My new baby - Woodstock Fireview

So I'm the proud new owner of a Woodstock Fireview. After much deliberation on several brands and reading through many posts on these boards, I landed on the Fireview because I like soapstone and I given my burning habits and expected use, believe that I can get the most efficiency out of a catalyst stove. I’ve also had very good luck with a catalyst with excellent longevity and requiring virtually no maintenance other than an occasional vacuuming. I’ve also read through hundreds of the ratings here on hearth.com, and the overall ratings on the Fireview are overwhelmingly positive. Having said that, I’ve never actually seen a Fireview in person (I’ve seen other Woodstock stoves, though), so I’m looking forward to the delivery.

I’ll be providing supplemental heat for a very open 7 year old 3500 sq ft contemporary colonial. It have an open two story foyer with a catwalk looking over from the foyer in the front to a shed roof family room in the rear with the fireplace/stove location being on the back wall. Four bedrooms are at either end of the catwalk, so natural convection should be pretty effective.

So I have a couple of questions.

1) Chimney – I’m planning on lining it. I have a 11x7 (not sure if that’s ID or OD. Have to climb up to check). Should I go with flex or solid? Assuming I need some length of flex to negotiate the lower section of the chimney/damper. Any suggestions for brand, how to do this, chimney cap, etc?
2) Color of the stove. For Fireview owners, does anyone have firsthand experience with colors other than black? How do they stand up after years of use? I’m taking delivery on the stove the last week in May, and was told by Woodstock that I have to pick a color out a week ahead of time. Enamel stoves look great new, but with they get older, chipped and cracked, I don’t much care for them. Black is very serviceable with polish. Woodstock uses paint for all their stoves for the same reason, so I’d like to know how it holds up.

Looking forward to putting my old Stihl 036, nearly 20 acres of woods, splitter that I own a third and have never seen along with my back and two boys to work to fending off high oil prices!

dswitham said:

Congratulations on the new stove. We really enjoy our Fireview, so does our company in the winter as well. We built a hearth the right height to sit on and large enough that you could sit around the stove on three sides. My father-in-law thought we were crazy :lol: until he came one day when the stove was going and got to sit beside the stove. I can't give any help on the chimney, but I can at least give my opinion about the color question.

North said:

2) Color of the stove. For Fireview owners, does anyone have firsthand experience with colors other than black? How do they stand up after years of use? I’m taking delivery on the stove the last week in May, and was told by Woodstock that I have to pick a color out a week ahead of time. Enamel stoves look great new, but with they get older, chipped and cracked, I don’t much care for them. Black is very serviceable with polish. Woodstock uses paint for all their stoves for the same reason, so I’d like to know how it holds up.

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The colors aren't enamel, they're painted cast iron. We have had both a black and a metallic blue one. Currently we still have the blue one. They were both purchased used to give a little background. For the time period that we used the black one it held up well, but we didn't have it very long. When we bought the metallic blue one the stones were in fantastic shape but the cast iron coloring was a little rusty from being in someones basement. So we got a can of spray paint from Woodstock and I refinished the cast iron. The color blended well and went on easy. I did that a couple of years ago and it is holding up great. A little dusty from not using lately. (We installed a wood boiler in January.) As a side note, when my husband was moving the stove outdoors so that I could repaint it, he broke a couple of the legs. The new ones that we got from Woodstock matched perfectly.

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Thanks for the note on serviceability of the paint. I was concerned about how difficult it would be to touch it up. I kind of like the grey stove, but was concerned about the hold up of the color.

I would love to do a large raised hearth. There is northing better than sitting around the stove. My installation wont quite support that, but that would be my choice!

Todd said:

Welcome and congrats on the stove. There are many internet suppliers of liners, Hart's Heart, Rockford Chimney, and a member of this forum Magnaflex makes great products. I'm betting your flue tiles are 7x11 od like mine and prolly 6.5x10.5 id which makes a 6" liner just about impossible to get down unless you bust out the old tiles or ovalize the liner. You also need to inspect the old tiles and if there are any gaps between or cracked tiles the new liner will require insulation. There are a couple companies that make an ovalized insulated liner that I've seen posted here before but can't remember the names. Navigating around the damper can require cutting out or removing the damper because most damper throats are less than 6" wide. Might be wise to have a certified chimney sweep come out and inspect the chimney and give you some recommendations.

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Thanks Todd. The house was built 7ish years ago. I know it was build with a "standard 7x11" but that might be OD. Ugh! I'll get up there this weekend and check it out. The damper is opening it 6.5" x 23' on an angle. I can see daylight right up the chimney from there and clay liner. I've only used the fireplace once or twice and that was several years ago, so it's very clean. I think I could ovalize the liner and come right down through the damper without any problems. Of course, the damper latch is right in the middle, so I may have to go off to one side.

I've run out of time this morning, but I'll try to take a few pictures and post them here to get your (and other's) take on my situation.

Thanks again, North

brogsie said:

Me too.
I picked up my fireview and new chimney on the last day of the sale. What a great company. Everybody was super nice and couldn't be more helpful. Got a mini tour of the place. Got to see a new stove in development. It was all hooked up to computers and fans. He said there may be a viewing glass for the cat. It will be a new larger size. I think he said 75,000 BTU.
Can,t wait to install my new stove in the fall. I got the Fireview with metal gray trim with the matching stove pipe.

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Brogsie, Glad to see another Eastern MA Fireview owner! Thought I was the only one going out on a limb and buying one of these on the sale!?! Are you shipping it or picking it up?

Semipro said:

North,
Good choice. Woodstocks are very nice. I wish one would work for our installation.

I just lined our flue with rigid and you don't need flex to make turns at the bottom. You can use adjustable elbows and adjustable length sections of rigid pipe (one section slides within another). I spent quite a while reviewing online vendors and ultimately bought from Hart's Hearth and had a very good experience with them. I used rigid because I liked the idea of having a smooth inner surface for cleaning. Remember to make allowances for how you will clean your flue out although you probably won't have a lot of creosote buildup with that Woodstock cat.

Good luck.

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Semipro, thanks for the note on Hart's. Tried to call a couple of times today, but they must have been out. Will try again over the next day or two to see what they say. Did you insulate?

Highbeam said:

Why do you want to use a liner? I wouldn't recommend anybody actually build a new masonry chimney but if you already have one then they aren't terribly bad. Is the 11x7 too large for woodstock? If it is nearly new and in good condition (for a masonry) then I would just hook up and use it.

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HighBeam, I was told that lining the masonry chimney was code from this type of install. I also figured I would get a better draft. My brother has a VC Cat stove set up with with an exterior masonry chimney that he installed 4-5 years ago. He didn't line it and it works fine, but he did say on warmer days, it doesn't' draw as well.

I talked to a couple of liner companies today. Chimneylinerdepot.com sells Flex King Pro that is pretty thick at .014. They suggested going with 5.5in and insulating it. Cost of the complete Flex King Pro was about $700. Their standard flex was about $400. Also called Rockford Chimney. They wanted $1000 without insulation for 6in/.005 flex. Prices really seem to vary widely, and there are lots of opinions.

North