Deciding on Fireview or Progress Hybrid

[charly]

First year with our Fireview in our 1850's farmhouse.. about 1800 sq ft... House was re-framed over the old post and beam and re insulated like 20 years ago... We run an Esse Cook stove at the kitchen- dining room end of the house and the Fireview in the living room part of our house and all is well... Myself with what you have, I would go the PH route... Like was mentioned, just load it with less wood if it seems too out of control...heat wise... Well all I can say if you haven't seen a Woodstock stove up close and in person,,,, your in for a nice treat... Built like old school! Like back when people cared about the quality of their work.... Any time you call them,,, someone always answers the phone,,, always.. Makes you feel like it's all about you! Just great people! And yes I wouldn't worry about buying a refurbished stove from them at all...I think you'll be very happy and love the nice heat from the stone.. You'll be impressed meeting everyone in person, the factory and with your stove... Good luck with your purchase! I originally went just to look and wound up picking out a stove and putting money down on a Fireview until I came back 3 months later to pick it up.. You might like them so much you'll be coming home with 2 stoves! One more thing,,,the parts are really reasonably priced,,, you'll be amazed!

 

[Flamestead]

With the PH it is possible to have:

• No secondaries in the firebox and no smoke from the chimney (100% cat).
• Difficult to judge if there are cases of complete combustion prior to the cat (100% secondaries).
• Cases where both the secondaries and the cat are functioning (mix of cat and secondaries).
• and I try to run it so the 4th combination mostly happens in the summer.

I think 90% of my burning is in the third mode. Certainly open to interpretation - I wouldn't dare say how close to a 100% secondary burn I run, but if I open the bypass and step outside I see smoke, suggesting incomplete combustion in the secondaries. I rarely try to run it as a cat-only stove but have run it with a black firebox and no chimney smoke (very boring).

I'm torn on the idea of a thermostat. I really like simplicity, but I am also usually opening the air several times on the downside of the peak burn. I am glad to have the luxury of this being one of my more pressing concerns tonight, however temporary it might be.