Woodstock and Softwood question

[rob bennett]

I'm looking at the woodstock Keystone this time. I really am limited to doug fir, alder, birch and big leaf maple. Softwoods. Anyone have experience long term with soft woods and cats? Is it going to plug up the cat early? Are the burn times going to be so much shorter that I should look at a larger stove? My wife has vetoed the fireview and the harthsones. (she is a tough critic) If the keystone won't work, then I am probably looking at a Jotul.

 

[Todd]

Any kind of firewood will work in a cat stove as long as it is properly seasoned or dry.

 

[Highbeam]

Wow, vetoed a lot of very nice stoves. I burn softwood but not a cat stove. The blaze king folks make their cat stoves for softwood so have some good experience in terms of cats and softwood.

Nothing special about our wood in the NW. You just need a bigger stack to get through the winter.

 

[jpl1nh]

I burn a lot of pine, hemlock, and poplar in my Keystone. Cat allows me to slow the fire down nicely so I actually can get overnight burns with softwoods though it doesn't throw intense heat. Burning a lot of that now as the heat demands are so low. No problem with the cat at all. It likes smoke.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Rob, just curious why the Fireview was vetoed over the Keystone? Size? If you are looking for longer burns, the Fireview would be a better choice.

 

[begreen]

Rob, how large a space are you heating? Is it a pretty open floorplan? Is this going upstairs or in the basement?

FWIW, my wife vetoed the same stoves for personal aesthetic reasons. For looks, her choice was Jotul. If you need a bigger stove you might want to look at the Hearthstone cast iron stoves as well as the Jotuls or a PE Alderlea. Stop at the Chimney Sweep's shop over on Harris to see what they look like.

 

[rob bennett]

My wife and I like the looks of the keystone, we are not crazy about the fireviews looks. I know it is bigger, but we are going to be looking at it alot.

Begreen, we have a 1900 or so square foot house. Our floor plan is semi open. I have a vista insert on one side of the house.

 

[rob bennett]

I had to step out.
We have a vista insert at one side of the house in the kitchen. On the other side of the house we have a 17 by 30 living room. I want to put a stove in front of the living room fireplace. I was thinking that the keystone turned down low would heat the front of the house most of the time, and when it gets really cold I can fire up the vista at the same time.

 

[begreen]

Ah, the Vista cruiser solution... It might work with two stoves.

How did the Vista work for you last season?

 

[rob bennett]

Its a new house (for us) so i have no idea. Right now it is mostly academic, but I am doing some extensive remodeling and the fireplace/chimney is one thing that needs to get worked on this summer. I don't want to have to redo something again later down the road.

Realisticly I need to live a winter with the vista, but I still want to do something interesting with the fireplace besides an open fireplace.

 

[joeleisner]

I am burining 2/4 cut offs from my house expansion project right now and use the Cat if it gets loaded up enough and hot. Nice clear vapors out of the chimney. I love my Keystone and am getting another one for the addition.

Joel