Adjust temperature of Fireview.

[Ravenvalor]

Hi Folks it's me again:


I am still trying to figure out which size Woodstock to buy and where to place it.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if it is possible to adjust the temperature on the Fireview? My room is so small I am afraid that it will blow us off of the couch which will be 4' directly in front of the stove.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jim, I've answered that in a PM.

Basically, you adjust by the amount of wood in the stove because once that cat. kicks in, it gives heat. What I didn't tell you is that the Fireview has an adjustment with 4 numbers. 4 being full open. After about 10 minutes we almost always have our draft set barely open at all. Way less than number 1. That is why we use wood to adjust the temp of the stove. We can run the stovetop from 250-650 degrees depending on what type of wood and how much we put in it. It is very easily done.

 

[Risser09]

I'm in the midst of installing my Keystone in my basement and it looks sooooo small and lonely, but I have been assured by everyone that it will easily heat my basement and first floor, which is what I intended upon purchasing.

 

[begreen]

Risser, can you link me to the recommendation thread? I seem to remember you having a nice large home, but don't remember seeing a thread on the actual stove recommendations. Normally I really try to avoid recommending basement heating for upstairs and usually recommend going about 1 size over for north of the Mason Dixon line. Maybe I missed this one?

 

[Todd]

I'm in the midst of installing my Keystone in my basement and it looks sooooo small and lonely, but I have been assured by everyone that it will easily heat my basement and first floor, which is what I intended upon purchasing.

How many total sq ft are you trying to heat? The Keystone is on the small side for a stove. I was thinking Keystone to heat my 1800 sq ft with a basement install a few years ago and Woodstock told me the Fireview would be a better fit since I was trying to heat the whole house from a basement install. The Keystone is a great stove, but may be a bit undersized unless you have a small well insulated home.

 

[Todd]

Hi Folks it's me again:


I am still trying to figure out which size Woodstock to buy and where to place it.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if it is possible to adjust the temperature on the Fireview? My room is so small I am afraid that it will blow us off of the couch which will be 4' directly in front of the stove.

Thanks,
Jim

Backwoods is right on as usual.

 

[Risser09]

Well, I'm only going to be heating 1300 sq. ft. with most of it traveling to my first floor. I have a very well insulated house with new replacement windows that went in last year. The second floor of the house has fantastic insulation. I am also going to be insulating my basement walls.

 

[begreen]

Ravenator, I don't think having a soapstone stove in the living room is going to be a big issue. The drawing posted is a bit out of scale. The living room appears to be about 17 ft x 12 ft. If so, how does the couch get to be only 4 ft away from the stove? Is the couch placed several feet into the room? Can you post a picture of where you want to place the stove so we can see if there are other issues? So far this looks like a good location.

In the meantime, before you tear down the hallway wall, you can use a fan in the DR side blowing toward the stove to help circulate the heat.

FWIW, our living room is not much larger and we have a much bigger stove. True, we have an open floor plan, but if that is your future plan (opening up the living room) then best get the stove you want now and not have to buy again. I agree with Todd and think this you'll be fine as long as the recommended clearances are honored.

What town are you near and at what altitude? Given the mild climate I'm sticking with the Keystone/Palladian recommendation unless you are up more in the hills of western NC.

 

[Ravenvalor]

Great advice from everyone. If you have any electrical questions I'm all ears.

We are located near Burlington, NC which is right smack in the middle of the state, mild winters.
I would be satisfied with the Keystone but was thinking about the fireview because we have an office and bathroom off of the other side of the kitchen which desperately needs some heat.
I can probably rotate the stove away from the couch and toward the love seat in order to offer some relief for those on the couch.
The fan sounds like a good idea. I was actually thinking about installing 2 - 16" x 16" passive grills in the living room hall wall right behind the stove. One grill will be 6" above the floor and the other grill will be 6" below the ceiling. Does this sound like a good idea?
Maybe run the furnace fan in order to circulate the heat throughout the house better?
We have replacement windows and insulation in the attic and crawlspace. No insulation in the walls though.
There is another thread which has a schematic of my house. It is called "Fireview in small room ok". I will try to transfer it to this thread.

Once again, Thanks for the help. I was a little discouraged about the wall issue, now it might not be an issue.

Jim

 

[begreen]

Ok, first order of business might be insulating the walls. The result, lower heating and cooling bills regardless of fuel. Opening up the floorplan is much more appealing to me than adding vents in the walls. But I like open spaces in small places. If you think future and insulate the walls plus open up the floorplan, then the smaller Woodstock stoves will easily handle the place.

 

[Ravenvalor]

This is a layout of our house. Thanks for the help uploading this you guys.

Jim

 

[begreen]

Skip the wall vents. Here's maybe how I'd revise.

 

[Ravenvalor]

BeGreen:
How would you revise if you were in my shoes?
Thanks,
Jim

 

[begreen]

I'm not sure what the question is here Jim. Revise what? The floorplan, stove location, stove size?

Location seems fine. Floorplan could use some opening up. Stove size is debatable, but I'm leaning toward the smaller Woodstock due to house size and temperate climate.

You'll have to give me a bit more info on the budget. And there will be a mess for a few days. I am looking at this from how can we make this work the best kind of perspective. You have to look at it and decide whether that is practical from a budget and time perspective.

 

[Ravenvalor]

BeGreen:

My apologys, I thought the message you posted yesterday at 10AM mentioned something about making revisions.
I feel pretty good about everything but the stove size. I am leaning towards the Fireview because of it's long burn times and appearance and that it might pump heat into the office and bath on the other side of the kitchen. If I find it to be too hot, can I reduce the amount of wood I load into it?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[begreen]

Perhaps it would be good to post a new thread asking Keystone and Palladian owners what kind of burn times they are seeing? Check out Sandor's posts. He has a Keystone in VA.

Colin (NY Soapstone) or Todd can tell you what to expect for continuous low heat burning in the Fireview from his experiences in fall and spring. My opinion is that if you go with the Fireview opening up the living room may be more of a necessity. We have folks heating 2000-3000 sq ft homes in New York and New England with the Fireview.

 

[Todd]

Buy the stove you like the looks of best. You can always load less wood with the bigger stove and you really don't have to worry about smouldering smokey fires with a cat stove, so you can burn it long and slow. You also have the extra capacity if you need it. Hey, if it doesn't work out or you want to switch it out for the Keystone, Woodstock has that 6 month money back guarantee.

 

[Ravenvalor]

Awesome, you do not think I have to worry about creosote buildup or other problems?

Thanks

 

[Todd]

Awesome, you do not think I have to worry about creosote buildup or other problems?

Thanks

As long as you burn dry wood, have a good draft, and operate the stove correctly, you should have no problems.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Awesome, you do not think I have to worry about creosote buildup or other problems?

Thanks

After burning all of last winter, we got maybe a cup of soot out of our chimney! With this being a new chimney last summer, it has yet to be cleaned except for knocking that little bit of soot off that was near the top. The chimney cap has never been cleaned either. As Todd states, burn good seasoned wood with a good cat. stove and you won't have problems.

Just imagine what we go through in the early fall and late spring with our heating here further north of you. We have to burn smaller fires else we have to open the whole house to cool off. If we can do that without the soot and creosote problem, you should be okay in your climate.

 

[Ravenvalor]

Backwoods and Pyro:
I am almost committed on the Fireview. I am probably going to order it on Monday. I have emailed the salesman a question wanting to know what was the minimum operating temp for the Keystone while the catalytic is combusting.
We think we can enjoy the large capactiy and beauty of the Fireview with all of the benefits of a Keystone. Personally, I find the Fireview the most attractive stove Woodstock offers and I cannot wait to use it this winter. I will let you know what his reply is.

Thanks for the help,
Jim

 

[Todd]

Either stove requires the cat to light off at about 500 degrees or roughly 250 stove top temp. They will send you a thermometer for the stove top. What is the going price of the Fireview? They usually have a sale towards the end of summer and you could save a few hundred bucks. Last year most people bought them for $2400 including shipping. Basically they pay for shipping when they have a sale so it's about $300. This year could be different tho since the high demand.

 

[Ravenvalor]

Pyro:
The Fireview is selling for $2719.00 minus $400.00 to $2319.00 plus $150.00 for shipping totals out to $2469.00. I am also getting the chimney package and the rear heat shield which will also tack on another $963.00 to $3432.00. We are also getting some boot warmers. We are going to build the hearth ourselves. The raised hearth looks nice but the flush hearth looks like it might keep the heat closer to the floor.

Thanks,