Woodstock owners - happy with stove size?

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Dennis and Rick,
Thanks for all your help!!!

Mike, you absolutely must wait until your stove reaches the right temperature before engaging that cat.
I’ve been pretty good at waiting but that time I was frustrated with waiting 30 minutes plus to get the right temp. I’m beginning to wonder if I have a bad stove top thermometer I still plan to buy a laser thermometer to check it. They recommend one for testing the temp of the spray insulation I’ll be using to insulate the joist bays prior to spraying so I’ll get multiple uses out of it.

you can see the glow if you look up though the glass rather than lifting the top and letting smoke into your basement.
Thanks for this tip. I wont have to lift the top any more Rick. I did finely see it glowing

Another big no-no is that flooring. Do not use that in a cat. stove! Again, that will ruin that cat. fast. Other than that, you wood sounds ideal.
This was hard wood flooring pieces with no coating on it is it still a no-no?

That bare cement definitely will rob heat, but your stove isn’t getting hot enough to even worry about that right now.
I’m beginning to think this is a bigger problem than I thought. The room that the stove is in is started to get a little warmer 65-70F. But even the adjacent room is still cool. To cold to comfortably sit for extended periods. I’m planning to start the insulation project this weekend and will have to update everyone on how much it helps later on, (my 2 week projects often stretch out to 2 months so it may be a while).

Also, when you loaded the stove, you waited for flame then turned down to 2 or 3. Why?
I think the manual said to do this on page 13 and it sounds like Rick got the same advice from the company
(BTW, I have the Firev and it takes me a little longer to get the stove engaged from a cold startup too. Someone from Woodstock suggested that I burn the kindling on a setting of 2 (instead of 4) to heat up the box and it seemed to work better after that.),
Also I have good draft so even at 2-3 I still get flames and correct me if I’m wrong wouldn’t to much draft only force the heat up the chimney more and result in less heat for the firebox to warm up.


From there it takes only a very few minutes to reach 400 and maybe another 10 minutes to 500 or above. If a full load, then the temperature will climb above 500. We’ve had it to around 650 tops and when that baby is at 600, you have some major great feeling heat.
The highest temp I have seen is still only about 400F stovetop and even then I can safely stand 6 inches in front of the stove for an extended time without worry about over heating the inside of my jeans (ie sterilization) like I have done with other stoves. It seems like the radiant heat is just not there.

There was a post from someone who took a picture of the flame in his Firev. I’m going to search for it and if I find it will post a link. Please watch this short video and see if you are getting anything like this flame.
I watch it I have seen this also after engaging the cat and decreasing the air to about 0.5 it is as the kids say awesome!! So other then the surface temp and lack of heat output it sounds like everything is working. I’ll take your advice and play with it some more.


One thing I noticed about your post was that the stovetop temp was below 200 when you reloaded. That’s pretty low, I’d suggest that reloads work better with a hotter stove.
Rick are you only reloading at 250F or above, It seems like I would have to be putting wood in every 4-6 hours and one of the reasons I always wanted a Firev was to go the 2-3 time a day loading. Are you reloading this much and doesn’t yours cool down overnight below this temp?

Rake those coals forward towards the glass and you won’t have that coaling problem. It will also produce a longer burn from front to back.
I should have paid more attention to the inside of the stove before I got it full of ashes but doesn’t the air come in below the glass to wash it and if so would pushing the ashes forward restrict this?

Thanks again for all your help it as been much appreciated!!!
Based on what started this post on how well your stove heats I’m still confused on how so many out there can heat an entire house and I’m still having problems heating a small basement. Maybe I was to hopeful but I was looking forward to hearing the furnace run less. It is suppose to be cold tonight -15F even colder up by Dennis. I’m sure I’ll get to listen to the propane furnace run more at $2.19 a gallon.

Best Regards!

Mike
 
loracekim said:
Rake those coals forward towards the glass and you won’t have that coaling problem. It will also produce a longer burn from front to back.
I should have paid more attention to the inside of the stove before I got it full of ashes but doesn’t the air come in below the glass to wash it and if so would pushing the ashes forward restrict this?

Thanks again for all your help it as been much appreciated!!!
Based on what started this post on how well your stove heats I’m still confused on how so many out there can heat an entire house and I’m still having problems heating a small basement. Maybe I was to hopeful but I was looking forward to hearing the furnace run less. It is suppose to be cold tonight -15F even colder up by Dennis. I’m sure I’ll get to listen to the propane furnace run more at $2.19 a gallon.

Best Regards!

Mike

The air comes from above the glass and washes down. Try and keep about 1/2 to 1 inch of ash in the firebox.

Something else to check is your flue temp. Take an external reading about 2' up from the stove collar, you should have temps around 200 when the stove is around 400. If it's much more than that you may be overdrafting and need to turn the air down more or even need a pipe damper. One problem I had when I first got the stove was the air slide was knocked off it's runner so I had less control. I didn't even notice this til the second season and I had to burn the stove very close to 0 or all the way shut off. After I fixed it I run it between .5 and 1.

I know it can be frustrating figuring out a new stove, hang in there. There are alot of good folks here that are very happy to give you a hand.
 
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