Hello. We are new owners of the Progress Hybrid and have had it only about a week, brand new from Woodstock, with the ashpan. I've already had a BK Ashford 30 for about 2 years and love it, and very used to it so the PH is somewhat new to me. I've been reading here for quite some time on the PH, but had a few questions for PH owners, that I haven't been able to find answers on (yet), even after reading here and looking through the manual, too.
1) The stove appears to "breathe" quite a bit, meaning that even when the damper is on its lowest setting, there's still a fair amount of air flow. I try to reload when the stovetop temp drops to around 300 (to keep the cat active), then put the damper about halfway open, allow it to get going for about 10 minutes then close the damper entirely. Doing this, the stovetop temp usually tops off to around 400 to 450 and the secondaries stay on for a few hours. To me, this is more flame and hotter than I'd like, but if that's the lowest that this stove will go I do like the heat output. Does this sound normal for this stove?
2) Reloading as I mentioned above with a full load (about as much as I can fit in the firebox), with the damper on the lowest setting like this, I'm only able to get around a 7 hour burn time (burning cherry that's mostly solid with some soft / airy areas so far, will have to try other hardwoods later). I've seen others mention up to 12 hour burn times with this stove, so I'm wondering how that is accomplished or is that stretching it for this stove?
3) What is your reloading procedure (while the stove is hot/active)? Should I keep the damper open halfway until the fire gets going, or keep it closed a little further? The manual talks about setting the damper at halfway until the fire gets going but then set to 1/4 (quarter) open but that seems too much based on what I'm seeing. I'm used to the BK by opening it all the way for about 20-30 minutes before I dial it back down, but the PH seems to have quite a bit more airflow so I'm curious what others do.
Thanks for all of the help!
1) The stove appears to "breathe" quite a bit, meaning that even when the damper is on its lowest setting, there's still a fair amount of air flow. I try to reload when the stovetop temp drops to around 300 (to keep the cat active), then put the damper about halfway open, allow it to get going for about 10 minutes then close the damper entirely. Doing this, the stovetop temp usually tops off to around 400 to 450 and the secondaries stay on for a few hours. To me, this is more flame and hotter than I'd like, but if that's the lowest that this stove will go I do like the heat output. Does this sound normal for this stove?
2) Reloading as I mentioned above with a full load (about as much as I can fit in the firebox), with the damper on the lowest setting like this, I'm only able to get around a 7 hour burn time (burning cherry that's mostly solid with some soft / airy areas so far, will have to try other hardwoods later). I've seen others mention up to 12 hour burn times with this stove, so I'm wondering how that is accomplished or is that stretching it for this stove?
3) What is your reloading procedure (while the stove is hot/active)? Should I keep the damper open halfway until the fire gets going, or keep it closed a little further? The manual talks about setting the damper at halfway until the fire gets going but then set to 1/4 (quarter) open but that seems too much based on what I'm seeing. I'm used to the BK by opening it all the way for about 20-30 minutes before I dial it back down, but the PH seems to have quite a bit more airflow so I'm curious what others do.
Thanks for all of the help!
