Out with the St Croix, in with the Austroflamm Integra

I finally decided to stop screwing around and just pull the trigger. I bought a well used Austroflamm Integra V1 a few months ago and have been cleaning it and and got some new glass for it. It's been in the basement and I just didn't have time to mess with the swap. Lately, since it's gotten colder, my St. Croix insert just wasn't keeping up, even with the best pellets I could get. I had to run my oil furnace just to keep the house at 65. I decided to clean my flue yesterday so I had pulled the St Croix out of the firebox anyway. After getting my flue brush unstuck, I decided to yank it and put the Integra in. I ended up cleaning my entire flue with a lint eater brush. Half from the top, half from the bottom.

The Integra is sitting in front of the firebox on the hearth and I just need to connect the cleanout tee to the combustion fan outlet and assemble the panels and it should be good to go. We'll see if the old Integra can keep the oil man away. No pics yet.....soon to come.

I finished up the install this morning. Got everything buttoned up and lit it off.....manually of course. It took a few minutes to get going but took off after that. It's been single digits to low teens all day and it's 73 degrees in my vaulted ceiling living room. I had been running the St Croix flat out on setting five most of the winter and the oil furnace has been running intermitantly to keep the house at 65 for the last few days. This Integra really throws the heat! I'm running at about 2/3rd's of max setting. I tweaked the auger trim up a little as there was very few embers staying in the pot. Seems pretty good now. The auger motor was a little noisy at first but quieted down. The convection blower on this stove really moves a lot of air through the stove. Outlet air temps are not quite as high as the St Croix was but the volume has got to be two or three times as much. I was pretty amazed at how quickly the room temperature changed once I cranked it up a little. The room was 74 degrees pretty quickly and it was getting warmer so I turned it back to try to keep it at 72 or so. Here's a picture of what it looks like. The decor panels are a mocha brown color and the top piece is bare aluminum. The stove is ugly but I can make it look a little better with some sandpaper and stove black.

I hooked up the OAK connection to my OAK preheating system. It's kinda like a poor man's Direct Temp set up. To make it work I inserted a piece of straight automotive exhaust pipe to bridge the gap between the air intake pipe and the OAK connection on the back of the stove frame. The two pipes didn't line up perfectly so it took a little effort. I sealed it up with some aluminum duct tape. I will have to see if it causes any problems with the air sensor.

If all goes well this stove will keep the house toasty warm. I'll find out when it dips below zero again.

Bruins4877 said:

I believe I am going to do away with my St. Croix standalone. Just doesn't have the heat output that I was looking for. At the time I bought it, it was the right fit. Now after doing REAL research I realize I bought a stove that is too small for this house. Plus the lovely spots that you can't easily get to in these stoves to clean just makes my decision that much easier. My dad has a Harman Advance that he is looking to sell off that his wife's brother had in his house. Only used for 2 seasons so it is in tip-top shape. Just need to come up with the $2500 his wife wants for it.

Here's hoping you are onto some good heat Since you are in Southern NH, it's definitely going to be a cold couple of days

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I'm not just in Southern NH, I'm in Hampstead....same as you!

It's working pretty good so I'm happy for now. You can always keep your eye on Craigslist. That's where I got this one. I paid $500 for it but it wasn't working and the guy decided to get rid of it instead of figuring out why it wouldn't work right. It was filthy inside and the door latch was really loose. Had a cracked window, also.

Flammam said:

Interesting I have never seen that panel configuration before. Mine is white on the top and side panels.

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It's not stock. I think the guy who owned it before me ran out of paint......

It was 2 deg F this morning and the house was at 70 so I'm happy. The St Croix would've been cranking full blast and it would've been 65 with the furnace kicking on a few times an hour. It doesn't come without a price, though. This Integra eats pellets pretty quick. I'm OK with that as long as the house is warm...... Huge hopper in this thing.

Yes, it worked fine all last winter...no problems with anything. The air going into the stove was usually around 120 deg F +/- and it all came from outside. That's gotta reduce the pellet usage.

I just cannabalized my buddy's Integra in CO and brought the parts home in my luggage. I got the burn pot, ash pan, main board, air flow sensor, combustion fan and a couple odds and ends. I'll bring the convection fan and the two fire box cast plates home in February when I go skiing. Auger motor set screw was siezed so I left it for now. Might see if I can pack the glass carefully, too.

I want to split the ash pan in the middle and see if i can make it so you can dump the ash while it's running, pour the embers into the other clean burn pot and clean on the fly. I would also like to see if adding a short spacer ring under the burn pot will let it run longer before the ash under the pot restricts air flow and cause poor combustion.