3600 sq ft home, zone 5, 1100sq feet windows. Fireview couldn't heat it. Progress does. On a woodlot 75 feet above, 200 feet back from a miles long lake on the south shore facing NNW.
Most remarkable points about the stove: Combustion complete. 8 full days burning, not enough ash yet to have to remove any. (No lip, no ashpan). Produces significantly more heat from same amount of wood versus Fireview. Easier to start than fireview. Requires less monitoring than Fireview. HOME IS WARM> Hearth is cooler. Clearances and top venting allows stove to be set further back on pad (fireview pad) leaving 12+ inches in front of window and wood floor in front of hearth is MUCH cooler than with fireview. Temperature remains at a steady reasonable level for far longer than fireview.
My problem: Top venting on Progress removes a 90 degree bend, and my previously excellent draft has become an exceptional draft.
I'm going to fiddle with some woodstock suggestions, but may need to install a section of excel pipe with a damper embedded. I burn maple (well seasoned 12 inch splits from big tree), beech and ironwood (logs to 10 inch, well seasoned, unsplit). Have filled firebox usually 1/3 full up to 1/2 full. Fire starts almost immediately, stovetop temperature on starting from cold is 250 degrees within 10-15 minutes. Secondaries start at this point, I engage cat and close damper to zero. Stove burns gases for a long time, then settles down to a slower burn. Stovetop temperature does not exceed 420 degrees, is usually about 375. Maintains this temperture for about 6-7 hours. Then gradually cools as wood to coals to ashes. When only ash remaining, stove temp is still 250. Room temp usually goes from 72 to 68. Stove relights immedately--as soon as door is closed--with a new load of wood. Christmas Day cooked my turkey on top of the stove...put two soapstone slabs the size of a fireview top slab on either side of the Progress top, leaving a few inches in the center uncovered with a thermometer on the uncovered slab. Put my old Fireview thermometer on the "fireview" slab. Put my 25 pound turkey in a heavy magnalite covered roasting pan, put it on the stove , built an ironwood fire, and left it. It cooked perfectly in seven hours...the best turkey I ever had. Thoroughly cooked but moist and tender. Temp on slab remained at 420, on fireview slab immediately under pan at 350, for the entire 7 hour cooking time.
I have not completely filled the firebox, because (a) I haven't needed the heat and (b) I'm burning with the damper completely closed and am a bit concerned about building a bigger fire, since I have no way of damping a fire if it gets too hot. With this stove at 400 and the same amount of wood (or less) as Fireview, the house is 7-10 degrees warmer on first floor, much warmer 2nd and 3rd. I actually didn't wear socks on my hardwood floor one day...no heat in the basement and the floors were warm. Usually noticably cooler on landing betwen 1st and 2nd floor, but I didn't notice a temperature change going from 1st to 3rd floor with the Progress Hybrid. Woodstock has some suggestions for trying to get a longer slower burn, which I will be trying. Meanwhile, I am very happy with what I have and could live with the 8-9 hour burns I am getting. This stove is far easier to tend than the fireview and I feel much safer. The fireview took much longer to "reach equilibrium" and required attention for a good half hour with each new load of wood. Any distraction in the process and one could quickly have an outrageous fire with soaring stovetop temperatures, which took a good twenty minutes to half hour to subsequently manage. This never happens with the PH. It starts very quickly and one never need be distracted in the engaging process. Once the fire is set, it stays at such a consistent temperture for so long it is no worry. Then again,as my son says, there isn't anything I can do if the stove does get too hot because the damper is already closed all the way, so I might as well not worry....so we don't build big fires. But I'm not sure we will unless it is 30 below out. We're getting lots of level heat out of this fabulous stove. I used to think the Fireview was remarkable. I cannot believe the difference in the two stoves. This is easier to use, uses less wood for the same heat by a long shot, produces much more heat, heats the floor in front of the window less, keeps the window beautifully clean, and has a huge viewing window with a magnificent fire for viewing. Incidentally, I feel it is safer because it keeps the room warm enough that people and pets don't get too close to it, a problem I had at the end of the Fireview cycle when the house cooled considerably. I ordered without the lip because I do all my cooking on the stove (essentially) and don't want a hot piece of iron sticking out where I stand...a consideration for anyone who plans to do much cooking on their stove. Decided against a plinth for the same reason (and I didn't want to wait):
I think that mass of hot cast iron at my feet is asking for trouble, and, as I get older, I have a concern about hot cast iron under the loading door. I love this stove.
Most remarkable points about the stove: Combustion complete. 8 full days burning, not enough ash yet to have to remove any. (No lip, no ashpan). Produces significantly more heat from same amount of wood versus Fireview. Easier to start than fireview. Requires less monitoring than Fireview. HOME IS WARM> Hearth is cooler. Clearances and top venting allows stove to be set further back on pad (fireview pad) leaving 12+ inches in front of window and wood floor in front of hearth is MUCH cooler than with fireview. Temperature remains at a steady reasonable level for far longer than fireview.
My problem: Top venting on Progress removes a 90 degree bend, and my previously excellent draft has become an exceptional draft.
I'm going to fiddle with some woodstock suggestions, but may need to install a section of excel pipe with a damper embedded. I burn maple (well seasoned 12 inch splits from big tree), beech and ironwood (logs to 10 inch, well seasoned, unsplit). Have filled firebox usually 1/3 full up to 1/2 full. Fire starts almost immediately, stovetop temperature on starting from cold is 250 degrees within 10-15 minutes. Secondaries start at this point, I engage cat and close damper to zero. Stove burns gases for a long time, then settles down to a slower burn. Stovetop temperature does not exceed 420 degrees, is usually about 375. Maintains this temperture for about 6-7 hours. Then gradually cools as wood to coals to ashes. When only ash remaining, stove temp is still 250. Room temp usually goes from 72 to 68. Stove relights immedately--as soon as door is closed--with a new load of wood. Christmas Day cooked my turkey on top of the stove...put two soapstone slabs the size of a fireview top slab on either side of the Progress top, leaving a few inches in the center uncovered with a thermometer on the uncovered slab. Put my old Fireview thermometer on the "fireview" slab. Put my 25 pound turkey in a heavy magnalite covered roasting pan, put it on the stove , built an ironwood fire, and left it. It cooked perfectly in seven hours...the best turkey I ever had. Thoroughly cooked but moist and tender. Temp on slab remained at 420, on fireview slab immediately under pan at 350, for the entire 7 hour cooking time.
I have not completely filled the firebox, because (a) I haven't needed the heat and (b) I'm burning with the damper completely closed and am a bit concerned about building a bigger fire, since I have no way of damping a fire if it gets too hot. With this stove at 400 and the same amount of wood (or less) as Fireview, the house is 7-10 degrees warmer on first floor, much warmer 2nd and 3rd. I actually didn't wear socks on my hardwood floor one day...no heat in the basement and the floors were warm. Usually noticably cooler on landing betwen 1st and 2nd floor, but I didn't notice a temperature change going from 1st to 3rd floor with the Progress Hybrid. Woodstock has some suggestions for trying to get a longer slower burn, which I will be trying. Meanwhile, I am very happy with what I have and could live with the 8-9 hour burns I am getting. This stove is far easier to tend than the fireview and I feel much safer. The fireview took much longer to "reach equilibrium" and required attention for a good half hour with each new load of wood. Any distraction in the process and one could quickly have an outrageous fire with soaring stovetop temperatures, which took a good twenty minutes to half hour to subsequently manage. This never happens with the PH. It starts very quickly and one never need be distracted in the engaging process. Once the fire is set, it stays at such a consistent temperture for so long it is no worry. Then again,as my son says, there isn't anything I can do if the stove does get too hot because the damper is already closed all the way, so I might as well not worry....so we don't build big fires. But I'm not sure we will unless it is 30 below out. We're getting lots of level heat out of this fabulous stove. I used to think the Fireview was remarkable. I cannot believe the difference in the two stoves. This is easier to use, uses less wood for the same heat by a long shot, produces much more heat, heats the floor in front of the window less, keeps the window beautifully clean, and has a huge viewing window with a magnificent fire for viewing. Incidentally, I feel it is safer because it keeps the room warm enough that people and pets don't get too close to it, a problem I had at the end of the Fireview cycle when the house cooled considerably. I ordered without the lip because I do all my cooking on the stove (essentially) and don't want a hot piece of iron sticking out where I stand...a consideration for anyone who plans to do much cooking on their stove. Decided against a plinth for the same reason (and I didn't want to wait):
I think that mass of hot cast iron at my feet is asking for trouble, and, as I get older, I have a concern about hot cast iron under the loading door. I love this stove.