Can you show me your Wiseway setup

[JKC]

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Hi,

I have been watching the Wiseway stove for awhile now to put in a 800 square foot shop. I will be burning hardwood pellets in the stove. Has anyone had success with this yet. I have heard that the 2014 handles the hardwood pellets a little better and by adjusting the burn basket gaps. I see that the 2014 requires a class a chimney. Can anybody that has had success let me know there setup is as far as model, burn basket and chimney. If you have any other information please let me know.Thank you.

 

[bags]

Plug in Wiseway in the search bar here. I was interested in these but I have just read about people not getting good results with them. I think they are neat but neat and highly functional are two different things. I do not own one so I can not really give a good opinion nor assessment.

Many people heat shops and work spaces with wood burning stoves which might be something to look into along with other pellet stoves or a good used one. Wiseways are not real cheap in price and for the money they cost there are many options. I would buy one if they could remedy several issues. Seems all I have seen in real world use is not very good. The Youtube videos are on there with good reviews or positive thoughts are from the owner of them I believe.

If you are a tinker master with a high tolerance for frustration it may work for you..... Again, I am only going by my research and what I have read. I picked up a slightly used Harman PC45 for $1,600 bucks. Looks and runs like a new stove after a thorough cleaning and door rope replacements. I am very happy with that decision. I have patience but when cold or ticked they run thin.

There has been someone on here recently that bought a Wiseway that posted along with other comments in the past. People that give reviews here I have found to be accurate and honest so take them as you see.

 

[Spupilup]

You probably saw my posts on the Wiseway Google group.

I bought my GW1949 back in May. I bought five ton of Okanagan pellets because, from all I read, I knew they would help me get the best from the stove. I also went with Ventis 4" vent pipe and was very mindful of advice about treating the Wiseway like a woodstove that burned pellets (pay attention to the draft). All I can say is I am very pleased with the stoves performance.

My advice is to search for softwood pellets. You'll be happy you did. I don't know where you're located but I can't believe there isn't a dealer within a reasonable distance offering at least one brand of softwood pellets.

As far as tinkering is concerned, I burned a variety of woodstoves (Waterford, Hearthstone and Vermont) over the last 28 years. The Wiseway so much easier, overall, than any of my old stoves. Sure, if you want a Harmon that relies on electricity to work, you can find a 'set and forget' stove. For me, there's something not quite right about having to rely on electricity to burn a wood product to produce heat. That's why I went with the Wiseway and feel good about my decision.

 

[Spupilup]

As far as my set up goes, as mentioned, I have the GW1949. I went with a Ventus 3" to 4" increaser right out of the top of the stove. From there I went up 2 feet to a 45 degree elbow. At that point I ran 6 feet of vent pipe out through a 12" DuraTech thimble. At the end of the 6 foot run there's another 45 degree elbow. After the 45 degree elbow is another 3 feet of straight pipe with a VacuStack on top.

I was advised that each 90 degree turn robs the stove of about 100 degrees of heat. In an effort to maximize draft, rather than installing two 90 degree elbows I went with just 2 45 degree elbows. At startup, my Wiseway will go from 0 to 400 degrees in less than 8 minutes. I can get it up to 650 degrees in about 15 minutes. I like to run it hot for a few minutes before I dial it back to a lower temperature.

With the stove set up the way it is, burning Okanagan Platinums, I can get the stove back down to a comfortable 450-500 degrees. It will burn steady in that range for hours. Before I turn in for the night I makd sure there are plenty of pellets in the hopper. I take a nail puller and use it to help maximize the flow of pellets down the chute from the hopper into the primary burn basket. I also like to use a 12" drill bit to clean out the burn basket. Then I pull out the secondary burn tray. I also like to empty the lower ash tray as I find when it's empty (or low) the stove breaths a little better.

All of that tinkering takes about two or three minutes. After that, the stove burns all night and in the morning temperatures will be between 400-450. Another few minutes of tinkering in the morning and I can have the stove back up to over 600 degrees. That's nothing compared with what it would take to keep my woodstoves running all night.

 

[Spupilup]

Regarding the burn basket, the way mine came, from Wiseway, with the damper open, temperatures were still well over 500 degrees. The stove was burning too hot. So, over the next few days of burning the Platinums, I experimented with slowly narrowing the gaps in the basket. I finally reached a point where I was happy with the temperatures I was getting and the rate I was burning pellets.

I decided to experiment with a number of hardwood pellets just to see what would happen. I tried everything from cheap pellets from Tractor Supply and Home Depot to quality pellets from Barefoot. I guess I tried seven or eight brands. The results were all pretty much the same.

I could get the initial temperatures in the stove up to what I was getting with the Platinums. The problem was maintaining temperatures. What would happen is that unlike the softwood pellets that burned quickly and went to ash, hardwood pellets would burn and clog the primary burn basket. When the pellets fell into the secondary tray they were like embers in the bottom of a woodstove. The buildup tended to cut off air and cause the temperature to drop.

The tinkering I mentioned I would do with the Platinums seemed to be needed more regularly with the hardwood pellets in an effort to keep the temperature up. Overnight, without some attention, the stove temperature would drop down to 250-300 degrees. That's problematic because you start getting creosote build up at those temperatures.

I found, on more than one occasion, after burning hardwood pellets overnight, that it would be difficult to remove the primary burn tray due to the creosote build up. That's crazy! After just 24 hours of burning hardwood pellets, I'd need to pull out the primary tray and chip away at the creosote. Sometimes the burn basket wouldn't even come out of the tray without chipping away at creosote. It was at that point that I ended my experiment with hardwood and went back to the Platinums.

 

[Spupilup]

One last thing. A bag of Platinums, consistently burning at around 450 degrees will last about 20 hours. I am very satisfied with that burn rate. I plan on ordering a couple of Ecofan 800's after the holidays and expect they will go s long way towards increasing the stove's efficiency.