This stove has preformed better than I expected

[Sandor]

I agree if you burn 24/7 a cat stove is the way to go. I recently took the plunge to a cat stove and can honestly say I wish I had done it sooner! Comparing my old Homestead to the new Fireview, I now have longer burns with more heat and consume less wood.

I can burn this stove on the lowest setting and maintain a 600 deg stove top temp. I had to run my Homestead at a medium to medium high setting constantly stoking the fire to maintain that temp. So there is an obvious wood savings there.

Ease of operation. I think there is not much difference except another lever to engage the catalyst. You have to tweak dampers, and monitor temps on either stove if you want them to burn correctly.

As far as draft, I was worried because my stove has 3 ea 90 deg elbows, an outside brick 22' chimney with s/s liner. But this stove drafts better than my old one and it had 2 ea 90 deg elbows. So I would guess if your current EPA non-cat stove drafts good a new cat stove should to.

Maintenance I haven't had to do on my new stove yet, but it doesn't look too difficult to unscrew a couple bolts, lift out the cat, and clean or replace as needed. A properly operated cat should pay for itself over time.

Maybe someday they will have a top loading soapstone stove with a grill/rotisserie option. That would be awesome!

Todd, on the Keystone, you can clean the ash from the combuster from inside the stove. There is a 1/2 inch (socket) bolt inside the door. Remove that, then the grate will drop down and slide out. Easy to vacuum off the cat to remove the built up flyash without removing the combustor. A five minute job. Not sure about your Fireview, but worth checking out.

 

[elkimmeg]

Don't think this is a concern they have to go back in the same bolt holes. Probably before final tightening,
I should check the fit and alignment. You reminded me on another factor, to bring along masking tape and lable,
left and right and parts. Also a digital camera to pake pictures and a note book to detail what I did and sequence
Weeks might go by before I put things back together and also some zip lock bags for parts and labeling. If I decide
to do a total rebuild, I will tap out all bolt sockets and replace the bolts with stainless steel ones. I know I will be replacing the top loading door gasket to start with. When the kettels boil over and spill water it does not take long to ruin that gasket. Also the spilled water hitting the ceramic finish when hot, chips it and later it can flake off. A steamer on a trivit makes a lot of sense

 

[elkimmeg]

This post should be tied into the Vermont Castings Revisited post

A word about the top loading feature; Lot safer and easier to load a hot stove from the top.
My wife, who never took any interest in wood stoves,will lift the and feed it now.
My opinion; but I believe it is easier to pack the fire box when loading form the top.
Loading from the top is smokeless, ( remember to open the damper first and wait a minute),
and less of a danger of sparks flying out. Even my wife noticed how much cleaner it runs.
No smoke puffing,equals less cleaning and dusting. The girdle also doubles as a cooking plate,
That beef stew can simmer all day, The added bread warming tray is used to do just that.
I used it to boil off the water in Maple surip. The only pain is while cooking, to use the top load one
has to remove the kettle