Fireview Installed (Update 12/7)

[Backwoods Savage]

Steve, I'm not certain simply because we've never tried to get much heat from our stove at this time of the year. We had it to 500 last week but no need to get any hotter. Also, we never load our stove at this time of the year. However, I do believe that it definitely will be easier to get the higher temperatures and a lot quicker once it gets cold. Also, once it gets cold you will have a better bed of coals which will help bring those temperatures up. I would not be concerned over it in the least.

 

[Flatbedford]

That's pretty much what Jamie at Woodstock told me. He told me to check with you too!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Don't go stretching it now Steve. lol Hey, maybe that big wind that is coming this weekend will blow in some cold temperatures finally. Time will tell.

 

[Flatbedford]

He did! He said that I should ask you or Todd.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Geeze, we're getting a bad name up there. lol I'll maybe have to straighten those guys up. Somehow, I do hope to get up there to their facility not only to see the stoves being built but also to meet some of the nice people.

(Ask Todd, he's the pro.)

 

[Flatbedford]

It finally happened. We had to turn on the heat at about 5am today it was 60 °F in the bedroom. This was the first cold night here in lower NY. It was about 26 °F overnight. We were out all day so I left the stove with a full load and the air at about .5. When we got home around 8 pm the stove was at about 300 °F stovetop. I reloaded and left the air wide open with the cat bypassed. At about 300 stovetop I engaged the cat and set the air around 1 hoping to get some extra heat to warm up the place. After about 45 minutes it was up to 600 +. I set the air at about .75 and it went down to about 550. I fell asleep around 10:30 and woke up to a balmy 60 at about 5am. After turning on the heat I went downstairs to find and almost empty stove at about 250. I reloaded and went back to bed for an hour or so. I guess I messed something up because I didn't expect to run out of heat overnight. I am a little disappointed. I'm burning Cherry that was cut in August '08 and split this spring. I don't have a moisture meter, but this wood is well seasoned. It burns clean and hot with no sizzling. I guess I have to mix in some more of my Locust to keep up with the colder weather and get the house warmer before night time.

Under what conditions will I get the most heat for the longest? With the air way down around .5 and no visible flame, or with the air around 1 and some flames. I know that actual setting numbers will vary from setup to setup, what I am curious about is what the fire should look like to get the most heat for longest burn.
Remember that this is our first year with this thing and every time the weather changes, it is the first time for me. I'm sure that the draftiness of my older house isn't helping things any.

 

[Highbeam]

You didn't say how warm the house was when you went to bed, this would tell us the drop over those night hours. How big is your house again? You can only get so many btus out of that firebox and you needed more that night. This is why we want WS to make a bigger stove.

In your situation I would stay up and watch the 11 o'clock news, maybe some johnny (leno, red head, or whoever is running that show these days) and reloaded before bed. Going to sleep with a full firebox is key. I would then not be to sour to wake up to a 60 degree bedroom since it was operator error by not being home to preheat the hosue for the overnight.

We were at 21 degrees and blowing hard outside last night. House dropped from 78 to 71 overnight. I would not have been shocked to drop from 68 to 61 overnight if I had been out all day and not preheating the house.

 

[Flatbedford]

I think I just plain old dropped the ball with a combination of not getting the house warm enough during the day and not making sure the stove was fully loaded before going to sleep. We usually stay up much later, but I was pooped last night. I guess I just wanted to complain.
My house is about 1800 ft ² and I have been able to get the whole place warm at 38 °F. I guess I need a little more of a running start when its colder out. I'll get this new-fangled thing figured out eventually. The central heat probably needed the exercise anyway.

 

[Slow1]

I hear you... We are in our first cold snap here too. Last night I did load up fully but simply set the air too low. Stove cruised until I woke up this morning but I found too much coals/wood left over and house wasn't as warm as I would have liked. I should have given it more air and let it burn hotter rather than set it back as low as I did. Was nice having great starting point for this morning (10 hrs after feeding) but I would rather have had those BTUs in the house.

I probably should turn the backup heat on and set it low just in case but I'm stubborn and want to not have any oil burned...

 

[Flatbedford]

I probably should turn the backup heat on and set it low just in case but I'm stubborn and want to not have any oil burned...

That's what I was trying to do, but Mrs. Flatbedford wasn't very happy about the 60 °F bedroom this morning. I think I'll go around and the thermostats at 63 or so. I got this far without heat so I can't complain too much.

 

[Highbeam]

An electric blanket or mattress pad is a wonderful thing.

Your only mistake was not getting a running start at the cold night. Wood heat is great but you need to be home to keep the stove running.

 

[Flatbedford]

Only problem the electric blanket is that you can't take it to the bathroom with you in the morning.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, I was doing the 12 hour reload schedule with the temps in the 30-40's and now it's getting colder with highs in the 20's so I changed to a 3 times per day reload schedule. I'm burning a little hotter with the air set at about .75 instead of .5 so I don't have too many coals when it's time to reload. My 1800 sq ft is staying a toasty 80 in the basement and about 75 upstairs.

 

[Flatbedford]

Todd,
When you burn at .75 are there flames or is it just doing the smoldering coal thing? Does look like your avatar at .75?

 

[Todd]

Yes, my avatar pic was at around .75 about 1 hour after reload. I always engage at #1, let it go for about 15 minutes then turn it down to .75 and there are good flames at first then they start to die off after about an hour but continue with the ghostly bursts for another hour or so. If you want more heat you need red coals and flames in the box.

Every setup can be different tho, so my .75 may be 1 for you or vise versa.

 

[Highbeam]

You guys talk about 0.75 and 0.5 and 1 as being easily selectable. Is the air control that precise? Meaning, is there a long distance between 0.5 and 0.75 or are we just barely nudging a little lever between barely open and nearly closed?

 

[Todd]

You guys talk about 0.75 and 0.5 and 1 as being easily selectable. Is the air control that precise? Meaning, is there a long distance between 0.5 and 0.75 or are we just barely nudging a little lever between barely open and nearly closed?

There are engraved numbers 0,1,2,3,4 and they are about 3/4" between each number. Most people run their stoves between .5 and 1, I put an extra line half way between 0 and 1 to get a better idea of where i'm at and also painted them white for better visibility

 

[Flatbedford]

I realize the numbers may vary, that's why I asked about the picture. Thanks.

 

[Slow1]

I also appreciate the reference pictures as well as discussion of how things look for different burning conditions. I'm getting really good heating of my house, clean glass, good burn times (less when turned up, longer when turned down of course). However I still don't get really high surface temps. I'm thinking I should pull the cook stones off for a while and see if perhaps they are dampening the temperatures a bit. I tend to run with temps around 400-450 peak on the surface (middle left of the right stone much like the picture in the manual shows). I've crossed over 500 once but I think that was pre-cook stones. I'd hate to take them off even for a few days though as I am constantly putting pots/pans on the stove now for one reason or another - preheating, drying cast iron, etc....

 

[dreezon]

Yeah, I was doing the 12 hour reload schedule with the temps in the 30-40's and now it's getting colder with highs in the 20's so I changed to a 3 times per day reload schedule. I'm burning a little hotter with the air set at about .75 instead of .5 so I don't have too many coals when it's time to reload. My 1800 sq ft is staying a toasty 80 in the basement and about 75 upstairs.

Todd, is your house well insulated? I'm a little confounded. I've been running my fireview for a few weeks now. I get about 8 hours of actual heating out of a load, max, and during the last hour or two the temp gets down low enough that it's really only heating the room it's in. And my house is not staying nearly as warm as yours. Some of my wood may not be optimally seasoned, but I don't think it's too far off. Also, I'm burning mostly hickory and locust, a bit of osage orange and mulberry too—mostly very dense woods. I need to get a moisture meter, but I really think my wood is pretty dry.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, I was doing the 12 hour reload schedule with the temps in the 30-40's and now it's getting colder with highs in the 20's so I changed to a 3 times per day reload schedule. I'm burning a little hotter with the air set at about .75 instead of .5 so I don't have too many coals when it's time to reload. My 1800 sq ft is staying a toasty 80 in the basement and about 75 upstairs.

Todd, is your house well insulated? I'm a little confounded. I've been running my fireview for a few weeks now. I get about 8 hours of actual heating out of a load, max, and during the last hour or two the temp gets down low enough that it's really only heating the room it's in. And my house is not staying nearly as warm as yours. Some of my wood may not be optimally seasoned, but I don't think it's too far off. Also, I'm burning mostly hickory and locust, a bit of osage orange and mulberry too—mostly very dense woods. I need to get a moisture meter, but I really think my wood is pretty dry.

My house is 2x4 construction, but has new windows, extra insulation in the attic and basement walls. I think I have the house pretty tight now. Firewood is 2 year old Oak and Black Locust. I found dense woods need a little more air. Try engaging at about 1.5 for about 20 minutes then turn it down from there til you get lazy flame and keep some red in the coals.

 

[fire_man]

Yeah, I was doing the 12 hour reload schedule with the temps in the 30-40's and now it's getting colder with highs in the 20's so I changed to a 3 times per day reload schedule. I'm burning a little hotter with the air set at about .75 instead of .5 so I don't have too many coals when it's time to reload. My 1800 sq ft is staying a toasty 80 in the basement and about 75 upstairs.

Todd, is your house well insulated? I'm a little confounded. I've been running my fireview for a few weeks now. I get about 8 hours of actual heating out of a load, max, and during the last hour or two the temp gets down low enough that it's really only heating the room it's in. And my house is not staying nearly as warm as yours. Some of my wood may not be optimally seasoned, but I don't think it's too far off. Also, I'm burning mostly hickory and locust, a bit of osage orange and mulberry too—mostly very dense woods. I need to get a moisture meter, but I really think my wood is pretty dry.

I have a Fireview, 2100 Sqft Colonial, 2x4 construction,average insulation. Outside Temps have been low of 26 and High of 35. The room the stove is in keeps around 65 degrees, the upstairs farthest from stove is about 59 degrees - furnace has not run yet but house is a little chilly. The windows are not great - very drafty. We load the stove fully at 8 Pm, 1/2 full at 4am, fully at 8am and half again at 3pm. This works out to 3 full loads in 24 hours but I think 3 full loadings would heat the house better except we can't keep on a perfect 8 hr reload schedule since nobody is around in the middle of the day. I am also amazed at Todd's house size and great indoor temperatures. I burn mostly birch and beech. I am planning to replace windows next year and hope the house temps get higher. I also have some oak waiting for later in the winter - maybe that will help.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, I was doing the 12 hour reload schedule with the temps in the 30-40's and now it's getting colder with highs in the 20's so I changed to a 3 times per day reload schedule. I'm burning a little hotter with the air set at about .75 instead of .5 so I don't have too many coals when it's time to reload. My 1800 sq ft is staying a toasty 80 in the basement and about 75 upstairs.

Todd, is your house well insulated? I'm a little confounded. I've been running my fireview for a few weeks now. I get about 8 hours of actual heating out of a load, max, and during the last hour or two the temp gets down low enough that it's really only heating the room it's in. And my house is not staying nearly as warm as yours. Some of my wood may not be optimally seasoned, but I don't think it's too far off. Also, I'm burning mostly hickory and locust, a bit of osage orange and mulberry too—mostly very dense woods. I need to get a moisture meter, but I really think my wood is pretty dry.

I have a Fireview, 2100 Sqft Colonial, 2x4 construction,average insulation. Outside Temps have been low of 26 and High of 35. The room the stove is in keeps around 65 degrees, the upstairs farthest from stove is about 59 degrees - furnace has not run yet but house is a little chilly. The windows are not great - very drafty. We load the stove fully at 8 Pm, 1/2 full at 4am, fully at 8am and half again at 3pm. This works out to 3 full loads in 24 hours but I think 3 full loadings would heat the house better except we can't keep on a perfect 8 hr reload schedule since nobody is around in the middle of the day. I am also amazed at Todd's house size and great indoor temperatures. I burn mostly birch and beech. I am planning to replace windows next year and hope the house temps get higher. I also have some oak waiting for later in the winter - maybe that will help.

I house temps went up some and held better with the new windows and extra attic insulation I did 2 years ago. This year I had my exposed basement concrete block wall injected with foam insulation and along with the 1" foam board on the inside basement walls the basement seem warmer, but it hasn't been super cold yet. The real test will be soon as we just went to a Blizzard warning for tonight and tomorrow with temps dipping below zero Thursday.

 

[cstrail]

This link is to a video of my fireview. I was burning a mix of ash and soft maple in this video, air control set between .5 and .75. That is where I usually run mine too like Todd. This was taken about a week ago. As it gets colder I will switch my firewood to ash and oak. the soft maple just burns up way too fast. But it is fun to watch.

http://qik.ly/swBt

 

[Todd]

Nice video cstrail.

I think many cat stove owners don't like to give up their long burns once the shoulder season is over, but you have no other choice than to burn more wood with a little more air when the winter temps hit. Even with 3 loadings per day I'm only going through 12-15 splits.