Woodstock Fireview 205 Rebuild

[begreen]

She’s done! It went together pretty well, just had a few issues with a couple spacers that help line up the combustor pan and also adjusting the bypass. I need to let her sit for a couple days to cure the stove cement then I’ll look into installing.

Looks great! Well done. Thanks for the visuals. It's nice to see the plan come together. What stove cement did Woodstock recommend using?

Looking forward to some comparisons with the F45. I suspect the Fireview will do much better in the shoulder season, but I am wondering about how it compares when it's zero outside. My suspicion is that the F45 has a better top end, but could be wrong.

 

[Todd]

Looks great! Well done. Thanks for the visuals. It's nice to see the plan come together. What stove cement did Woodstock recommend using?

Looking forward to some comparisons with the F45. I suspect the Fireview will do much better in the shoulder season, but I am wondering about how it compares when it's zero outside. My suspicion is that the F45 has a better top end, but could be wrong.

Thanks. They sent me the cement to use. It set up pretty quickly, had to move fast at times.

Kind an early for a comparison but so far I think the F45 does come out of the gate quicker and heats this place faster. The Fireview takes an hour to get up to temp but seems to hold a longer more even heat that’s a tad softer than the F45.

 

[Todd]

Packed her full as I could last night with nice dry Oak. Engaged the cat in about 15 min at #1 then down to .5 about 15 min later. Awhile later I adjusted down to just a smidge from #0 thinking the flames should pretty much snuff out but they didn’t. I just let her go with a 650 stove top and 600 internal flue temp. There wasn’t many coals left this morning after 10 hours, had to use kindling to get her going again.

Before I fired up this morning I tightened up the bypass a bit. It seemed a little loose. Maybe that’s why she wouldn’t snuff the flames last night? Or maybe I’m still learning the stove and need to turn it down sooner? Draft was pretty strong too with single digits outside and it’s -17 currently so that could have something to do with it as well. Hopefully there’s no air leaks anywhere.

 

[all night moe]

Hopefully there’s no air leaks anywhere.

Can always check with the incense trick.

 

[Crab]

Looking forward to some comparisons with the F45. I suspect the Fireview will do much better in the shoulder season, but I am wondering about how it compares when it's zero outside. My suspicion is that the F45 has a better top end, but could be wrong.

Me too on the comparison. And yes a great resurrection of thstvFireview Todd. I am tossing around the possibility of getting a Keystone. Wish there was a chart that gave me a btu output when the F45s stovetop is 500 in the center.

 

[Todd]

Can always check with the incense trick.

👍

 

[Todd]

Me too on the comparison. And yes a great resurrection of thstvFireview Todd. I am tossing around the possibility of getting a Keystone. Wish there was a chart that gave me a btu output when the F45s stovetop is 500 in the center.

Thanks. The Keystone is a great stove I’ve burn one of those in the past as well. Only complaint I’d have on the Keystone is the cat access. The Fireview is so easy when it comes to cat maintenance since you can just lift the lid and everything is right there. The Keystone has a plate with four Allen screws that can be a pain to get at if you top vent.

Yes it would be nice to know how many BTU’s are being made by temp. The EPA report just give averages for a given burn time at L,M,H burn rates.

 

[Todd]

This mornings fire was a little more controlled. Flue temp settled in at 500 with a 600 stt. Air set at .5. I did try shutting the air completely and the flames were still there but slowed way down and the glass started to get brown. The air slide on this stove closes completely, no gap I can see also no unregulated air anywhere.

A little early to compare this stove to the F45 but so far I’ve loaded the same amount of wood in both and the F45 had a longer burn time but I’m still not that familiar with this Fireview yet. I used to get easy 16 hours with my old one.

 

[begreen]

What did the rebuild cost?

 

[Todd]

What did the rebuild cost?

I paid $400 for the stove and $1200 for parts and shipping.

 

[begreen]

Not bad at all. That's less than half of the price of a new one these days. Remember when $1600 was the cost of a new one?

 

[Todd]

Not bad at all. That's less than half of the price of a new one these days. Remember when $1600 was the cost of a new one?

Yeah, I wonder how much it would cost for them to send a guy all the parts to build your own?

 

[EngTechnow]

Love Old Soap Stone Units - many have Cracked Collars - Believe Good Braising would be all That's Needed ..
But Welding Cast is a Thing & may want Nickle up in that Area do to Higher Heat . .

Yes seen few Lately all need to be Restored . . Good to see One doing that ..

Broken - Fix It
Used - Repurpose It !
Rebuild It or Recycle It !

I had a Triple Sink Soap Stone @ Old Victorian all with Original Drains & Drain Oval Plumbing ..
I was Going to Move that Also , but that Had to weight min. 500lbs Down in Basement - Just Getting Up Out of there would
have needed a Lift & I have Moved 18 Row Radiators that Go 400lbs . . It was No Way . . ( Deal Was This ) It Stays on 1 Condition
New Owner Buys all My Personal Materials I have stored up fore this Place & I'm Leaving some Special Items that should Go
with Home , But Hey those are Technically Mine . .

( Yes those are 100% ) Able to be Sanded & Buffed & Smoothed . .

 

[Todd]

So I’ve been tightly loading full loads of Oak into this thing and burning at fully closed #0. I still get some flame but very little and very lazy and slow. I haven’t been able to get over a 10 hour burn and trying to figure out why?

It doesn’t seem to be sucking air from where it’s not supposed to. I confirmed this with incense stick. Internal flue temps are in the 500-600 range and stove temps have been 500-650.

When reloading I let her rip with full air til I see the flue temps start to rise then reduce the air down to about #1.5, then I let the flue temps rise to 500-600 and engage the cat and adjust down to .5. The cat has always lit off well then I take it down to 0 in a few minutes.

Takes about an hour for the stove top to get over 500 and usually by then the flue temps settle in at about 550 +-

The stove gives off great heat but I don’t remember my prior Woodstock stoves acting like this. They use to snuff out the flame below a .5 air setting and usually had a good bed of coals easily 12+ hours later.

Maybe this Oak I’m burning is too dry and off gassing too fast or maybe there is an air leak somewhere? This evening I loaded a mix of Oak and Aspen to see if that changes anything.

 

[begreen]

The burn cycle sounds a bit hot for the air set to 0. I would expect a stove body temp lower than 500+º at that setting. Was the air valve mechanism corroded or rusty when you got the stove? 10 hrs is not bad for this size stove, but 12 would be better. The Fireview's capacity is 1.85 cu ft according to the EPA report.

 

[Todd]

The burn cycle sounds a bit hot for the air set to 0. I would expect a stove body temp lower than 500+º at that setting. Was the air valve mechanism corroded or rusty when you got the stove? 10 hrs is not bad for this size stove, but 12 would be better. The Fireview's capacity is 1.85 cu ft according to the EPA report.

Air slide mechanism is in good shape. Yeah 10 hours is pretty good but I know it can do better and it should be able to snuff out the flames and go black box cat only burn. I wonder if the old cat has anything to do with it?

 

[Todd]

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[Todd]

1.5 hours in.

 

[begreen]

It's a nice clean burn. Is the cat brand new? If so, it will be a bit hyper active for a week or so.

 

[Todd]

It's a nice clean burn. Is the cat brand new? If so, it will be a bit hyper active for a week or so.

It’s the original 1998 cat that came with the stove. Never been fired. Doesn’t seem hyper active at all. Yes nice clean burn but it should not have so much flame with the air completely shut. It should literally be a black box cat burn at that setting.

This morning I double checked the air slide mechanism and it seems ok as well as the bypass.

I reinstalled the shipping bolts for the cat and tightened them down for a better seal on top of the gasket.

Just loaded her up again, we’ll see what happens.

 

[Crab]

27 deg out there? Fake Spring for a few days... heck it's 27 here this morning... Out of curiosity when your air control is at 0, does the air slide fully close on the Woodstocks? If I purchased a Keystone I too wonder if lower STT temps are possible with my very low MC oak and hickory.

 

[Todd]

27 deg out there? Fake Spring for a few days... heck it's 27 here this morning... Out of curiosity when your air control is at 0, does the air slide fully close on the Woodstocks? If I purchased a Keystone I too wonder if lower STT temps are possible with my very low MC oak and hickory.

Yes the slide closes completely, no stop to keep a sliver of air going in. I believe the Keystone is the same design.

STT don’t tell the whole story. You can have a black firebox with no flame but the cat will be super hot and give you a 700 STT but the rest of the stove is relatively cooler. More flame heats up the entire stove and throws more heat and you could only have a 500 STT.

 

[Todd]

Ok so I went around the stove again with an incense stick and found air getting sucked in around the door frame and also the front glass frame. I should be able to push a bead of cement in those areas once the stove cools down. Hopefully that’s all the leaks I have, it’s not like the stove is overfiring or running away from me but there should be more control.

 

[all night moe]

Ok so I went around the stove again with an incense stick and found air getting sucked in around the door frame and also the front glass frame. I should be able to push a bead of cement in those areas once the stove cools down. Hopefully that’s all the leaks I have, it’s not like the stove is overfiring or running away from me but there should be more control.

Good deal! Looks like you'll be on you're way to 12hr runs.

 

[bigealta]

Ok so I went around the stove again with an incense stick and found air getting sucked in around the door frame and also the front glass frame. I should be able to push a bead of cement in those areas once the stove cools down. Hopefully that’s all the leaks I have, it’s not like the stove is overfiring or running away from me but there should be more control.

Nice work tracking those leaks down.