Cat or Secondary

[ecocavalier02]

looks awesome nof60. those pics are really cool. im going to make my way out that way someday.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

If you crank up some primary air then the fire show begins in front of the wood ,looks like the northern lights,very mesmerizing. Never owned a cat stove ,but this harman goes a long way on a small pile of wood.

Ahhhh, Ya see thats maybe why I have a CAT in the basement.
I look out my window upstairs and get my northern lights right there. ;-)

How far are you from Yellowknife? Wife Has some friends there.

 

[Bobbin]

I haven't used any of the new, secondary burn stoves because we've had our Woodstock Fireview since 1991. We're creeping up on our stove's 19th. "anniversary", (December 23rd.). But we took the manual's insistence on clean, seasoned wood seriously from the start and catalytic combustor replacements have been in the 5-6 yr. range. Like Dennis, we simply pop it out periodically and clean it up. I take it out on the deck, and use the blower function on the vacuum cleaner to clean it. I have never seen any "clogs" in the honeycomb.

I have been following links to secondary burn stoves since I joined this site. And I am so impressed by the range of quality, efficient, smartly engineered stoves available. I love reading about members' experiences with them. And I have to say, while I'm pretty much "all about" how the stove "looks", I think the Blaze Kings are not that bad looking. I prefer legs (the "mermaid" thing, lol) But Hiram Maxim just completed a handsome install that was very comtemporary and truly second to none. Handsome is as handsome does! and if you give yourself time to picture how you want the intall to "look" today's stove options offer boundless variety.

Battenkiller: I have loved the looks of the Woodstock Classic since we bought the Fireview in '91. I wanted the Classic then, but the good man likes to see the flames and I was, "good with that". But I was all over buying the Classic for my workroom! I love everything about it, too. It's smooth, polished, understated good-looks and the unparalleled performance of a catalytic stove. It, to me, is the epitome of "top shelf", refined elegance. It's beautiful, efficient, and it heats my workroom easily. When I am working "dancing flames" mean nothing. It's a fabulous stove; had Woodstock had something as elegant in appearance in the size range of the Keystone or Palladian I'd have been all over it!

 

[North of 60]

If you crank up some primary air then the fire show begins in front of the wood ,looks like the northern lights,very mesmerizing. Never owned a cat stove ,but this harman goes a long way on a small pile of wood.

Ahhhh, Ya see thats maybe why I have a CAT in the basement.
I look out my window upstairs and get my northern lights right there. ;-)

How far are you from Yellowknife? Wife Has some friends there.

Very far from Yellowknife. Two different worlds from here to there. I am just outside of Whitehorse in the Yukon river basin.
Yellowknife is flat and windy. We are very mountainous as we border Alaska and the coastal range.
Cheers

 

[ddddddden]

Ms. Bobbin, have you noticed any difference in the performance of the 201 and the 205 revision?

 

[VCBurner]

If you crank up some primary air then the fire show begins in front of the wood ,looks like the northern lights,very mesmerizing. Never owned a cat stove ,but this harman goes a long way on a small pile of wood.

Ahhhh, Ya see thats maybe why I have a CAT in the basement.
I look out my window upstairs and get my northern lights right there. ;-)

Awesome pictures, thank you!

To the op, I have a Cat stove, beautiful fires and great looking stove. I think. I bought it used with a used cat, maybe next year I'll buy a new cat, they only go for about $150. Correct me if I'm wrong, if I replace one every 6 years that equals to about $25/year for maintenance, is that so bad?

 

[CALJREICH]

I wanted to stay away from having to buy cat converters and I like to see the fire dance.

I'd have a cat stove with no glass to tempt me. It's a wood burner. If I ever get an EPA stove, I want the best and most efficient thing I can find. Woodstock Classic comes to mind. There are fireplace computer widgets that I can download if I want to look at a fire.

Well you could just open the door. Woodstock stoves look awesome. I might not want to look at the fire if my fire was in one of those stoves. Woodstock is having a good sale right now too.

 

[THEMAN]

One thing I am not liking about a CAT stove is that the cat may need to be serviced.

Also I like to burn a hot fire and I want to see flames through a nice big window.

I am leaning towards no cat but am still open to changing if cat is better.

This is my CAT stove and I love it. This is a small fire and you can see the secondary burn on top through the nice big window. I get long burn times that save me money and from having to go outside and bring in wood more than 1 or 2 times a day.

 

[Bobbin]

Den, I've only operated the 201. And my Classic, purchased in 2007, has the exact same controls as the Fireview 201. When other Woodstock owners post here about setting the stove at 2.0 or 1.5 I don't really know what they're talking about because I've never seen that damper control set up. So there is no way me for to make any comparison.

Overall, I've never found the stove difficult to operate efficiently. When we first purchased it we followed the directions and paid attention to the "details". As everyone else here knows, time and experience with the stove, your particular installation, and your preferred comfort zone is what really helps you operate any stove easily and to your liking.