Woodstock Soapstone Progress Hybrid Stove

I had a lot of puffing at first as well. I believe that my change in habits to more slowly reduce the air and to keep the air open a crack, especially when it is warmer out (lower draft days), has pretty much eliminated them for me. Mind you I never had any really violent ones like I've heard described here (i.e. never heard them out of the room or had pipes rattle etc).

I tried to run the PH like I did the FV at first - that was a mistake. While the PH is very forgiving/adjustable on the air settings, I don't think I can just 'heat it up and slam it down to where I want it after engaging the cat' like I did with the FV. I have found that engaging the cat, then waiting a few minutes before reducing the air about 1/2 way to final destination, then wait a few more minutes and then moving it down again to final setting works much better. I almost always run with the air fully closed with the PH which is weird in a way - I 'set the burn temp' by letting it run up hotter before closing the air down fully. Where I get caught doing this during the day if the temps rise significantly and I'm trying to run very low temps - then I have to remember to not shut the air all the way.

Will check out that thread. thanks.... going to try leaving air open a bit more....

Yep, it was a pretty good rattle! Makes sense, we are starving the fire, and the gases build up, and a spark comes along and"Pooooooooooof"!

You had it occur with the Firelight 12, or do you also have a PH?

I think I've gotten a bit lazy, when I first started I was slowly bringing the air down in increments, lately I've been charing the wood and then shutting it down in one swoop. I'll have to go back to a gradual reduction of air in a few steps and see how it goes....

I've had 2-3 major backpuffs that scared the *&%@_(@ out of my alleged dog. The trick is to:

1. Make sure anti-burp hole is open between the adirons
2. Don't engage the cat too soon, make sure the flue outlet temp is north of 250F

No PH's here... I can't deal with the side loading in my location. One of my two Firelight 12's has this problem, the other apparently not. The one that does it is on a shorter chimney (roughly 13 - 15 feet), and the one that does not do it is on a taller chimney 27'ish feet. I'd be interested in knowing the chimney heights of the folks who have this problem with the PH, as I suspect that's a big factor.

In my particular case, two stoves of the same model, but the one with the problem is early in the model series, and the one that does not is late in the model series. Perhaps there's some small difference in their design or history, but I do suspect the chimney height is the dominant variable.

As fire_man stated, delaying cat engagement is a big factor. If you engage before the wood is completely charred over, the likelihood of backpuff seems much higher. I've been recently running the stove up to 500'ish with the air wide open, then reducing the air to 50% to let it burn longer for complete charring without overheating the stove and flue, before I engage the cat.

1. Where is the "anit-burp" hole? and what is it? Never noticed anything in there...?
2. I always wait for 250 - 300.

Mine is 15', maybe 16' from top of sove to cap on chimney, straight up.

The "anti-burp" hole is located between the andirons near the base of the stove (inside the firebox). It is designed to feed a small amount of air directly to the base of the fire. ~1/4" in diameter.

Yes. Although I do scoop the ashes away from that annoyingly placed hole, I always forget to mention it. Just do it instinctively at this point. Part of raking the coals forward.

The hole can be hard to see. When the fire is going, if the hole is clear, you can see flame coming up from the hole.

I haven't had many back puffs. Have had a few. The first was because I wasn't familiar with the stove. The others have been my fault. I am capable of learning. No problem with the stove design....just can't assume it is a Fireview. There is a short primary learning curve. It is easy to run.

Tall chimney.

Looks like I'm going to ave to buy my first cord if I want reasonably seasoned wood. Best deal I can find is splits cut 14"-15".

I seem to recall a discussion of short wood being undesirable, but cannot find it. Any reason to pay more for longer lengths?

Nothing wrong with except your not going to get to stuff it full unless you have some small filler chunks and uglies... I burn 12 and 14" splits with no problem. I also have some 20-22" really dry stuff I can pack in that does fine as well.

All my new stuff is being split at 18-20".

I'm still waiting for somebody to try stuffing it wit an up/down load. That is, short splits standing on end, curious how they would burn.

Like I said, I WILL make pizza in the PH! Scroll on down to post #25!
http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/recipes-for-the-progress-hybrid.94828/#post-1250459

Delicious!

Wood Fired Tandory Asparagas Chicken:

http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/recipes-for-the-progress-hybrid.94828/page-2

Come and get it fella's!