New fireview input!

[RandyG]

Howdy everyone, I've been a woodburning fan for years, I have a heatilator fireplace in my home now but have always dreamed of having a stove someday and have been admiring the woodstock stoves ever since I first saw there ad in a log home living magazine back in 1993 but always let the wife or other people talk me out of getting one, justifying spending the money was always brought up, "we don't need one here in fl" was another comment my wife would tell me so each yr I watched the fall sales come and go,and kept getting their mailings, video tape, and such and going online a looking at pics of them and dreaming, yea, I've had it bad, well, this yr thanks to some overtime, a few colder than normal winters with the wife shivering, and the tax credit, I finally convinced the wife and purchased a fireview. Got it yesterday and just wanting some input on installation and any tips on operating the stove, for the first time and beyond, thanks all.

 

[Slow1]

Congrats on your long-fought victory

Hmm - where to start. Seems that installation questions usually are best asked before the stove arrives. How far along that track have you gone? In general you know you can call the folks at WS (hopefully you had this discussion already) and they will help design your flue system and tell you what you need to get it all hooked up. If you want the answers/options from folks here then give more info - what sort of room is it going into? Is it going into that fireplace? new flue? what?

As to burning - follow the initial burn-in instructions that come with the stove. Make sure your wood is good or you will be more challenged. General tips on the stove - it is easier than you might think. Once the initial burns are done you just have to get the stove warmed up well before engaging the cat, then engage the cat, set air where you want it and pretty much walk away. Learning "where you want it" will take some time perhaps as it is different for every setup (different weather/wood/flue/home/etc). For me it is somewhere around 3/4-1 - others (like Dennis aka Backwoods Savage) go much lower as in 1/4 or even less. You will figure out what you need pretty quick.

 

[KevinG]

Search the forums for fireview and you'll find lots of tips. Many of the them too long to repost here.

Here's what works for me. I'm a first-year burner using poplar that's < 20% MC and red oak that's 25% MC. I also have a new stainless cat.

1. After stove has burned to coals, lower both levers, opening cat bypass and draft.
2. Load big heavy split or round at the back. Poplar in front bottom. Fill in as needed. Hardwood for overnight, poplar during day.
3. Shut door, reduce draft to 3.
4. Watch flames for 10-15 min, lower draft to 1.5-2 depending on stove pipe temp and quantity of flame.
5. Engage cat and lower draft to 1-1.5 depending on heat desired.
6. Walk away for 6 hours. I'm hoping to get longer burn times next winter with better seasoned oak.

If you don't already have 2 stove top/flue thermometers from Woodstock, get them. One for the top left of the stove and one for the stove pipe. They've been critical for helping me learn to run this stove.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Congratulations on the new stove Randy and welcome to the forums.


Your story sort of reminds me of what we also went through before we finally bought a Fireview. We really wanted one years ago but didn't buy. Finally when needing a new stove again we decided to the the Woodstock stove that we really wanted. We have not been a bit sorry either but if I knew then what I know now, we'd had the stove a lot sooner.

On the installation, folks need more information in order to suggest anything. You'll find you have questions all along the way and please do not hesitate to ask here on the forum and also call Woodstock as they are very knowledgeable folks.

Good luck.

 

[Todd]

Congrats on the stove, the long wait will pay off and you will no longer have a shivering wife. Looking forward to some pictures and if you need any advise there are plenty of Woodstock burners here to help out.

 

[fire_man]

Randy: Once you learn that stove, your only complaint will be the winters in Florida are not cold enough. This stove works best for 24/7 burning, but I use it for shoulder season weather, too. Just knock the draft way back and you will get really long, slow burns. Just be sure that wood is dry!

 

[leeave96]

You have bought a great stove. I think your first assignment ought to be to read the manual about 3 or 4 times, then search any question (but ask away too) you might think of, figure out if you can/want to do the install and get moving towards giving your stove a workout.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[RandyG]

Thank you so much guys, I'm so fortunate I stumbled on this forum, I can see now it's going to be a necessity in the install and operation of my stove. It's just nice to meet people with the same interest as me,
because down here, you tell folks your installing a wood stove, they look at you like you've lost your marble's. I do know however a guy that lives within 5 miles of me that purchased a fire view about 3yrs ago
and loves it, he purchased a boat from me and in our conversation said that he had ordered one, I couldn't believe it, the same stove I have been wanting yrs before, I have to admit I was jealous. I hadn't seen him since that time but was always curious about seeing his stove once he had it in, well, about 2 weeks ago I decided to drop by and see it, I was still trying to decide on getting my stove and when I seen his in action, that was it, I went over the edge, I made my mind up then and there. I noticed the only thing about his install was he didn't get his pipe from wood stock, he purchased it from a place locally and I can tell you it didn't look like to heavy a gauge pipe. It kinda looked like air duct pipe, didn't match the stove and in fact it took away from it a bit. I figured I paid top dollar for this stove I am not going to skimp on the pipe, so I ordered the whole package from the company with matching stove pipe. May have paid more than him for the pipe but I don't think I'll regret it. Anyway I guess I've started rambling, I have fairly small room I am installing in, with a large opening to the rest of the house, its about 16x14 and I'm putting it on a exterior wall but going through the ceiling and attic. It will be going between two windows and I need a get the smallest footprint possible, because of the room size. The stove is directly under the peak of my roof so had to do about a 16inch offset, hope that turns out OK. This is my wall install I am thinking about.

1. Attaching metal studs laying flat against the wall, maybe three or so
2. Putting sheet metal against the studs
3. Fastening my concrete board on top of the sheet metal
4. Installing flat decorative stone for the finish look on the concrete board

This install will give me my airspace and should allow me to get down to 12inch clearance. My floor is concrete so will probably just put tile down there. Any other suggestions are appreciated. I am a telephone man not a finish carpenter so this is a big undertaking for me but with the nice folks at Woodstock and this forum hopefully I can get it done without a hitch, thanks again everyone.