Soon to be soapstone stove owner!!

[MAJ. Woody]

Hi all!
Well, I just ordered a woodstock Fireview yesterday and I'm trying to line up a brickmason to build my hearth and get the ball rolling.
Does anyone have this model with the heat shield? If so, what kind of clearance do they keep from the pipe to the wall?
I called today to get a spec sheet mailed, and may I say every customer service person I talked to has been very pleasant and knowledgeable.
This is going to be a new installation in a small (1500SF) and a first stove for me so its exciting. My only other experience "building fires" was almost torching the shed as a kid, in which Pop promptly beat my ass, understandably so...
Anyhow, thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Corie]

The rules with the pipe are universal regardless of the stove setup. 18" for single wall, 9" for double wall and 2" for most class A chimney pipe.


oh, and welcome to the wood burning family

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

9" for double wall? All that i have seen is 6" Or is that a local code? And congrads on your new stove.

Ryan

 

[Todd]

Congratulations,

I bought a Fireview 1 week ago. They said they are 4 weeks out on delivery. I can hardly wait!

 

[Sandor]

Congrats! and welcome to the club.

 

[Corie]

9” for double wall? All that i have seen is 6” Or is that a local code? And congrads on your new stove.

Ryan

Ha, you're right, I missed a part of that statement. What it should have said was "Most of the double-wall stovepipe allows for 6" clearance from wall combustibles and 8" from ceiling combustibles."

 

[Sundeep Arole]

Congratulations on your new stove - keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[Shane]

Many VC's require 20" clearance for Single wall, and usually an inspector will interpret and enforce the more stringent requirement.

 

[TCintheOzarks]

[Hi all!
Well, I just ordered a woodstock Fireview yesterday and I'm trying to line up a brickmason to build my hearth and get the ball rolling.
Does anyone have this model with the heat shield? If so, what kind of clearance do they keep from the pipe to the wall?
I called today to get a spec sheet mailed, and may I say every customer service person I talked to has been very pleasant and knowledgeable.
This is going to be a new installation in a small (1500SF) and a first stove for me so its exciting. My only other experience "building fires" was almost torching the shed as a kid, in which Pop promptly beat my ass, understandably so...
Anyhow, thanks in advance for any replies.


Yes I have a fireview with the heat shield on the stove and single wall pipe.My single wall pipe is 9 inches from a brick wall that is 1 inch from a combustible wall. With the stove running at 650 deg. on the surface CAT temp at 1300 deg the flue gas temp will run around 400 deg. 24 inches above the top of the stove.At this temp in the pipe you can lay your hand on the heat shield and it is just warm. The wall is what I would call room temp.The heat shield works real good.
Hope this helps..........TC

 

[MAJ. Woody]

Thanx so much for the info and the "warm" welcome, err, no pun intended.....
Hey TC, did you get the optional thermometer with your stove to get those readings?
Also, one more quick question. What other good usable options did you buy from woodstock for your stoves?
Thanks.
Happy Saturday!

 

[TCintheOzarks]

"MAJ. Woody"
Hey TC, did you get the optional thermometer with your stove to get those readings?
Also, one more quick question. What other good usable options did you buy from woodstock for your stoves?
Thanks.
Happy Saturday![/quote]


Maj Woody
Yes I bought the CAT probe and the gas flue probe thermometer.They have helped me learn how to run my Fireview to get the most heat in the quickest time. They will react a lot quicker than the surface thermometer that comes with the stove.
I also ordered 2 soapstone panels to go on the top of my stove to protect the soapstone top when we want to cook on it.
You have bought yourself a great stove that I think you will really like.
I think you said your house is 1500 sq.ft. That is about the size of mine and we heat 24/7 with our stove,it is our only source of heat.........TC

 

[Todd]

I also bought a Fireview about a week ago, and have been trying to get an answer from Woodstock about those probe thermometers. I played phone tag with them all day and couldn't get an answer. Where is the probe thermometer installed? Do they have to drill a special hole somewhere? Will they give you a probe instead of the stove top type?

 

[TCintheOzarks]

I also bought a Fireview about a week ago, and have been trying to get an answer from Woodstock about those probe thermometers. I played phone tag with them all day and couldn't get an answer. Where is the probe thermometer installed? Do they have to drill a special hole somewhere? Will they give you a probe instead of the stove top type?

I had some one else tell me that they were having a hard time getting a probe from WoodStock.
I ordered both of mine from them 2 years ago when I bought my stove.
If your owners manual is the same as mine,on page 31 top two paragraphs tell the model number and the location of the bolt that is removed to put the probe in that measures the CAT temp.

In case WoodStock does not sell probe thermometers any more you can order the same one from Condar the model number is 3CX Flue gas and it has a 6 inch probe.This will measure exiting flue gas temperatures with 1 inch of the downstream face of the catalyst.

And no they won't give you one in place of the surface thermometer,BUT they should for what the stove cost.....TC

 

[Todd]

TC,
How do you like your stove? Does it do everything Woodstock claims? 10-12 hr burns, clean glass, ect?

 

[Sandor]

Todd, are you still sure you did the right thing, or, are you looking for positive reinforcement!

J/K.

I'm sure your anxious!

 

[Todd]

Todd, are you still sure you did the right thing, or, are you looking for positive reinforcement!

J/K.

I'm sure your anxious!

I sure hope I did the right thing. It's quite the investment, and it makes me feel a little better when I hear good things about these stoves. 3 more weeks to delivery and counting!

 

[TCintheOzarks]

TC,
How do you like your stove? Does it do everything Woodstock claims? 10-12 hr burns, clean glass, ect?

Todd,
I love this stove.It is the single best thing I ever bought.It works as good or better than WoodStock says.
As for as the burn times I think that it will depend on what kind of wood you have, the way your house is set up for wood burning,weather and alot of other things.
In my case 10 to 12 hr. burns is no trouble at all.
In the kind of weather we have here now.......about 40 to 50 daytime highs.....I can load the stove up at 10:00pm and not put any more wood in till around noon the next day.The soapstone holds heat real well and I always have plenty of coals to start the next load.
This is my second year for my Fireview and we burn 24/7 from Oct till around april.We are gone from home sometimes over night or longer and we always have coals to start the next fire when we come home.The house might be cool but never cold.

As far as the glass,it never turns black.It will get a light ash on it. Just wipe off with a brush.......TC

 

[Wayne214]

TC, when you say you load the stove at 10, do you turn it down to a low setting, or do you leave it at a medium setting? I have a Heartstone stove, but we cannot get a burn that will last for 14 hours. Just wondering if maybe we are using our stove incorrectly. Thanks!

 

[Todd]

TC,
How do you like your stove? Does it do everything Woodstock claims? 10-12 hr burns, clean glass, ect?

Todd,
I love this stove.It is the single best thing I ever bought.It works as good or better than WoodStock says.
As for as the burn times I think that it will depend on what kind of wood you have, the way your house is set up for wood burning,weather and alot of other things.
In my case 10 to 12 hr. burns is no trouble at all.
In the kind of weather we have here now.......about 40 to 50 daytime highs.....I can load the stove up at 10:00pm and not put any more wood in till around noon the next day.The soapstone holds heat real well and I always have plenty of coals to start the next load.
This is my second year for my Fireview and we burn 24/7 from Oct till around april.We are gone from home sometimes over night or longer and we always have coals to start the next fire when we come home.The house might be cool but never cold.

As far as the glass,it never turns black.It will get a light ash on it. Just wipe off with a brush.......TC

Sounds great. I burn Oak and maple and I'm hoping to get those 10-12hr burns, since i'm gone to work for that amount of time. I called Woodstock today and they may ship a week early! Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Rhone]

TC, when you say you load the stove at 10, do you turn it down to a low setting, or do you leave it at a medium setting? I have a Heartstone stove, but we cannot get a burn that will last for 14 hours. Just wondering if maybe we are using our stove incorrectly. Thanks!

The question I find people not thinking about is, is a 10+ hour burn useful. I have a Hearthstone Clydesdale soapstone insert and have gotten a 14 1/2 hour burn, yes burn and the fans stayed on for 16 1/2 hours. So, if you want burn times I guess you should get the Hearthstone Clydesdale. That is, until you realize that at that setting, the air coming out of it is only 100 degrees. That's not enough to heat a normal house on a winter night. Having it set that low is pointless unless you have one really well insulated small house. Think about how much heat your house is losing, and figure out how many btu's a load of wood is inside your firebox. In a soapstone stove, setting the fire to burn over 10 hours will net what, a 175-200 degree surface temperature? Not enough to heat a house in winter. My insert nets me 100 degree air coming out the blowers set at the lowest. I can't heat my house, in winter, at night, with only 100 degree air coming off my unit. There are choices. First, you can burn it anyway at the lowest setting and wake up to a house that's cold, but at least not freezing. Or, set your fire to burn in 5-6 hours instead and reload it in the night and wake up to a comfortable house. Or, get a unit with a bigger firebox, then you can fill it with more fuel and maintain a burn at more btu's for longer periods of time... except in Spring & Fall your unit may be oversized. You can't just put 3 pieces of wood in a large unit and expect it to get off the ground. Todays units (like my Clydesdale) won't even do anything without at least 4 log splits in there burning at max air. I can turn it down a little if I put 5 in there, once we start hitting 7-8 pieces of wood in there I can turn it down below half and still have it putting enough heat for my house but can't put it near minimum. So, don't base your choice on something's burn times. Be smart, figure out how much heat your house loses at night, how many btu's/hr you'll need to replace, and how many btu's a firebox full of wood in your area will give you in that stove. That will help you decide how big a firebox you need, or how long your wood will last given a firebox size.

If you want to extend your burn time, use hard wood, side/side. Front/Back burns faster & hotter as the fire spreads rapidly, loading side/side blocks the air flow from moving the fire so easily. Also, it only matters if your unit is putting out too much heat at the lowest setting. If your unit is burning fires in 8 hours and you like the way it heats, setting it to burn for 10+ you lower its heat output and your house will lose more heat than it's getting from your stove, and cool down.

 

[TCintheOzarks]

TC, when you say you load the stove at 10, do you turn it down to a low setting, or do you leave it at a medium setting? I have a Heartstone stove, but we cannot get a burn that will last for 14 hours. Just wondering if maybe we are using our stove incorrectly. Thanks!

Wayne
Yes I set the air down below #1 maybe at 1/2 or less. This will give me a long burn but not as much heat. works great in mild weather or when I need to be away from the stove for a while.

I have to get the stove real good and hot before I set it for a long burn so that the Cat lights off. This gives a clean burn for the duration......TC

 

[Todd]

Once my house is up to the temp I like, I will load the fire box, do a low burn, and the house will maintain that temp. Unless its super cold outside, then I burn hotter. The only problem is my firebox is not big enough to maintain a low burn for as long as I want. I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to load more wood.

I think a larger catalytic stove (Fireview) would do a better job of this. From what I have researched a cat stove has a more even cleaner burn at low settings. I'm tired of tweaking my air control to maintain flames and no smoke in my non-cat stove, and waking up every morning to dirty glass. If I don't burn a full load hot for at least 20-30 minutes before I turn the air down on my non-cat, sometimes my chimney will be belching out alot of smoke. Even with dry wood my stove doesn't allways maintain those flames to keep the firebox temps high enough for secondary burn, where as a cat would be able to burn the smoke at lower firebox temps. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm going to find out, and will let you all know.

 

[TCintheOzarks]

Once my house is up to the temp I like, I will load the fire box, do a low burn, and the house will maintain that temp. Unless its super cold outside, then I burn hotter. The only problem is my firebox is not big enough to maintain a low burn for as long as I want. I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to load more wood.

I think a larger catalytic stove (Fireview) would do a better job of this. From what I have researched a cat stove has a more even cleaner burn at low settings. I'm tired of tweaking my air control to maintain flames and no smoke in my non-cat stove, and waking up every morning to dirty glass. If I don't burn a full load hot for at least 20-30 minutes before I turn the air down on my non-cat, sometimes my chimney will be belching out alot of smoke. Even with dry wood my stove doesn't allways maintain those flames to keep the firebox temps high enough for secondary burn, where as a cat would be able to burn the smoke at lower firebox temps. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm going to find out, and will let you all know.

Todd
I think you are on the right track.
This is the way my Fireview burned last night and today:
At 10:00pm last night I loaded the stove up. That means putting in as much wood as I can.Out side temp was 26deg.
At 8am this morning the stove top temp was 400....The CAT was 850 and the flue gas was 350....Out side temp was about 30, inside temp 75 avg for the house,this is measured in 4 different rooms.

At 9am stove top 375...CAT825 flue300 stove still had a bucket of coals.

At 10am the top was 350 CAT 700 flue 300

11am stove top 325 CAT 625 flue 225 temp in house was avg 76deg.

12:00 Noon stove top 295 CAT 525 flue 200 Outside temp 54 deg.

I still had enough coals left to put in 3 small splits and in 15 min the stove was back to 500 so the cat. could be engaged.
Hope all this helps.....TC

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

TC, when you say you load the stove at 10, do you turn it down to a low setting, or do you leave it at a medium setting? I have a Heartstone stove, but we cannot get a burn that will last for 14 hours. Just wondering if maybe we are using our stove incorrectly. Thanks!

Cat stoves will burn longer the non cat stoves, there are give and takes with both systems. Not to mention all the factors around draft, lack of draft, or over draft, the kind of wood your burning, the amount of wood you can stuff in there, etc etc....