Woodstock soapstone wood stove seemingly small loading door.
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Absolutely not! It can be an amazing show.
This is sort of funny now but when we first started using the Fireview, we put in wood for the night and was watching the flames. I engaged the cat and when you do that, the flame changes immediately. Well, it had a pretty flame but suddenly it was as if the flame lifted right up off the wood and then like it came to the glass and about 1/4 of the top of the glass showed this rolling flame like I had never seen. Wow! Then I started wondering if this really was supposed to happen. The stove top thermometer (came with the stove) started climbing. When it got to 600 I started worrying just a little. At 650 I was really getting concerned. It finally topped out around 680 and soon started dropping rather slowly. It certainly concentrated my attention! So then, I started looking forward to getting this pretty flame.
Then there is the opposite where turning it down low at night and getting up during the night and finding no flame. But yet the house was really warm. Weird. Then there are the times you turn the draft low and get just a little flame. It will go that way for a while and then suddenly burst into that beautiful fire show. Nope, you won't sacrifice that good show with a Fireview. I can't speak for the Keystone but Todd loves them and the cat is more visible on the Keystone. It is also a smaller stove and we much prefer the looks of the Fireview.
This is sort of funny now but when we first started using the Fireview, we put in wood for the night and was watching the flames. I engaged the cat and when you do that, the flame changes immediately. Well, it had a pretty flame but suddenly it was as if the flame lifted right up off the wood and then like it came to the glass and about 1/4 of the top of the glass showed this rolling flame like I had never seen. Wow! Then I started wondering if this really was supposed to happen. The stove top thermometer (came with the stove) started climbing. When it got to 600 I started worrying just a little. At 650 I was really getting concerned. It finally topped out around 680 and soon started dropping rather slowly. It certainly concentrated my attention! So then, I started looking forward to getting this pretty flame.
Then there is the opposite where turning it down low at night and getting up during the night and finding no flame. But yet the house was really warm. Weird. Then there are the times you turn the draft low and get just a little flame. It will go that way for a while and then suddenly burst into that beautiful fire show. Nope, you won't sacrifice that good show with a Fireview. I can't speak for the Keystone but Todd loves them and the cat is more visible on the Keystone. It is also a smaller stove and we much prefer the looks of the Fireview.
I'm with you on the looks but was hoping for an ash pan.Guess i could sacrifice that much.I know just what ya mean by that kind of fire.It happens when the oxygen supply is way down so to speak. It is nice to watch.
Well Nh would be a nice ride. Might go down this summer to their open house or whatever you say they have.
I have a Shelburne and love it...great light show and plenty of heat for 800+ square feet. No problems loading splits 18-20" inches long. I never use the ash pan...just scoop out the ashes and go. I consider the lack of a cat to be a plus. Very simple operation.
Bub381 said:
The Keystone has a great ash pan system which is one of the main reasons I changed out my Fireview. People say they don't really need them but I have found no matter how careful you are scooping out ash you will eventually bump your shovel and spill some or the hot ash takes to the air after you dump them in the bucket.
I was told by someone at Woodstock that they will be working on some new options for the Fireview and one option is an ash pan, so maybe it would be worth the wait? I don't know how long it will be but he said after they finish the new stove.
I have the new Fireview with stainless cat. It seems to be working great for me. I have not got to run it as much as I would like because it was Feburary before I got the heater. I have not cleaned the cat yet and it appears to be very clean as is. I don't miss an ashpan at all. I spilled as much with a pan as I do with the shovel so its been no difference for me. I would look hard at the Woodstocks if I were you.
Bub381 said:
That would be great Bub. We are seriously considering going to an open house again and then we could even meet.
On the ash pan, as I've stated, we were a bit concerned with no ash pan as this is our first stove without one. It turns out that we actually like it better without the ash pan. As for emptying the ashes, I've posted on this forum many, many times about emptying ashes and how it does not take any special skill and that there is absolutely no need of making a mess. That includes dust in the air. It just does not need to happen....if you do it right.
The ash holder is another thing that we ended up getting whereas we always used to use just a small bucket. With the ash holder it really works great on the Fireview as the height is perfect so you can get the lip of the holder right up to the bottom of the firebox door.
Ash holder
The cleanliness doesn't get to me it's the keeping the live coals and working the ash out through them that gets me. We always had a stove that you could take the ash door odd and work the stove poker up through the holes to get the ash out and the stove would purrr. An old Montgomery Ward i believe.Just don't want to have to restart stove every clean out, just need a big enough firebox to move them aside while doing the cleanout i guess.
Bub, there is no way we'd let the stove go out just to empty ashes. It really is simple. We just use the poker and slide the coals one way and then take out some of the ash. Then we slide the coals the other way to complete it. Then reload the stove with the remaining coals. My wife has taken over the total task of cleaning ashes and she is no way as careful as I am but it is working. She does get some coals in the ash but not much. Like I stated, we worried about it but it turned into a non-issue.
No problem with the door size loading my Woodstock Keystone. Kind of wish the firebox was a bit bigger.
Bill
Bill
Bub381 said:
Backwoods Savage said:
Really nice through the big window of the Keystone.
snowleopard (and maybe BeGreen) empty the ashes through the big front door, which the Woodstocks don't have. That would seem to give you plenty of room the get the pan into the stove and make it easier to avoid dust escaping...
I have looked the loading door over and it being 8 by 10 it should be fine.Just wanna get a good look at 1 to get the picture ya know.
Bub381 said:
You might want to have a look-see at the Keystone or the new Woodstock stove they are working on. Both have ash pans. The Keystone's ash pan is VERY good. No need to let the fire/embers go out to get the ashes into the pan. Read some of Todd's posts on the Fireview vs Keystone. From his descriptions, they sound similar in output and useful loads of splits.
Good luck,
Bill
I have studied every stove i could find. I have spent more than a month doing so but where would i find Todd's posts on the 2.
The easiest thing is to click on his name and view his posts. He only in the last few months changed out his Fireview for the Keystone - interesting reading.
I never would have thought the Keystone could go toe to toe with the Fireview, but based on Todd's observations and loading the Keystone full vs the Fireview 3/4 full, he is burning the same load.
My house is poorly insulated if it has any in the walls. Drafty is the rule around here. When it is really cold, the Keystone cranks out some serious heat - much of which I am loosing throught the walls. For my new addition, I have bought an Englander 30 - which is double the firebox sixe the Keystone. It will be interesting to see how they compare, not just in terms of heat output, but also cat vs non-cat burn style and how clean the chimney is when it's tiem to clean it.
Hands down, the Keystone is one of the best looking stoves on the market and very well made. After we get over the $$$$'s shock of this addition construction, we may swap out the Englander for another stove. I looked at Dutchwest cat stoves, PE summit classic and T series and of course another Woodstock. I also like the Hearthstone stoves and think their porceleon coated stoves are the best looking stoves on the market - but nothing hurtful on the eyes with the Keystone.
Good luck,
Bill
I never would have thought the Keystone could go toe to toe with the Fireview, but based on Todd's observations and loading the Keystone full vs the Fireview 3/4 full, he is burning the same load.
My house is poorly insulated if it has any in the walls. Drafty is the rule around here. When it is really cold, the Keystone cranks out some serious heat - much of which I am loosing throught the walls. For my new addition, I have bought an Englander 30 - which is double the firebox sixe the Keystone. It will be interesting to see how they compare, not just in terms of heat output, but also cat vs non-cat burn style and how clean the chimney is when it's tiem to clean it.
Hands down, the Keystone is one of the best looking stoves on the market and very well made. After we get over the $$$$'s shock of this addition construction, we may swap out the Englander for another stove. I looked at Dutchwest cat stoves, PE summit classic and T series and of course another Woodstock. I also like the Hearthstone stoves and think their porceleon coated stoves are the best looking stoves on the market - but nothing hurtful on the eyes with the Keystone.
Good luck,
Bill
I believe Todd does state that the Keystone give a bit less than the Fireview and we also have to remember that Todd has 2 stoves and not 1.
Anyone ever notice how long these threads get when someone says their having a problem with their soapstone stove?
wkpoor said:
wkpoor, that should be a big plus to Woodstock owners and potential owners. If a problem arises, we attempt to find the fix and share things that work or fixes for any problems. I will many times also contact Woodstock to ask their opinion on various things that pop up in some threads and they are great in answering or maybe I'm just lucky to have a good contact there at Woodstock who has been in this business many, many years (not all with Woodstock either).
In addition, last fall when we finally got to their factory I was able to ask some questions that have popped up on here and I was able to ask several different folks about the same questions. Yes, I went right out and talked to some of the good folks who actually put these things together and also talked to the plant foreman along with the customer service reps. I even got to talk to the owner and later even talked with his wife. We had a grand time.
Bub381 said:
Hey Bub,
Here's my take on the dif between the two stoves. BTU difference is listed at about 10,000 difference but that is burning at max where most people burn their stoves at a low to medium rate so the higher BTU number doesn't make much difference unless you need to fire the stove hot all the time and if you do you probably need a bigger stove. Weight wise there is only a 35lb difference, not much imo. Looking at them side by side the Fireview looks bigger only length wise since it has shorter legs. The Keystone has larger glass and seems to throw a little more radiant heat off the front.
The Fireview usable fire box is 1.8 cu ft, the Keystone is 1.4. The Fireview will hold a little more wood and produce a little more BTU's but usually you have a layer of ash around an inch or so deep so your cutting down that 1.8 box size if you keep a couple days of ash in there. The Keystone has the slotted ash grate in the bottom which allows the ash to drop down out of the way and you can load full every time. Loading both stoves with similar sized loads produce the same heat and burn times in my experience.
My house is 2000 sq ft and I have a stove on each level. My basement installed Keystone can heat the whole house to my comfort level (above 70) with outside high temps in the teens and 20's. If the temps dip below that or if I get strong winds I fire up the other stove to help out. The Fireview worked out fine for me but I really like the Keystone better and a situation arose where I got a good price on selling the Fireview and Woodstock had a refurb Keystone available for cheap so I went for it.
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