A question for progress hybrid owners

[NHbeechfired]

We went to the woodstock showroom yesterday and ended up placing an order for a new fireview to be ready for pick up in January. Now i am having second thoughts, I came away very impressed with the progress hybrid and as i am a bigger is better guy I'm considering giving them a call and switching the order to a progress. We are trying to heat a 2200ish square foot 2 story farm house that is reasonably well insulated. The stove will go in the kitchen and should easily heat the ground floor and we'd obviously be happy if some heat made its way upstairs to the bedrooms. The fireview is rated to heat up to 1600 square feet and should handle the ground floor fine but not much would be left over to heat the bedrooms upstairs. The guy who was helping us felt that the progress would certainly heat the whole home but it would likely drive us out of the kitchen and should we choose the progress we'd end up running it so low that we'd be causing harm to the stove. We chose the fireview and i love the style as it will fit well with the 'old timey' feel of our home but i'd really like to get as much heat as possible out of which ever stove we end up with; i don't want to leave anything on the table.

What i'd like to know is how have progress owners fared running their stoves in low fire mode for long periods of time? Could i run this stove during shoulder season with out having the catalyst plug up or otherwise damage the stove? How intense does the heat get when you are running it hard, would this stove drive you out of a good sized kitchen it you were driving it hard to heat the home during a cold snap where it stays below freezing for a week ? Any other experiences with either of these stoves would be appreciated. I'm sure I'm over thinking this but given the cost and wait time for the stove i want to get this right the first time. Thanks in advance.

 

[Highbeam]

I am having a hard time figuring out how running a cat stove low will hurt it. I run my cat stove on low 95% of the time.

2200 SF is the size of your home. 1600 is what the fireview is rated to heat and it does a great job at that but is not the right tool for the job.

 

[NHbeechfired]

the guy was saying if you run it too low the cat needs to be bypassed but that if you leave it bypassed to long or frequently that gas path gets a level of heat it wasn't designed to get and that can warp parts. Essentially he said running too low would lead to either cat problems or warpage of parts in the bypass exhaust gas path and running more in line with the stoves capability would render the kitchen too hot for regular occupation. he also intimated that the 2200 sq ft figure was under rated

 

[begreen]

The actual sq ftg that will be heated will mostly be the first floor and then not all of it if some areas are closed off by a doorway or hall. Essentially, the Fireview will heat as well as the cookstove but over a much longer time between refills.

 

[kennyp2339]

Can you draw a crude floor plan and post it? where's the stairwell in relation to the stove, is the stairwell open or closed?
If the farm house is more open airy with a central open stairwell, I'd go progress and not look back.

 

[begreen]

More information in the other thread the link of which should be added to avoid repeating questions.

 

[NHbeechfired]

attached is a quickie floor plan i did in my other thread seeking advice on stove selection. here is a link to that thread

Looking for a new stove, help me spend money!

That's a tough call, especially if the 205 is older. They used to be around the price of an Ideal Steel a decade ago, so $1K for a stove needing major work is not a bargain. As you may have noticed, this is not a great time to be shopping for bargains on stoves.

www.hearth.com

Apologies if creating a second thread is creating a problem or duplication of effort, i was specifically looking to draw in progress hybrid owners looking for their experiences with low firing rate operation

 

[barnaclebob]

5 lower leg sized splits is about the min sized fire for a progress hybrid. To get the cat to engage you need to get the stove good and hot.

The stove radiates a lot of heat and I certainly wouldnt want any stove but especially the progress hybrid in my kitchen because Id get too hot while cooking. Ours is in a 500 sq ft living room and I sometimes have to crack the door.

Another option for small fires might be to take the cat out so the hot airflow is following the correct path. But you lose a lot of efficiency if you arent getting the stove up to cat temps. Everything along the bypass route is pretty beefy cast iron so im not sure hown it would warp unless you were being stupid about your fire.

 

[begreen]

attached is a quickie floor plan i did in my other thread seeking advice on stove selection. here is a link to that thread

Looking for a new stove, help me spend money!

That's a tough call, especially if the 205 is older. They used to be around the price of an Ideal Steel a decade ago, so $1K for a stove needing major work is not a bargain. As you may have noticed, this is not a great time to be shopping for bargains on stoves.

www.hearth.com

Apologies if creating a second thread is creating a problem or duplication of effort, i was specifically looking to draw in progress hybrid owners looking for their experiences with low firing rate operation

No problem, thanks for the referring link. It helps you having to repeat explanations.

 

[NHbeechfired]

thats the kind of info i was looking for, i like both stoves the PH really impressed me as a very nice unit but that doesn't make it the right stove for me

here is a couple photos of the room where the stove will go. it will go in where the cook stove is now, the first picture shows the french doors into the adjacent family room, the second you can see the windows of the front door on the right. the front door is at the bottom of the stairs

 

[begreen]

With a fan on the floor in the entryway, blowing into the stove room, the convection will be assisted to the point of helping heat the upstairs. Otherwise, it looks like most of the heat will be in the kitchen area and a bit less in the family room.

 

[Todd]

I think the Fireviews 1600 sq ft heating is underrated as well. I heated 2100 sq ft with mine with a basement install and it did great 90% of the time. Fans will help but I feel you will be filling the progress with half loads most of the time and it may not run as well and be more finicky at times.

 

[kennyp2339]

Im looking at the ceilings, they look like there approx 8ft tall, but the lower beam blocks the heat from going into other rooms, stick with the fireview, if your to cold return it under warrantee and upgrade.

 

[NHbeechfired]

Thanks to everyone! We’ll go with the fire view , we love the style of that stove . Todd thanks for your experience with fireview, hopefully we have as good an experience as you did.

 

[NHbeechfired]

With a fan on the floor in the entryway, blowing into the stove room, the convection will be assisted to the point of helping heat the upstairs. Otherwise, it looks like most of the heat will be in the kitchen area and a bit less in the family room.

There is an unused laundry chute in the house; there’s one door just outside the kitchen and another above that in the hall outside the bedrooms . It ends in the cellar where the laundry machines used to be . I’m thinking there’s got to be a way to circulate air using this chute. I’m just not sure exactly what fan would work and which way I should blow the air.

 

[tabner]

There is an unused laundry chute in the house; there’s one door just outside the kitchen and another above that in the hall outside the bedrooms . It ends in the cellar where the laundry machines used to be . I’m thinking there’s got to be a way to circulate air using this chute. I’m just not sure exactly what fan would work and which way I should blow the air.

cheap 8" flex ducting, with an 8" temp-activated inline duct fan. pointing down. Pull cold air down the laundry shoot, and let warm air coast up the stairs.

 

[fire_man]

I definitely don't understand Woodstock's comment not to run the Progress too low or it will be damaged. My instruction manual has no such warning and the owner himself told me to close it down once it's up to temp if I want a long burn. This stove does not run very long in pure cat mode, once the firebox gets hot enough the gasses ignite.

Looking at that floor plan I do wonder if the Progress would be overkill - no sense in getting the bigger stove if you will be only doing partial loads. We heat a 22x22 foot family room that has a 10 foot wide opening into the kitchen

 

[chipsoflyin]

The PH will blow you out of there. Look at BK products, their alien tech is more controllable at low burn rates

 

[fire_man]

The PH is very controllable in the sense that the draft can be reduced super low so that it burns very slow without running away.
It's not so controllable making tiny adjustments to get a slightly faster burn. The air damper is very non linear.
WS is working on a retro air damper control which is the subject on another thread.

I've never seen a BK in action, but from what I read their slow burn is lower than the PH.

 

[Highbeam]

The PH is very controllable in the sense that the draft can be reduced super low so that it burns very slow without running away.
It's not so controllable making tiny adjustments to get a slightly faster burn. The air damper is very non linear.
WS is working on a retro air damper control which is the subject on another thread.

I've never seen a BK in action, but from what I read their slow burn is lower than the PH.

I think what @chipsoflyin means is that you can dial the BK down to a much lower and constant thermostatically controlled burn rate for a much cooler and longer burn than the PH is capable of. This is the same thing as your second sentence. The pH really excels when you need more heat.