireview. I would then be able to keep the stove running longer. My question is what temps will a Fireview maintain if reloads are stretched out to nearly 12 hours. The numbers I am hoping to hear are home size, outside temps, inside starting temps, inside temps after 12 hrs. I understand this may not be how you folks run your stoves so feel free to explain how you run your stove. My instincts tell me I should leave well enough alone, but who can resist the opportunity to get a new stove.

Thanks in advance,

Dutch
Click to expand...

Dutch it sounds like you have a pretty good situation there. If you can sell the stove for almost what you paid for it and do want another stove, then this should work out nicely. One thing I will point out though is that we are not yet into the deep months of winter. The real cold has not hit yet but will soon (maybe?).

We have somewhere around 1300 sq ft well insulated and we do keep our house much warmer than most people do and that is planned. Naturally the Fireview is using much less wood now since we super insulated this old crate and put in new doors and windows. We normally keep our house at 80 degrees or more. At present we are at 84.

Normally we do not put much wood in during the daytime hours but if we need to add more there is usually one of us here to do so. At night I usually stock the stove well before bedtime and have only stuffed the stove a few times so far this winter. We just have not needed to really stuff it. However, 12 hours after stocking for night fires is when we reload. Most mornings the house is still around 80 degrees.

Before we added the insulation we would usually wake up to the house being closer to 70-75 degrees. It would be a very rare situation to find the house below 70. But to give you an idea. Last night we had a strange situation for this time of the year. Late afternoon I thought it was getting a bit cool so put in 3 splits (ash). It got hot in here! When I went to bed those 3 splits were perhaps half gone and I chose to not add anything. I figured it might get a bit cool before morning as 17 was the predicted low for last night. Ha! When I got up it was 28 degrees outside and 74 in the house at 6:00 am. But this is unusual and it really took me by surprise.
 
BrowningBAR said:
Okay. I thought you were also having problems getting a 12 hour burn out of it.


Then, yes, I think the Fireview would work well. Based on the reports here, combined with how you are describing your current situation, the Fireview should meet your needs. During colder temps you might not get the 12 hour burns, but, maybe you will.

I thought you were "only" able to get the home up to 74 with the Jotul. That is why I thought the Fireview wasn't the right solution. But, if you can get the home temps into the 80s, downsizing to the Fireview isn't an issue.

Congrats on being the rare owner that bought too much stove for their home. It really is a rarity.
Click to expand...
 
I thought like BrowningBar,you could only get to 74.I think you'd be ok to switch.I couldn't use my stove at 250 to 300 but had to.Creosote is a BIG danger.Maybe you can run hotter.This 1's up to you.I sure hope i helped ya in some way.I do think a cat stove would be good for your situation.Cooler burns if ya need em.Just my opinion. Sorry i messed up the reply
 
Thanks for some of the input guys. I think a catalytic stove may be in my future. I will likely finish off the season with the Jotul just to see if it comes in handy in the bitter cold. I would also like to see what some of the new stoves will be from Woodstock or maybe even Blaze King.
 
I think the simplest way to look at this may be that if you are happy burning < 1.8-cu-ft loads in the F55, the Fv would probably be the better machine for burning < 1.8-cu-ft loads. It will certainly do this for 12+ hours, but whether or not you will be happy with your house temps is a biiig guess. Lower to upper 70's in the stove room, burning 24/7 here in the tropics. "24/7" here often means letting the stove go the next day when it's in the 50's outside, and reloading around dusk, say, 16 hours after last night's load. I might not describe this as reloading on "hot" coals, but certainly live coals that will get hot after a few minutes of air. So, if you're looking for a mellow kind of heater that won't roast you, and will keep coals until you're ready to reload, I'd say the Fv would be a good choice.(The deep ash bed I tend to accumulate probably helps with this.) Some might object to my description, saying that the Fv is quite the heat thrower @700°F, but you're talking more like 8-hour burns when you run it that way.

p.s. If your buyer can wait 1-2 months, Woodstock's sale price will probably be a few hundred $ better.
 
I don't think any changed will be made until the end of the heating season, so I will keep an eye on the Woodstock prices. If it weren't for the rear vent, the fireview would have been my original choice.
 
Yes, the rear vent pushes the stove out a bit, nothing a can't live with though. I don't think a Keystone would do the trick. Although Im all about saving wood and not so scorching temps. Anyone think it would be worth a shot?
 
I'm finding reloading my fireview I've been waiting too long to close my by pass,,, kind of wasting my wood... I'm thinking that it's silver maple, at 18% and kept inside for a week it's really ready to go...Now when I add wood I let the draft burn wide open for about 2 minutes , probed flue gas is at 550 and stove top is at least 250, I close the by pass and set the draft to .5 and the cat is glowing a minute or so later.... before I was burning a new load for about 15 minutes with the by pass open and the draft at 1.5 or 2 so the stove pipe didn't run away...It's fun finding out a little more about running the Fireview as the winter moves along....;lol
 
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Also looking at the Progress but we are perplexed with installation...how does an ordinary Joe get a 700lb woodburning stove into one's home? So now we are looking at the Quadrafire. If anyone has any comments or information about how one goes about getting a Progress Hybrid installed we would love to hear about it! We currently have a ENCORE VC 1450 that heats our home well 1500+ sqft. though when the temps drop below 30 it gets a little cooler in the kitchen. Would the Fire View do better or the same for our needs compared to the Encore? And again how the hell do you get 495lbs in the house! !!!
 
Kristine Patti said:
Also looking at the Progress but we are perplexed with installation...how does an ordinary Joe get a 700lb woodburning stove into one's home? So now we are looking at the Quadrafire. If anyone has any comments or information about how one goes about getting a Progress Hybrid installed we would love to hear about it! We currently have a ENCORE VC 1450 that heats our home well 1500+ sqft. though when the temps drop below 30 it gets a little cooler in the kitchen. Would the Fire View do better or the same for our needs compared to the Encore? And again how the hell do you get 495lbs in the house! !!!
Click to expand...
You need some man power and wooden ramps and a dolly that will hold 1000 lbs...For my Fireview,,,I took the top , the door and the fire bricks out...Then two friends said once they got the stove waist high it was easy to carry... They set it down onto my hearth pad ,, I had two narrow strips of plywood down on top of the hearth bricks for the legs to sit on...Then I had my wife slip furniture sliders under each leg as I lifted one side of the stove up at a time.. Now I could inch the stove around and took my time measuring and making sure the stove pipe was plumb , etc.. My self I had a Quadrafire 5700,,, I like my Fireview much better,,, easier to run hands down...The Woodstock stoves are nice in that you can run them low and not create a creosote issue in your chimney,,, to me a good peace of mind..Get enough people together to move what ever stove you get,,, it's not like you do it all the time,,, it will be more enjoyable with the extra help and you won't have a damaged stove or back in doing so. Treat yourself to a trip to Woodstock,,,once you see the stoves in person, see the facilitates, and meet all the great people that work there,,,well,,,,you'll be the proud owner of a Woodstock,,seeing the quality and craftsmanship in person will just amaze you.. Plus you get their 6 month buy back warrantee, and they pay for the return shipping as well. So after 6 months if you find you need a different stove,,, you can do so with no money lost...We actually went and picked our Fireview up and they loaded into my truck...Just great people to deal with... You'll feel like family once you meet the good folks at Woodstock..Good luck with what ever you decide to buy..
Charlie
 
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Dutch, If I were you and money was not an issue, i would lean toward the PH, unless the redesigned Fireview (don't know when it is to be released) has hybrid technology/larger window/and/or longer burn - ask Woodstock for whatever info you can get about changes being made and availability data -

The PH may be a bit of overkill for your square footage, but it will burn at a very low BTU rate when you want, and wll burn longer than a Fireview. Will really crank heat also, but will heat at a moderate rate for a really lon time...longer than a Fireview - so will easily give you 12 hour burns regardless of heat required, low, medium or high, simply by adjusting load size, when dealing with the square footage you have.
 
Well as I had said, I will likely be waiting till the end of the heating season. Hopefully there will be more info available on the new model by then.
 
ddddddden said:
Todd has burned both and reports that the KS heats about the same as the Fv, just for a few hours shorter time. Woody Stover has both too.
Click to expand...
I haven't burned the Keystone with the drier wood I have this year. Todd no doubt has provided an accurate assessment. Just with the larger size of the Fv, I would think it would radiate a bit more heat...
Dammit, I wish they'd have come out with the new stove before I bought. If it's essentially a bigger Keystone, big window and ash pan, I may be goin' down! ;hm;lol
 
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