Progress Hybrid Questions

[Beek]

Thanks folks for the wealth of information on this site.
I've been reading awhile, but still have two questions.

1: Will the secondary combustion in a PH cause the combuster to last longer by lessening its load?
Is it the catalyzing of smoke that wears out a combuster?

2: Is the left door of a stove on the left as you face the stove, or is it the proper left, as in the left door of a car?

Thanks!

 

[rideau]

The catalytic combuster from Woodstock costs $125.00 The combuster in my previous stove I had to replace after 5 years, and that was a pre-stainless steel combuster. The New stainless steel combuster is supposed to endure flames better than the old combusters. Direct flame hitting the combuster in a runaway fire or an overfired stove, and the burnig of wet or dirty wood are the two things that have the greatest negative effect on a combuster's life. HOWEVER, who cares about a replacement cycle that exceeds three years? You save so much in wood (cats are in general about 72 % efficient, secondary combustion stoves about 63 %, so they burn9% more of the wood = 1/7th more efficeint=>14% more efficient. At three cords a year, you are burning way less wood than the $25 per year cost of your combuster. And the Progress Hybrid tests out at 87.1% efficient, a whopping 38% more efficient than secondary combustion stoves. Fly ash can clog a combuster and temporarily reduce its efficiency, but that can be brushed, blown or vacuumed out. One should check the combuster after burning the first cord. If it is clean, one can probably wait a bit longer before checking it next time., If any of the honeycomb chambers are clogged, check it a bit sooner the next time..maybe after 2/3 cords.

The left or right handedness of the door refers to the door as you look at it from the room. So if I am looking at the glass front of the stove, a left handed door opens on my left as I look at the glass. Hope that helps. By the way, the folks at Woodstock are great, and wouldn't mind at all if you called them with questions like this. They'll have good answers to any questions you have about their stoves, and are wonderfully helpful, whether or not you are a customer.

Hope this helps.

y the way, I bought a Firevie on 2004, and the cost of a combuster hasn't increased over the years. You are not going to see a crazy escalation in their cost, The cost of mintaining a Woodstock stove is trivial. They are well built. Maintainence/gasket rplacement kits are inexpensive, and excellent instructions are provided.

 

[Beek]

Thanks for the quick answer rideau.

I've got a PH on order with the left door option and just had a little midnight panic attack about which left is left.

I'm looking forward to the Cat efficiency, and hauling a little less wood.
Great to hear all the good reports about Woodstock.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum Beek.

Yes, the reports on Woodstock are true and it is a pleasure dealing with the folks there. For what it's worth, we now have the Fireview and burn only half the wood we used to with the old Ashley stove. Yes, we like the cat stove. We did replace the ceramic cat this fall with the new SS cat and find it lights off much quicker. For cleaning, we clean our cat sometime during mid-winter and again during the annual summer cleaning. When we do there is barely anything on it and we just brush it with an old paint brush. This takes 2-5 minutes maximum time and is very easy.

 

[mliiiwit]

Direct flame hitting the combuster in a runaway fire or an overfired stove, and the burnig of wet or dirty wood are the two things that have the greatest negative effect on a combuster's life.

Rideau - what is considered "dirty wood"? I haven't heard the term before.

 

[rideau]

OK-I typed a response to this earlier. Don't know where it went. We are advised to burn only "clean dry " wood with the cat. Opposite of " clean dry" = "wet dirty", hence my use of the term "dirty wood". I believe "dirty" wood is wood with soil, earth, dirt, composted wood in it..and wood that is getting punky. At least that is how I interpret the term. If wood has partially decomposed, stage beyond pithy or punky is nice rich compost...I see that in hollow logs that are great wood around the hollow. Clean the composted innards out well before burning. Also sometimes earth in/on wood where trees have toppled. I suppose opposite of "clean" would also include painted, varnished or any treated wood, which one wouid not be apt to describe as "dirty"...so perhaps "contaminated" is a better word, but sounds a lot worse than a little bit of dirt.....