Thoughts on my Fireview stove

[xraydog]

Hello All,

I have been burning my fireview over the past 2 months and thought I would post my thoughts about the Fireview vs. my former stove (Avalon Rainer).

A little history..... I have been burning Avalon stoves/inserts for the past 20yrs. I have owned everyone of their sheet metal stoves during that time. I was very happy with the performance of my Avalon stoves (otherwise I wouldn't have purchased so many). My decision to switch to a Fireview was to satisfy a 30yr desire to own a soapstone stove. That and the tax rebates helped. I read all the posts and there were not too many negatives coming from Fireview owners. It sounded sort of cult-ish. I even had some friends locally who have Fireviews and could not say enought good things about them.

Initially I was a little uneasy with my purchase. The operation seemed more complicated than with the Avalon. The whole concept of the catalytic converter took a little time to get used to. So much so that I kept the crate the Fireview arrived in just incase I decided to send it back.

OK after 2 months I have survived the learning curve and thought I'd share my PRO's and CON's about the Fireview

CON's
1) Rear controls..... not in direct site. Reaching around a 500 deg stove not the most convenient. Also the damper control knob gets very hot. Why not make it similar to the bypass control know so you can adjust it with out gloves or whacking it with some other object
2) Sealed Front window: I like to keep the glass clean. Cleaning the glass throught the window is difficult enought through the side door and then you have to negotiate the andirons.
3) Side Door only access: I actually like the side door for loading the fire, however, having front access would be much easier for starting.
4) Warm-up time: no real heat for the firs 30-40min
5) More complicated to use than Avalon (just slightly)

PRO's
1) Soapstone heat retention: Real nice waking up to a stove you haven't fed in 10 hrs to find it still 200 deg and the room still warm. My heater was always going on in the early morning hours with the Avalon
2) Long burns. Burn times similar to that quoted in brochure (I'm a hardwood burner). Much longer that I could get with the Rainer
3) Appropriate size stove for room. The Avalon Rainier was a little oversized for the room it was located. I know Avalon has a smaller stove (I owned one) however it accepts a shorter log and didn't have the burn times of the Fireview
4) Glass stays clear. While cleaning the glass is more difficult I don't really have to clean the glass very often. Aside from the first few burns in the Fireview the glass stays amazingly clean. I would clean the Avalon's glass much more frequently.

UNKNOWN
Chimney? I never had any problems with significant creosote buildup with the Avalon. It's too early to tell how the Fireview will do.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The fireview has grown on me and I am extremly pleased with its performance. For me the PRO's vasty outweight the CON's. I'm keeping the Fireview. The crate has been split into kindling.

Rick D

P.S. Thanks for everyone posting their comments. I learned a lot from the forum about the positives and negatives of all stoves.

 

[FireWalker]

That's puuuuuurdy!

What, no curled up yellow lab or kitty on the hearth, geez. :cheese:

 

[rdust]

Good stuff, I looked at the fireview but the loading door wouldn't work for me.

To be fair on burn times, the Rainer firebox is slightly smaller then the fireview. I know...I know, it's a CAT stove so you only need to reload it once a day.

 

[xraydog]

Rdust,

Also to be honest, because the Rainer was a little oversized for the room I never like to fully pack the stove because it became real hot in the room. I never got the burn times with the Rainer that were advertised, however, I had an Olympic insert that had real nice long burns. I really enjoyed my Avalon stoves and did not have one days worth or problem with any of them I would consider them again particularly if I every needed a larger stove.

I know people have their favorites, but when it comes down to basics all the newer EPA certified stoves burn well. That's what I liked about this site everyone has their favorites and express their thoughts honestly and really try to help and educate the viewers. I thought I knew everything about wood burning, but I learned a lot from the CAT and Non-CAT people on this site.

 

[Highbeam]

Thank you for the honest post on your experiences. Every stove has plusses and minuses. Your install is one of the best we've seen on this site.

 

[BrotherBart]

Looking at that hearth makes me want to burn down this house just to get one like that in the next house. That is gorgeous.

Thanks for the post.

 

[Todd]

Very nice install, I would love to do something similar with my upstairs fireplace. Nice review, I agree the glass is hard to get at to wipe off, but I haven't needed to clean mine in over a month and all it takes is a damp paper towel to wipe the haze off.

 

[Fake coal burner]

Good looking stove. I really like that fire place with the brick and arch. Keep warm. :cheese:

 

[begreen]

Great review Rick, I learned a lot. Thanks for posting. The stove in that setting looks wonderful. Nice work.

 

[bluefrier]

Nice review and nice install. what more can I say?

 

[KeepItNatural]

Looks wonderful-
and I really liked the honest/unbiased reflection.

 

[snowleopard]

Echoing above posts. I'm not that big a fan of red brick--looks kind of harsh and raw to me--but this is really attractive, mellow and visually softened. Great proportions. Your stove is really lovely as well. Which color did you select for the castings? (I find it hard to tell sometimes with the Fireview.) I've got one under construction as we speak, went w/the metallic brown, asked for greener stone.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Excellent review Rick, and like others, I love your install. Beautiful.


I've heard the comments on the rear controls and I can see why it does not work out so well with your installation. If the stove is out in the room more it is not a problem except for that hot draft control. lol I agree they could improve on that and also on the door handle.

On the warm-up times, you can probably get that down a bit; just don't build a raging fire if the stove is cold to start with. We can have pretty good heat coming in about a half hour to 45 minutes and have no problem with that. Also, once you are able to engage the cat, then the temperature climbs fast!

On the chimney, it depends upon your fuel. We didn't clean ours (exterior SS) until after 2 full seasons of burn and only got a little bit of soot. Very clean.

 

[akennyd]

Very nice...thanks for sharing!!

Kenny
John 3:16

 

[xraydog]

Snow leopard,

The color is the stock Grey Metallic. I wanted to stay away from the darker colors. I agree about colors in the brochures and pictures on the website. I really like the look or the grey metallic in their brochure. I liked it better before I burned the stove. The soapstone has darkened slightly, but still nice. Also you don't see ash residue as much.


Rick D

 

[snowleopard]

Snow leopard,

The color is the stock Grey Metallic. . . . . I liked it better before I burned the stove. The soapstone has darkened slightly, but still nice. Also you don't see ash residue as much.

Rick D

Thanks for the info. Yes, I liked the lighter look as well, and a helpful phone person at Woodstock (Mike) explained that the metallic brought out more of the contrast in the casting, and I knew I wanted that.

How did it change? When you say you don't see as much ash residue, do you mean on the stone or the castings?

 

[xraydog]

snow leopard,

The ash residue I'm talking about is around the stove door when adding wood and emptying ashes. Also since the castings are figured dust get in them over the years.... I was never a fan black cast iron with dust in all the little nooks and crannys. Since I didn't want to spend time cleaning I went witht he lighter color. Your color choices for immediate delivery are limited, however, you can send for additional color swatches from the paint company that woodstock uses. They told me it would delay delivery about 2 weeks.

I mentioned earlier when I got the stove the soapstone and the metallic grey paint were almost identical. The soapstone has darkend very slightly.

We are having some real cold windy weather. I live on the top of a moutain and the last few days have had sustained 25-30mph winds along with higher gusts. I had trouble with a run-away stove under these conditions with my Avalon. The Fireview has been purring along beautifully over the last few days. I still have control over the stove with these conditions. Both stoves used outside air intake.

 

[firefighterjake]

Great review.