Woodstock Soapstone Progress Hybrid Stove

[Cross Cut Saw]

Does the progress hybrid have a hot spot in front of the cat too?

The cat sits in the back directly below the stove pipe so where I put the thermometer in my last post is directly above it.

Although some newer models have them here:

 

[Tenn Dave]

The cat sits in the back directly below the stove pipe so where I put the thermometer in my last post is directly above it.

Although some newer models have them here:

View attachment 138315

WOW, that kitty really likes to be warm.

 

[pfd286]

Any reviews or comments on the woodstock soapstone progress hybrid stove. Based on what I have come across, the stove came out less than one year ago. Anyone used it? How does it perform? Is the hybrid just a gimmick? I have read that catalytic systems require a lot of TLC - I am familiar with loading, cranking down the damper, and walking away. Since they do not have distributors (factory direct only) should this be a concern? Finally, for the dollar - are there better options?

Wanting to heat 3000 sq ft

I have the stove and know of 2 others that do. Great heat source. The hybrid may be some what of a 'gimmick' but I have seen both on my stove working (secondary air inlet in the top of the burn chamber as well as the cat combustor) I have also dealt with them for customer service in the past and they are hands down the best company to deal with.

Good luck!

 

[Machria]

This thread has been dormant for quite awhile, but we hope you're all out there yet, because we just got our PH and it's now installed and ready to go! Last year we figured that we burned about 12 face cord of wood, and although we've read that some people have cut their wood consumption in half, and because we live in a quite old, not very well insulated home, we thought we'd be conservative and plan on using 3/4 of what we did last year. We were very lucky to find some seasoned wood from someone who stopped heating with a wood furnace and wanted to sell their wood. So we have about 7 face cords of that for this year, plus three face cords of wood that was split in May of this year. We also will have 9 face cords of wood cut this summer for next heating season. The seasoned splits are about 18", and the wood split in May is about 16". I think we're all set, and now since it's getting a bit chilly in the evenings, we thought we'd start up the stove for the first time about midday tomorrow or the next day, when we can open windows and doors to provide ventilation, since the instructions say there may be an acrid smell for the first couple of burns.

Other than checking for a good draft and starting with crumpled newspaper and kindling and adding small splits (as we'd have done with our old stove), are there any tips you can give us?

Also I'm a little confused. When we were at Woodstock in August, Jamie said to put the thermometer on the stove top and when it reached 250, engage the combuster, and in the directions under the section labeled "the Surface Thermometer", it says "we recommend placing the thermometer 8-10" above the flue collar on single wall stove pipe". Then later on, it says "we recommend engaging your combuster once the pipe thermometer reaches 300-350. Stove top temperatures should reach approximately 250." More: "once the combuster is engaged you should see the stove surface temps rise and the pipe temp drop". Doesn't this sound like you should be using TWO thermometers?? We do have two--should we use them both?

I find putting the Woodstock temp gage about 10" above the stove on the stove pipe works MUCH better than putting it on the top of the stove. The top of the stove is very thick soapstone and takes a while to heat up, meanwhile the stove is much hotter inside including the cat. So turning the bypass valve to activate the CAT at 260 (as marked on the temp gage) when the stove pipe is 260 works perfect and takes about 10 or 15 minutes with a cold start.