Going with a Keystone

[SteveKG]

After heating with wood exclusively since 1974, I have finally decided to go with a Woodstock Keystone, our first cat stove. They are backordered, so I don't expect it til December, maybe. But I'm looking forward to learning how to manage the stove. Mainly I am hoping to use less wood, all of which I cut down and up and split myself. We will still be using the [Aga] Heartland Artisan kitchen range and the Rais Wittus [our former kitchen oven] out in the greenhouse. But the old Shenandoah is going out the door. Works perfectly, has been a wonderful stove, but it uses soooo much wood.....

Anyhow, looking forward to joining the cat burners and getting with the program.

 

[Todd]

Welcome to the Woodstock cult. You will love the stove.

 

[Highbeam]

The keystone is a nice small stove with long burn times. It is an actual cat stove with none of this hybrid jive to lower your burn times. This stove can easily make 12 hours which is remarkable for such a small firebox.

The Shenandoah sounds like a large old smoke dragon. Will the quite keystone make enough heat to do your job?

 

[SteveKG]

Our house is heated by two stoves, one near each end. At the kitchen end, it is the Heartland. The other end has been taken care of by the Shenandoah. The Shenandoah is a barrel-shaped top-loader and can heat a small or large space. You just control the fire and it will do the trick. Most people would probably call it a smoke dragon, though we have no smokey issues and, in fact, in the current installation, since 1985, I have never had to clean the Selkirk chimney. Not once. So the quality of the burn and the space-heating ability is fine. It just used lots of wood. Relatively.

I am convinced the Keystone will do the job. I considered the Fireview, and it would have worked, too. But I just don't think we need the larger stove. Plus, money is a factor. Plus, all our stoves have and have had grates and ash pans. Very, very easy to remove ash. Even the Aga kitchen range. The Keystone having an ash pan was also a factor. [I know, lots of burners don't like ash pans, at least reading posts here on the forum, but I really prefer them.]

In any case, the area which will be the responsibility of the Keystone to heat is roughly 700 sq. ft. Should do the job. Or, I am hoping so.

I live in a very steeply mountainous area, and pretty much all my wood cutting [we use about 3 cords a year or a bit less, including all our baking in the range] involves wrestling trees and rounds from slopes which can exceed 45 degrees in some places. You now, cut down the trees, cut into rounds, set the rounds rolling down the slopes into creekbeds, getting the rounds up out of the creekbeds to the truck. It can be a major physical chore. There are no places, really, where I can cut up some trees and back the truck up to them and load. Major job. It is just how the terrain is here. So, if I can cut down on the wood we need, I am ahead.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Congratulations on the new stove Steve. Although we have the Fireview, by the sounds of the space you want to heat you should do really well. As for the fuel, I hope you do as well as we did with a 50% reduction in the amount of wood we need to keep us warm.

 

[firefighterjake]

I had a Shenandoah many years ago . . . but it sounds a bit different from the one you describe. This one looked like a fancy Ashley -- steel stove with a jacket around it. Loaded from the side. Put out a lot of heat . . . and ate a lot of wood. Way over-sized for the ram shackle camp I was living in at the time -- ended up killing my then girlfriend (now wife's) goldfish since it would get unbelievably hot in there.

 

[Sprinter]

Welcome to the Woodstock cult

Ha! I always suspected that's what is was.

 

[SteveKG]

I bought this one in the fall of 1974. It is top-loading, is lined 2/3 of the way up inside with firebrick, and has a grate and ash area below the grate. A few years later, I saw a brochure for Shenandoahs and they had changed the design to have a door on the front and the top was completely flat with no lid. I believe that I paid $160 for mine, new, back then, and it has heated my cabin back then and my home now for 39 years. Pretty good for $160. But like we both know, they use a lot of wood compared with the newer offerings.

 

[Todd 2]

Hi Steve, in a 700 ft area you should really like the cat low burn side of that stove. Nice big view also. Post some pics when you get that rock installed.

 

[Gasass]

Heating 700 sq ft with the Keystone will be no problem.

This is our first season with ours and we love it so far!

 

[rideau]

Your Keystone will keep you happy and warm all winter!

 

[Woody Stover]

the old Shenandoah uses soooo much wood.....
I am convinced the Keystone will do the job. I considered the Fireview, and it would have worked, too. But I just don't think we need the larger stove. Plus, all our stoves have and have had grates and ash pans. Very, very easy to remove ash. The Keystone having an ash pan was also a factor. I know, lots of burners don't like ash pans, at least reading posts here on the forum, but I really prefer them.
In any case, the area which will be the responsibility of the Keystone to heat is roughly 700 sq. ft. Should do the job. Or, I am hoping so.

As far as 'managing the stove,' not much to it. Very easy to run.
I first bought the Keystone, then began questioning weather it could handle this place when we finally get a real winter, which we haven't for a couple years. So I grabbed an Fv, just to be sure. Slow recovery of room temp had me doubting the Ks, but my wood was less than perfect, and I now have a better appreciation of the effect of the thermal mass in these walls. Can't let room temp drop too far or I'll have to wait a while for the stove to re-heat the walls. That turned out to be the case with the Fv as well, but it had a little more power to counter with. Both great stoves, but having addressed some air leaks, etc, and having resolved to keep the wall temp up, I'm satisfied that the Ks will handle this place (720 main room, 270 bedroom) in any event. So I have more sq.ft. to heat, but a more moderate climate than you do. I'm sure the Ks will do the job in your situation. I'm already seeing increased output with the dry wood I have now, and I'm more comfortable letting it run out a little bit, instead of being overly concerned about keep the stove temp real low.
Sold the Fv to my BIL but since it's not far away, I can still play with it. He's already astonished at how much less wood it requires.
Since the Dutchwest days, I've been hooked on ash pans, like you seem to be. A vastly superior way IMO to handle a necessary evil of burning wood, provided the ash disposal system of the stove is good. I only have to remove half the ash from the stove, since I'm not shoveling a bunch of hot coals/embers out of the stove every time. I can dump a load of ash in about a minute, usually without putting on a glove since the pan is not hot. None of this "push the coals to one side, shovel it out, push the coals back again, shovel that side out, try not to create any dust when transferring from the shovel to the pan/bucket, etc." It's not really all that bad...and if you like the attributes of a certain stove but it doesn't have a good ash solution, you just deal with it. Luckily for me, a stove I happen to like has it all. I'll just repeat what all us Keystone and Fireview folks always say....."You are gonna love that stove." begreen brought the Ks to my attention when I first posted here concerning which stove I should get, and I'm sure glad he did.

The keystone is a nice small stove with long burn times. This stove can easily make 12 hours which is remarkable for such a small firebox.

When I get some of this high-octane wood dry, my burn times should rival yours. Effectively doubles my fire box size. Out in the mountains, though, SteveKG's access to the longest-burning species is no doubt limited....

Welcome to the Woodstock cult.

Ha! I always suspected that's what is was.

Attending, in the words of ddddddden, the 'Stone Temple of the Cat.'

 

[Woody Stover]

Pretty nimble little rascal, too. I just re-loaded with Red Maple on twelve-hour coals from a Red Maple/Black Cherry load. Without firing hard at all, I had 'er lit off and loping along at an air setting of 1 with some nice flames in the box, in fifteen minutes.

And it's a stove designed to see you into your senior years. You can see what the cat is doing from across the room, sitting on the couch; No bending over and getting dizzy.