Keystone on its way!

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Hestia

Hestia

New Member
Jan 21, 2008
40
Eastern MA
My dh is driving (as I type this) down from NH with our Woodstock Keystone. We are very excited - after all the research, making sure it has a proper "home" and researching the right types of "food/fuel" it feels like we are adopting a new pet - baby dragon?


I've created a raised hearth with 2x4's, 4 feet by 68 inches - have all the layers and just need to thin set and tile/grout the thing. Those 45 degree angles are not fun to fit tile to. We are having installers do the chimney liner after we had a decent bid. I'll fabricate a damper seal when the weather gets nice - right now we just want to get some practice lighting fires. Our oil fill up was $3.38 a gallon yesterday. At that cost, hard wood costs about a third that oil does, delivered. (We will also be learning all about splitting wood.) We always keep the house at 60 until the night when we turn it down to 57. I can't wait for the house to feel warm!

Back to the tile!
Hestia
 
What color Keystone did you buy? I wish I could get over to the Woodstock factory so I can see these stoves for myself!
 
Congradulations! You'll love your stove. Wait til you see it burn, they are mesmerizing. A beautiful fire that just quietly warms your home. Yee Haaa!
 
It is beautiful - charcoal gray. Very, very handsome. Funny that one of you said it is like a new baby in the house - that is what I was feeling, but was feeling too embarrased to say. However, now that it is here sitting there so dignified, it feels more like an exchange student from a foreign country - I can't wait to get to know it better, however I know that I still have a lot to learn!

We went on a road trip a month ago to look at their stoves after visiting a few local places - we also liked the Morso stoves, however the one we liked stated in the online brochure (pdf) that it recommended feeding it every 70 minutes or so. That was crossed off our list. We thought that the Woodstocks were out of our reach, however with all the research, (especially with all the positive reviews here) we were pretty much convinced that they are a great value, then they went on sale. So, 2 1/2 hour road trip. We were impressed, and we put our money down. (It is also great that there is no tax in New Hampshire.)

The main concern for us was imagining unloading a piece about 500 pounds from a borrowed truck (thanks to DH's marvelous brother) - I built some ramps from a ramp kit (Lowes) that you attach to lumber, and the two brothers did most of the work (they are both pretty tall, which helped unloading/guiding down the ramp - otherwise I would recommend more help.) We needed to help guide, and a borrowed two wheeler dolly with additional wheels on the back was very, very helpful. We also needed to find a sweep who was able to install a liner, which around here tends to be either an issue with time or money. We anticipate it being installed within two weeks or so

In the meantime, It is sitting there, promising to warm us all up, patiently waiting. I like to imagine where the cats and dogs will be sitting in the room. (We spent extra on additional soapstone for the top to both cook on low as well as to protect the cat's feet in case either tries to jump up! - anyone have a cat who has tried that?) Will post pictures when it is set up and passes inspection.

Hestia
 
If you have it uncrated, can you post some pictures of it now? I have yet to see good pics of the charcoal gray color.
 
Hi TheFlame,

I tried to take good photos - it is not the best light, but the pictures are ok. The Charcoal is a warm gray. Fairly dark, however definitely warm. We picked it because it matched the darkest stones/grout in our fieldstone fireplace. I have attached three photos (I hope!) - One is of the stove still standing on its pallet. The second is a 3/4 view of the corner, to try to catch the color a bit better. The third is of some of the stones in our fireplace - I included the latter to show you the daylight colors which we were trying to match the stove to. We were matching to the darkest colors in this photo. Hope it helps.

Hestia
 

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Is it a boy or a girl ? :)
I know how you feel! I just got my soapstone fired up a week ago. (He) has been wonderful to watch and boy am I nice and toasty warm now. Similar to you (almost), we had our heat at 62 during the day and 60 at night. Now the wife starts saying the code word - Wood! Wood! when it drops to 68! These Soapstones are different the Cast Iron if you are not familiar with them. They take a little longer to pump out the heat but once going they are great. The best thing I like is that you can sit right near it and watch the beautiful fire with out ever feeling like your being cooked out of the room. Something I could not do with my cast iron Timberline. The keystone is a real beauty and I recall that it has one of the largest unobstructed views of the fire. Wait until your house hits the 70 mark, you will be loving it! Good By Oil !!! This is a great forum and although I had a wood stove that I burned 24/7 for 6 years before this one, I have learned more tips with these guys then I ever thought possible. A big congratulations on your new boy or girl. It doesn't matter either way it's a real beauty.
Flame
 
I have a Keystone.

Its 28 outside, and its 80 in the stove room, and 72 in the bedroom down the hall. Stove is running at 400 degrees now, from the two small splits I put in at 4am this morning. No kindling or matches needed, just push the lever down, open up the air intake, add wood.
Wait 15 minutes, close air control to 1, move lever up. The stove was 250 when I got out of bed this morning.

The stove was loaded at 7 last night. I lit at match on Tuesday, when the weather changed, and have not lit another since. No kindling either.

I have burned many different stoves over the last 25 years, but this is the best period.

Couple of hints:

- You MUST have dry wood for this stove to work, period.
- No quick heatups (or cool downs), so momentum is everything. (Compared to steel or iron)
- Get a pair of welder gloves for loading
- The air control lever really works. There is a big difference between 1 and 2, for example. Most burn on "1" with the cat engaged.
- Read the booklet and understand how catalysts work, it will help you run the stove.
- Vacuum fly ash off of the cat every month or so. Its easy, and takes several minutes.
- Do not expect the stove to maintain 450 degrees for 8 hours at a time without reloading.
- Make damn sure the ash pan door is closed when running. If not, you will have a blast furnace. Its helpful to leave open sometimes, to get a new fire going in a hurry.

And finally. Do not participate in any Cat versus NonCat debates on this board. Those that have never owned a soapstone CAT stove will NEVER understand. Nice even heat with 1/3 less wood usage.

Congrats!
 
Good tips from Sandor. Here near Portsmouth NH, I lit my Keystone around October 25th, used it quite a few times before then, but I haven't needed to light it since then. Same fire for 4 months now! If we have a warm spell, I just let the ash accumulate and burn small loads morning and eve. There's always plenty of coals buried in the ash. Loaded last night about 11, get up this am around 6. Its 12 outside and 71 inside, actually needed to burn down the coals a bit. This stove is 97% of our heat for our home. May tuen the furnace on in the coldest weather for 1/2 hour here or there to warm the fringes of the house. Momentum is critical with soapstone. If you let your house cool off, it takes forever to warm it up again. We keep ours in the 69 to 73 range 24 hours a day. :) Wife had it to 76 yesterday (too warm for me but she was happy so I'm happy) If you get it set up by the beginning of Marrch, you'll still have plenty of time to run it. We'll need first burn pics too!
 
Couple more:

- When lighting a cold stove, use plenty of kindling because it takes alot of energy to heat that soapstone up. Also, do not engage the cat (lever up) until you have a nice glowing bed of coals from medium size splits.

- A tight chimney system is essential for this stove to work right

- Make a habit of checking the output from your chimney. If the cat is engaged, and its smoking like a freight train, you need to disengage the cat and let things heat up more.

- Play around with the operation for awhile within reasonable parameters. All of our setups are different, and what works for me may not work for you.

- Your first fire will produce A LOT OF NASTY FUMES, and break the stove in per the manuals instructions.

- If your dry wood gets wet, try to keep the next few pieces around the stove to evaporate off any surface wetness before reloading.
 
Wonder when you were going to post on this Jp.

Girls here are so spoiled that they groan when it drops below 80!

Are the Keystone burners catching up to the Fireviews?

How often are you vacuuming the Cat?
 
Thanks for all the great advice! I have a couple of questions you may be able to help with.

Cleaning the Cat: I know I need to clean the Cat once a month or so, however is vacuuming it enough, or do I need to take it out? This is one place where I would prefer the Fireview, as you just lift the lid. For the Keystone you need to unscrew it, rotate it into the pipe 45 degrees then rotate it up. Is it fairly easy? Can I just vacuum every month then do a thorough "take it out and clean it" at the end of the season?

Emptying the Ash: When emptying the ash pan, I am sure that the stove needs to be somewhat cool to remove the pan. If this is correct (I still need to read the manual today!) With all the talk about never having let the stove cool down in the heating season, how do you recommend I empty the ash pan while the stove is hot?

Can't wait to get it hooked up.

Hestia
 
Sandol, LOL, the keeping my wife warm thing is definately one "my" jobs around the house. With the Keystone, it's no longer a constant source of conflict. Actually, I've only vacumed my cat once this season. Had a real warm spell, pushed a big pile of coals and ash into the back corner in the AM, put a small load in and left for the day. Stove was down to like 130 or something that eve, took the flame protector off, brushed it down but there was hardly any thing to remove. Put the screen back in, pulled the ash forward and had enough coals underneath to light the next load. It's time to clean it again but when it's really glowing, I can see there is virtually no ash on it. Just waiting for a 50 degree day or two. Hestia, I don't take the cat out to clean during the season though you could. Instead, take the screen off from inside, (1 bolt) and vacum or brush surface gently with small paint brush and put the screen back on. Manual (which is easily accesible on line in pdf format) details the process well. The ash pan is an awesome feature. I empty once every 3-4 days when its cold, less often when its warmer. I just let the fire burn down to moderate coals. Typically I'll do first thing after an overnight or all day burn before I disturb anything. That way there are no coals in the tray, just fine ash. I leave the by-pass closed and the air at 1 while I empty. Then I open up and load. Piece of cake.
 
Sandor, Keystone may be catching up to Fireviews. Obviously they both are great stoves, but I suspect that due to the position of the combustor close to the front, that the fire display is more interesting on the Keystone. Fireview gives you 35-40% more firebox which obviously has its advantages. But over and over, I keep raving about the flames, when the wood starts to heat up and really starts gassifying, I get awesome dancing secondary burn that kind of lazily dances all over the firebox top, down the wood, back up, just really cool to watch. Turn off the TV, the stoves lit! For that reason alone, let alone all the other aspects, I love that stove.
 
Congrats on the new stove. You will love it. The Keystone burners give great advice. I've learned plenty, and still learning. You said you spent extra for additional soapstone for the top? Please explain.
 
Todd said:
Congrats on the new stove. You will love it. The Keystone burners give great advice. I've learned plenty, and still learning. You said you spent extra for additional soapstone for the top? Please explain.
Click to expand...
Todd, Woodstock will cut pieces to any size you want that you can just lay on top of the stove. The Keystone has 2 cast trim pieces that divide the top into thirds from one side to the other. I need to call them to get a couple of pieces because the cast trim protrudes and you can't set anything wider than 5 1/4" directly on the stone. Weather eased up any there? And yes, you're right, still learning and learning how to use this stove the best.
 
jpl1nh said:
Sandor, Keystone may be catching up to Fireviews. Obviously they both are great stoves, but I suspect that due to the position of the combustor close to the front, that the fire display is more interesting on the Keystone. Fireview gives you 35-40% more firebox which obviously has its advantages. But over and over, I keep raving about the flames, when the wood starts to heat up and really starts gassifying, I get awesome dancing secondary burn that kind of lazily dances all over the firebox top, down the wood, back up, just really cool to watch. Turn off the TV, the stoves lit! For that reason alone, let alone all the other aspects, I love that stove.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of dancing secondary flames in my Fireview. Not quite as dramatic as a non cat with burn tubes, but still a great looking fire.

Did you know Woodstock has another wood stove in the works? It's suppose to be a smaller model coming out in a couple years. I asked if they thought about a bigger model like something with a 3 cu ft firebox and they said they get more requests for smaller stoves. I thought the Keystone and Palladian were kind of on the small side with that 1.5 cu ft firebox. How much smaller can they go?
 
jpl1nh said:
Did you know Woodstock has another wood stove in the works? It's suppose to be a smaller model coming out in a couple years. I asked if they thought about a bigger model like something with a 3 cu ft firebox and they said they get more requests for smaller stoves. I thought the Keystone and Palladian were kind of on the small side with that 1.5 cu ft firebox. How much smaller can they go?
Click to expand...

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. They should be focusing on a larger model. Homes have changed a lot in the past 29 years, mainly they've gotten bigger. Stoves are not one of those items that people are going to purchase 2 smaller ones of, due to a number of factors. I'd have to imagine that Woodstock loses a lot of business due to the fact that their largest stove has a published heating area of 1600 sq ft. Anybody with a 1600+ sq ft home most likely dismisses them immediately as not viable for their application.
 
TheFlame said:
jpl1nh said:
Did you know Woodstock has another wood stove in the works? It's suppose to be a smaller model coming out in a couple years. I asked if they thought about a bigger model like something with a 3 cu ft firebox and they said they get more requests for smaller stoves. I thought the Keystone and Palladian were kind of on the small side with that 1.5 cu ft firebox. How much smaller can they go?
Click to expand...

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. They should be focusing on a larger model. Homes have changed a lot in the past 29 years, mainly they've gotten bigger. Stoves are not one of those items that people are going to purchase 2 smaller ones of, due to a number of factors. I'd have to imagine that Woodstock loses a lot of business due to the fact that their largest stove has a published heating area of 1600 sq ft. Anybody with a 1600+ sq ft home most likely dismisses them immediately as not viable for their application.
Click to expand...
I agree. With the double soapstone wall construction they use, can you imagine how mauch a 3 cu ft stove might weigh? Todd, I'd love to see the Fireview in action. No one ever describes the fire in their reviews. Several people comment on the fire in the Keystone. Hadn't really thought about why too much until someone pointed out that the Keystone and the Palladian were the only two cat stoves with the combustor positioned near the front which forced the gases back towards the glass and the airwash sytem before they exhaust through the cat. Bottom line though is you never hear anybody complaining about their Woodstock stoves, regardless of model. Are their any Palladian owners who are members here?
 
I looked on YouTube to see if anyone has a Woodstock with the Cat engaged - there is one of the Fireview. I wish someone would post one of the Keystone. It will probably be a couple of weeks before ours is hooked up, but I will try to post a short video there after we get the hang of building a nice fire.

Hestia
 
jpl1nh said:
TheFlame said:
jpl1nh said:
Did you know Woodstock has another wood stove in the works? It's suppose to be a smaller model coming out in a couple years. I asked if they thought about a bigger model like something with a 3 cu ft firebox and they said they get more requests for smaller stoves. I thought the Keystone and Palladian were kind of on the small side with that 1.5 cu ft firebox. How much smaller can they go?
Click to expand...

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. They should be focusing on a larger model. Homes have changed a lot in the past 29 years, mainly they've gotten bigger. Stoves are not one of those items that people are going to purchase 2 smaller ones of, due to a number of factors. I'd have to imagine that Woodstock loses a lot of business due to the fact that their largest stove has a published heating area of 1600 sq ft. Anybody with a 1600+ sq ft home most likely dismisses them immediately as not viable for their application.
Click to expand...
I agree. With the double soapstone wall construction they use, can you imagine how mauch a 3 cu ft stove might weigh? Todd, I'd love to see the Fireview in action. No one ever describes the fire in their reviews. Several people comment on the fire in the Keystone. Hadn't really thought about why too much until someone pointed out that the Keystone and the Palladian were the only two cat stoves with the combustor positioned near the front which forced the gases back towards the glass and the airwash sytem before they exhaust through the cat. Bottom line though is you never hear anybody complaining about their Woodstock stoves, regardless of model. Are their any Palladian owners who are members here?
Click to expand...

Hearthstone has the Equinox, 4cu ft firebox and 700lbs. You would think Woodstock would want to compete with that stove. A 4cu ft Woodstock would be awsum, 24 hr burns. Load it once per day, set and forget it.

I think the Fireview is similar to Woodstocks other stoves as far as the position of the cat. The air washes down in front of the glass then creates an S pattern in the firebox before going through the cat. This helps heat up the firebox for secondary combustion, then the cat cleans up the rest.
 
I have been looking at the Fireview but I'm not sure how well it would heat my 2,500 sq. ft. house in CT. Open floor plan with vaulted ceiling in great room (where the fireplace is on an outside wall) all open to the 3 bedrooms on 2nd floor. Any thoughts? I realize it is rated for only 1,600 ft.
 
Todd said:
jpl1nh said:
TheFlame said:
jpl1nh said:
Did you know Woodstock has another wood stove in the works? It's suppose to be a smaller model coming out in a couple years. I asked if they thought about a bigger model like something with a 3 cu ft firebox and they said they get more requests for smaller stoves. I thought the Keystone and Palladian were kind of on the small side with that 1.5 cu ft firebox. How much smaller can they go?
Click to expand...

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. They should be focusing on a larger model. Homes have changed a lot in the past 29 years, mainly they've gotten bigger. Stoves are not one of those items that people are going to purchase 2 smaller ones of, due to a number of factors. I'd have to imagine that Woodstock loses a lot of business due to the fact that their largest stove has a published heating area of 1600 sq ft. Anybody with a 1600+ sq ft home most likely dismisses them immediately as not viable for their application.
Click to expand...
I agree. With the double soapstone wall construction they use, can you imagine how mauch a 3 cu ft stove might weigh? Todd, I'd love to see the Fireview in action. No one ever describes the fire in their reviews. Several people comment on the fire in the Keystone. Hadn't really thought about why too much until someone pointed out that the Keystone and the Palladian were the only two cat stoves with the combustor positioned near the front which forced the gases back towards the glass and the airwash sytem before they exhaust through the cat. Bottom line though is you never hear anybody complaining about their Woodstock stoves, regardless of model. Are their any Palladian owners who are members here?
Click to expand...
You may be right about combustor positioning. Might have to take a short road trip up to Lebanon again. It's about 1 1/2 from here. My wife hasn't been yet and they give great tours. Now that I've had one for a winter, I'd love to go again and get more obscure questions like that one answered. Would love to find out more about the new stove they are planning too and the logic behind their decision. I can get 12 hours out of my 1.5 cu ft firebox packed well with black locust and have 250 stove top at the end. Does that mean 4 cu ft might give a 30 hour burn? :ahhh:

Hearthstone has the Equinox, 4cu ft firebox and 700lbs. You would think Woodstock would want to compete with that stove. A 4cu ft Woodstock would be awsum, 24 hr burns. Load it once per day, set and forget it.

I think the Fireview is similar to Woodstocks other stoves as far as the position of the cat. The air washes down in front of the glass then creates an S pattern in the firebox before going through the cat. This helps heat up the firebox for secondary combustion, then the cat cleans up the rest.
Click to expand...
 
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