F55 Owners, Step Inside

[7acres]

Congtratulations, countrychick! The F55 has really been a problem-free stove. I don't see threads getting started because someone's having an issue. And I follow the posts on this forum continually. I'm looking forward to seeing pics of your F55 installed with a fire in it!

 

[countrychick]

Hi 7 acres! Thank you! Yes I am thrilled we chose it and can't wait to have it delivered and installed! Now to find wood! =) We don't have trees on our property...they were all taken before we bought this property. =( So I will have to buy wood this year and maybe will go to the woods to get some this spring or summer for the next year.

 

[begreen]

Caveat emptor. The odds of getting well seasoned wood at this time of the year are very low. Shop very carefully and expect to pay a premium for truly dry wood. As an alternative or supplement you might want to get some Tractor Supply compressed wood bricks or find a local seller of Northern Idaho Energy Logs or HomeFire's Prest-Logs as a reliable source of fuel. They will need a dry storage location like a garage.

How close are you to Portland?
http://firewoodportland.com/

 

[countrychick]

Thank you begreen for this info! We are about 45 min from portland. We have options in the metro area to get kiln dried wood. Not sure if that is important or not. Do you think that link you gave me would be a good source for wood? That wouldn't be very far for us to drive. We have a mazda truck that has a covered top so could bring some home in our truck. Not sure how much we could get in it with the top on....but probably a decent amount.

I want to start working on getting our wood....we have a covered porch and could store some there for now until my husband gets the wood storage lean to built.

What do you guys use for storing your wood? I'd love to see photos of people's wood storage areas and how they store wood.....maybe there are other threads for that here....

 

[begreen]

You'll need at least a cord if not two. I would have it delivered. A small pickup can only hold a 2-3 weeks worth. Their doug fir price is about average for an urban area. Go to the Wood Shed forum here and search for "wood shed". You will see lots of different sheds.

 

[countrychick]

My new f55 installed today!
We did our first burn tonight. Part of the top is dull now. Do you see the photo of the top? Right side is dull and left side is shiny a bit. Isn't it supposed to stay shiny on top?

Did we do something wrong?

 

[countrychick]

Begreen I never responded to your post above. Sorry about that. Thanks! We are going to get wood delivered this wk we hope. We have some wood to hold us over for a while. But we need to get more.

 

[7acres]

My new f55 installed today!
We did our first burn tonight. Part of the top is dull now. Do you see the photo of the top? Right side is dull and left side is shiny a bit. Isn't it supposed to stay shiny on top?

Did we do something wrong?

Nothing wrong. Mine lost its shine during the break in process. Over time the paint shade will become uniform.

That's a great looking hearth!

 

[countrychick]

Hi 7 acres!
Thank you! This puts my mind at ease! We were worried a bit. It helps knowing what happened to other people who are f55 owners.
So thank you very much! This helps!!
Thanks for taking the time to post during this holiday time.

 

[john84]

I finally spent some time burning my F55 and I have to say I'm pretty impressed compared to my VC. I've been burning N-S and only 1/2 loads. Still a little bit nervous to fill it up.

What is the opinions on the blower? Any one have it and regret buying it?

 

[7acres]

I don't regret having the blower. I had no experience heating a home with a wood stove when we took the plunge. I looked at buying it as stacking the deck in my favor for a successful first season.

I like the ability to push the heat out into the house rapidly; not just radiate. I only need to use it a handful of times a season. Mostly when we've been out of the house for the day and come back to a cold house. I get her loaded up and ripping, dial the air back to 50/50 and the house warms up faster than if we didn't have the fan. And it runs very quietly. Also, visually it blends in nicely. You just don't notice it.

If the price of the blower blows your budget don't get it. You'll be fine. But if you get the blower I think you'll enjoy the option to take advantage of it when you want to.

 

[john84]

7acres, that is good information I think in the next few weeks I'll buy the blower.

When you load it up full what temp do you usually start backing it down?

 

[countrychick]

We LOVE our F55! We have had two power outages just today! Windy.... Snow headed our way again. The F55 kept us nice a warm today. We do not have a blower. We have a almost 2800 sq ft house. Granted not all the house gets toasty warm when the circulating fan isn't on. But we just turn on our circulating fan on the furnace...can't hear it blow and it slowly circulates the heat around the house. It works pretty perfectly! So we haven't needed the blower. We have a great room floor plan and our house stays really pretty warm even in the bedrms. lol. I had to have my hubby turn down the stove the other night I was too hot! lol.

So highly recommend this stove.....we have been very very pleased and love the nice sized glass it has. It is a beautiful stove!

 

[Texas123]

We LOVE our F55! We have had two power outages just today! Windy.... Snow headed our way again. The F55 kept us nice a warm today. We do not have a blower. We have a almost 2800 sq ft house. Granted not all the house gets toasty warm when the circulating fan isn't on. But we just turn on our circulating fan on the furnace...can't hear it blow and it slowly circulates the heat around the house. It works pretty perfectly! So we haven't needed the blower. We have a great room floor plan and our house stays really pretty warm even in the bedrms. lol. I had to have my hubby turn down the stove the other night I was too hot! lol.

So highly recommend this stove.....we have been very very pleased and love the nice sized glass it has. It is a beautiful stove!

We have done this for years, used the wood stove and ran only the circulating fan to spread the heat. In this fashion we have to fill us the propane tank only once a year.

 

[7acres]

7acres, that is good information I think in the next few weeks I'll buy the blower.

When you load it up full what temp do you usually start backing it down?

Back when I was checking the griddle temp with an IR gun I considered 575-650F a good threshold to start closing it down. If you let it get in that range you will be in good shape to engage the secondaries. But this year I haven't gotten the IR gun out once. I mainly go off the visuals. If the whole load in the firebox is engulfed in flame that's proof enough that it's been ripping long enough to be hot enough to start closing off primary air.

If you ever worry about it getting too hot (dim red hot in the back) the fan is good insurance in that department. It has happened to me two times. Simply turn the fan on (and back off the primary air) and everything is under control again.

It's never a good thing when the wife asks, "Is the wood stove supposed to glow red hot?"

 

[rosem]

Picked up my F55 last weekend. Very impressed with the build quality. I looked at a lot of stove but bought this sight unseen (locally couldn't find a F55 in stock anywhere).


I took the firebricks out, along with taking off the door, cast iron side plates, top plate, baffle and flue collar. After all that my 61 year old Dad and I were able to carry it into the house.

Now I get to just look at it until I get it hooked up this summer. Then look at it some more until next fall.

 

[7acres]

Ooh, very handsome! Very clean looking hearth. We’re still loving ours! Zero issues whatsoever. My daughter got knocked into the stove by one of her brothers and burnt her little arm pretty bad. So I’m glad to see the fence you’ve got there. Wish we had the room for one.

 

[rosem]

Ooh, very handsome! Very clean looking hearth. We’re still loving ours! Zero issues whatsoever. My daughter got knocked into the stove by one of her brothers and burnt her little arm pretty bad. So I’m glad to see the fence you’ve got there. Wish we had the room for one.

Thanks!

Yeah, we have a fearless 1.5 year old and a 3 year old that likes to beat up on him.

The fence is up already to set precedent. Otherwise I'm sure I would find a Minnie Mouse shoved in it. Haha.

 

[rosem]

@7acres How many square feet are you heating and what kind of temps do you maintain in that area?

Curious how well it will heat our 2,500 sq/ft house. It's decently insulated.

 

[7acres]

We currently heat 1800sq/ft. We regularly keep the house toasty between 71-75°F. About once a month we get some really cold weather and panic. Get the stove really going in the morning. House gets up to 85° and my wife opens up the windows to cool the place down.

 

[rosem]

Have to say I love this stove so far. We have been burning for a week testing it out. It's such a game changer with this cold wet weather. Nothing better than coming in to get warm and dry off.

Location seems ideal so far with a fairly even heat throughout (+/- 10F stove room to get corners of house) unless it's just ripping.

 

[7acres]

Rosem, your cat seems to be loving the F55 too!

 

[MR. GLO]

Here's another question for everyone - how do you typically operate the air control on your stove? No hardwoods for me - I burn dry (<20%) larch and fir. From a cold start, I will run the air wide open for probably 45min - 1hr and get the stove up to around 500F, then I back off to about 2/3 open for about half an hour, then I back off to about 1/3 and let her cruise. If I have a bed of coals, then it all happens a lot quicker. I haven't had any luck operating my stove with less than 1/3 air. If I go below that point it seems I always choke the fire too much and I start to get visible smoke out of my stack. I can get 8 hrs useful heat out of my stove the way it currently runs, but I'm wondering if there might be ways to get a couple more hours out of it with a different approach ...

same here i get smoke. even if i can get it to 1/3 with no smoke.....it will smoke eventually..30 min to 1.5 hours later....