Woodstock Fireview
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Jan Pijpelink
Minister of Fire
Very nice. Give it a good going over, checking gaskets and cat so that is is ready for fall burning.
I’m replacing all the gaskets. The cat needs replaced for sure. I contacted Woodstock, they no longer offer the ceramic cat, only
Steel which is back ordered.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
The whole nonavailability of mission critical wear parts is a strong point against cat stoves.... or maybe just woodstocks. (Ducks for cover).
If not for the huge rear clearance requirements, my hearth would have had a fireview on it. Double pane glass, super easy cat access. Respectable burn times.
I can get ceramic cats from a different supplier, I may spring for the steel cat from Woodstock though. Assuming they will have them in stock by fall.
fespo
Minister of Fire
I bought a older one this summer for $50. it needs the top plate, it was cracked and I just found another one that just need a cat for $150.. What do these stoves go for after new cats and any parts that maybe needed? Thank
If they are truly in great condition somewhere near $1000. I buy and sell stoves all the time, $1,000 is probably the top end, but not uncommon.
I sold my Hearthstone for $1000 with a cracked stone. Like most all of them do...
so far I’ve noticed that all the working parts seem far superior to Hearthstone products. Many of the Hearthstone stoves I see are cracked. One big big difference I see is that the Woodstock has no veins in the stone, almost every Hearthstone has veins in each and every stone, which often is where a crack develops.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
There are a few stone differences. The Woodstock is double walled with an air gap between two thin layers of stone vs. hearthstones single wall thick slab. The Woodstock stone is sort of rough dawn compared to the mirror countertop like hearthstone. The hearthstones have a whole crapton of small stone bricks vs. single large sheets of stone on each side of the Woodstock.
I think most important is the double wall thing. That should help a lot with cracks and efficiency. Maybe even counteract the heat sink quality of thick single wall stone stoves.
You know it is much harder to build double wall so Woodstock did it for a reason.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Scooore!
I figured you'd run across one sooner or later.Good pic, accurate color. That "metallic blue" isn't very blue at all, looks great on their stone stoves. I got both my Fv and Ks in that color.
Hard to tell from just pics, but man that thing looks almost new!
Post some pics when you get 'er in and fired up. Seems like I remember a pic of a hearth area upstairs, but you might have moved since then..?
Yeah, the steels are always back-ordered at Woodstock, not sure what the deal is? I think both Ws and BK steels are Applied Ceramics. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to get a ceramic if the steels don't come in soon. I'm ahead of the curve, and have a steel in stock for my Ks. Sure, the warranty clock is ticking but I don't anticipate ever calling in a warranty..haven't so far. I just go ahead and replace 'em after several years when performance starts to tail off. They aren't very expensive for these stone stoves.
It's 18" with the heat shield, maybe due to the rear-flue only setup. You tore down a masonry chimney, right? The Fv wouldn't line up with the chimney out the roof that you had with your 30-NC?
Even though I don't need rear protection with my masonry chimney hearth install, I still have the rear heat shield to keep the stove from radiating into the external chimney brick. I think the shield reflects radiation back to the stove, and keeps the back hotter. The shield also creates a convective channel to pull heated air up and into the room, which I can feel when I hold my hand at the top of the shield.
Hey webby, my BIL didn't need the heat shield when I sold him the Fv, so I still have it if you are interested. It's metallic blue.
I often harp on the Woodstock quality..maybe more than I should since I haven't seen a lot of other stove brands other than what's in the local shops. But the Fv and Ks appeared to me to be built like tanks. So does the Buck 91. In your line of work, you've no doubt seen the innards of a lot of brands, and knew what you were buying with the Fv. Maybe later when you try a Woodstock hybrid steel, you can compare the build quality to other plate-steel stoves.
You haven't seen a Woodstock steel in the field yet, have you?Seriously, I'm looking forward to your reports and pics on the Fv. You'll figure out pretty quick that the 250 stove top temp that you sometimes see mentioned is just fail-safe advice for inexperienced operators. If you use flue temp/probe temp, you'll find you can light off a lot sooner. The probe doesn't give an accurate cat temp, it's too long. On the Ks, I've been attaining "X" flue/probe temp for "Y" minutes, then closing the bypass even though the stove top might only be 125-150. I think this applied when I had a ceramic in there, too..been a while. These fireboxes aren't huge, so it's good to get them cruising ASAP to stretch the load.
Man, $150 is cheap, if it's in decent shape. Maybe in the big Chicawgo-land market there are more around, driving prices down..?
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I’ve moved since then. I still need to build a hearth for it. I’ve just been too busy to do much around the house.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
It’s the busiest I’ve seen it! Like most years, no one knew it winter would happen again...
So I finally got this thing hooked up, temporarily.. I’ve been too busy to get the hearth built. I had this old hearth board sitting around so I threw it in.
This little stove is pretty impressive! I’m amazed at how clean the glass stays, even when ran on low. It’s a respectable heater for sure!
This little stove is pretty impressive! I’m amazed at how clean the glass stays, even when ran on low. It’s a respectable heater for sure!
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Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Alright! So is the stove in your main "hangin' out" room? If so, how far are you sitting from it? You may have some nice radiation heat to look forward to. Even if you are close to the stove, like we are when in our recliners, you still don't get roasted. I can feel slight radiation off the front of the stove at my desk, 20+ feet away.
So is the stove in your main "hangin' out" room? If so, how far are you sitting from it? You may have some nice radiation heat to look forward to. Even if you are close to the stove, like we are when in our recliners, you still don't get roasted. I can feel slight radiation off the front of the stove at my desk, 20+ feet away.We are pretty close to the stove in this room. We run a box fan in the hallway to move some air, so we don’t get overwhelmed by it.This is a very capable little stove, I’m continually impressed with it.Alright!
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Yeah, the double glass stays pretty clean if your wood is half way dry. When you look at what they put into their stoves..double glass, cast iron parts, top or rear venting or hybrid tech on some, it's amazing that they keep their prices as low as they do.
Yeah, it's not huge. I think I measured usable firebox at about 1.8 cu.ft. But if you run it like you show in your pic, with some flame in the box, the sides will start tossing heat too, not just the top as in a cat-only burn.
What do you do in shoulder weather, just run the Princess downstairs? Or is that even downstairs..that one pic with the stone hearth and chimney, where you had the Freedom Bay, looks like an A-frame room??
The freedom bay does a good job until the temps drop. It’s in the living room in the basement, so the heat goes up stairs easily. The Princess is in the unfinished part of the basement. It does ok, it just takes forever to get the upstairs warm.
We just went through some pretty nasty winter weather. Wind,snow, around 0F at night, teens for a few days.This Woodstock heated the place just fine! I’m continually surprised how well the little stove does. A bigger firebox would be nice, but there’s someone here to load it mid day anyway. Lovin’ it!
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Wow, just a few hours ago I was thinking of either dragging this thread back up, or PMing you to see how the stove was doing, now that you've had more time burning it and winter finally got here. You must be clairvoyant.
With you extolling the virtues of the Ws stone cat, maybe I won't be seen as just another raving fanboy...there's actually some truth in what I've been saying about 'em.
If they made a straight cat stove a bit bigger than the Fv, with a bigger window and an ash grate, I'd be all over it. Since they don't make that stove, I've been thinking about an AS. I took an output hit, going for the window and grate in the Keystone, which is only 1.5 cu.ft. or a bit under vs. 1.8 for the Fv. With a box the size of a BK, it would be a serious long-burner, and I'd probably be sitting around in shorts.
If I get some more weatherizing done around here, it'll be easier to keep up with the Keystone in the cold, windy weather. Maybe this summer..
