Recently my wife and I decided we wanted to replace the FV-201 Fireview that came with the house. While this is a very nice stove, we were not huge fans of the soapstone look nor the way the controls on the loading door were setup. I figured we could sell the stove and get a decent amount of money for it since it was in nice shape.
We looked at a lot of stoves but decided our best bet was a side or top loader due to our hearth clearances and design. Being familiar with Woodstock stoves, the Absolute Steel seemed like the obvious choice. We also considered the VC Encore but the Absolute was priced much better on the 40th anniversary sale and has a larger capacity firebox. We also really liked the unique look of the stove.
Picking colors was difficult. There are so many color choices and the photos really dont do a good job showing the differences between the colors (especially the charcoal and matte black body options). In the end we went with the black figuring it would give a nice contrast to the Mahogany color we chose for the design. We are happy with the color choice, but I suspect the charcoal color would make the stove appear cleaner as it does get dirty through normal use.
Woodstock, as everyone says, was an absolute pleasure to deal with. We called to change our color choice at one point but this was no issue. The stove was ready 1.5 weeks earlier than promised which was a treat. I took the ride up to NH to pick up the stove and really enjoyed seeing the factory and showroom. I actually wish we could have gone to their open house but we were not in the market for a stove at that time.
Getting the stove installed was a chore, but my wife and I managed to get it in place ourselves. We didnt run the stove for a few weeks as I was waiting for the stove pipe to come on the slow boat (note: dont select free shipping from northlineexpress if you want something quick).
Our first few fires were low as to break in the stove and bake on the paint. Paint smell was there but not nearly as bad as I had been lead to believe, and I suspect some of that is due to us letting it sit for a few weeks. After a few fires we decided it was time to let this stove spread its wings and take off on one particularly cold night. All I have to say is WOW, this stove can throw some heat. Always having had cat stoves in the past, watching the secondaries light off for the first time was a treat, and the whole family was huddled around the stove watching the show.
I will say, as some have noted, this stove is a bit slow to take off with warmer outside temps but I theorize that some of that is due to my draft being cut by the two 90 degree turns in the exhaust path, and the fact that I have a masonry unlined 8x8 terracotta chimney combined with the somewhat restrictive path inside the stove. Now that we understand the stove we get it to take off pretty quickly, my wife particularly being the master of running this stove. Also once the outside temp gets to be under 25 the stove will take off very fast.
With the soapstone interior, this stove holds heat for a very long time. Its not uncommon for us to load it at 6PM and still have coals and a nice 68 degree temp in the house when I leave at 7AM the next morning. The ash pan system works great and with the metal cover makes no mess when transporting the ashes outside.
I am considering making one modification, which I read about in the Ideal Steel thread, which is to make a small cover-able air inlet on the ash pan door. Im not totally sold on this yet but thinking about it, mostly just to help with startup. We haven't had any issues with it coaling up yet so Im still up in the air on this.
Overall, my wife and I are very pleased with stove and would recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably priced and highly efficient EPA stove. This stove is now the centerpiece of our living room and we are constantly getting comments on how nice it is by guests. We couldn't be happier with this purchase.
We looked at a lot of stoves but decided our best bet was a side or top loader due to our hearth clearances and design. Being familiar with Woodstock stoves, the Absolute Steel seemed like the obvious choice. We also considered the VC Encore but the Absolute was priced much better on the 40th anniversary sale and has a larger capacity firebox. We also really liked the unique look of the stove.
Picking colors was difficult. There are so many color choices and the photos really dont do a good job showing the differences between the colors (especially the charcoal and matte black body options). In the end we went with the black figuring it would give a nice contrast to the Mahogany color we chose for the design. We are happy with the color choice, but I suspect the charcoal color would make the stove appear cleaner as it does get dirty through normal use.
Woodstock, as everyone says, was an absolute pleasure to deal with. We called to change our color choice at one point but this was no issue. The stove was ready 1.5 weeks earlier than promised which was a treat. I took the ride up to NH to pick up the stove and really enjoyed seeing the factory and showroom. I actually wish we could have gone to their open house but we were not in the market for a stove at that time.
Getting the stove installed was a chore, but my wife and I managed to get it in place ourselves. We didnt run the stove for a few weeks as I was waiting for the stove pipe to come on the slow boat (note: dont select free shipping from northlineexpress if you want something quick).
Our first few fires were low as to break in the stove and bake on the paint. Paint smell was there but not nearly as bad as I had been lead to believe, and I suspect some of that is due to us letting it sit for a few weeks. After a few fires we decided it was time to let this stove spread its wings and take off on one particularly cold night. All I have to say is WOW, this stove can throw some heat. Always having had cat stoves in the past, watching the secondaries light off for the first time was a treat, and the whole family was huddled around the stove watching the show.
I will say, as some have noted, this stove is a bit slow to take off with warmer outside temps but I theorize that some of that is due to my draft being cut by the two 90 degree turns in the exhaust path, and the fact that I have a masonry unlined 8x8 terracotta chimney combined with the somewhat restrictive path inside the stove. Now that we understand the stove we get it to take off pretty quickly, my wife particularly being the master of running this stove. Also once the outside temp gets to be under 25 the stove will take off very fast.
With the soapstone interior, this stove holds heat for a very long time. Its not uncommon for us to load it at 6PM and still have coals and a nice 68 degree temp in the house when I leave at 7AM the next morning. The ash pan system works great and with the metal cover makes no mess when transporting the ashes outside.
I am considering making one modification, which I read about in the Ideal Steel thread, which is to make a small cover-able air inlet on the ash pan door. Im not totally sold on this yet but thinking about it, mostly just to help with startup. We haven't had any issues with it coaling up yet so Im still up in the air on this.
Overall, my wife and I are very pleased with stove and would recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably priced and highly efficient EPA stove. This stove is now the centerpiece of our living room and we are constantly getting comments on how nice it is by guests. We couldn't be happier with this purchase.
