Woodstock Progress - cat & screen cleaning

Tenn Dave said:

Woodstock has one of the best engineered ash pans in the industry today. No silly plug to deal with. A total pleasure to use with NO downside. In my humble opinion.

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Couldn't imagine my IS without the ashpan. Love it.

The stove store finally got my ICC damper section in (they didn't order it originally when I placed the order...). I installed it at noon today, after letting the fire die down from a 5 PM yesterday smallish load. It was about 10 degrees here last night, in the teens this morning, 20's this afternoon. The house cooled down to about 62.

I will start a thread after I have been running with the damper for a few days. Immediately obvious: I have a very strong draft.

I am running the stove now with the ICC stovepipe damper completely shut, which cuts the flue air draft down by 80%. I am running with the air intake all the way closed. I have had active secondaries since loading at 8:30 (it is now 12:30), the stovetop temp has stayed right around 420, flue temp between 550 and 600. I obviously could use an even slower draft but that isn't going to happen.

There is noticeably more heat coming off the stove, so less being lost up the flue. The wood is also burning more slowly. So, less air being sucked up the chimney, less air being pulled into and through the firebox, more time for the air to heat in the firebox and radiate some of its heat into the room.

Prior to installation of the damper, on reload I had to shut the air intake by 50% immediately after closing the loading door or I would get roaring draft within a minute or two max. At 50% I would get the roaring within another minute or two, and need to reduce the air to about 20% open, leave there until flue temp was 500, then engage cat and shut air all the way, or possibly crack it slightly open if mild out. Most of the time, used size, species and quantity of wood to regulate output.

First fire with the flue damper in situ, I can leave the air all the way open for a few minutes, though I don't need to. But, I can shut it half way and leave it there, and I do not get the roaring draft I previously experienced. So, I can burn at a higher burn rate if I need to, if we get 30 below weather, without getting a flue temp of 800. Without the damper, I could (and did) burn at a high rate when needful, but did get correspondingly high flue temps and heat loss. I anticipate that the damper will not only let the stove radiate more heat, but also noticeably reduce wood usage. I am expecting it will also reduce fly ash on the cat.

So far: slower draft, more heat off the stove, flue temp reduced from 800 to 600.

I'll post my findings after a reasonably time, sooner if anything truly dramatic happens.

I am really shocked at how strong my draft is even with the damper installed and closed. I am pretty certain I am going to seriously regret not having installed it three years ago when I first considered doing so....

rideau said:

The stove store finally got my ICC damper section in (they didn't order it originally when I placed the order...). I installed it at noon today, after letting the fire die down from a 5 PM yesterday smallish load. It was about 10 degrees here last night, in the teens this morning, 20's this afternoon. The house cooled down to about 62.

I will start a thread after I have been running with the damper for a few days. Immediately obvious: I have a very strong draft.

I am running the stove now with the ICC stovepipe damper completely shut, which cuts the flue air draft down by 80%. I am running with the air intake all the way closed. I have had active secondaries since loading at 8:30 (it is now 12:30), the stovetop temp has stayed right around 420, flue temp between 550 and 600. I obviously could use an even slower draft but that isn't going to happen.

There is noticeably more heat coming off the stove, so less being lost up the flue. The wood is also burning more slowly. So, less air being sucked up the chimney, less air being pulled into and through the firebox, more time for the air to heat in the firebox and radiate some of its heat into the room.

Prior to installation of the damper, on reload I had to shut the air intake by 50% immediately after closing the loading door or I would get roaring draft within a minute or two max. At 50% I would get the roaring within another minute or two, and need to reduce the air to about 20% open, leave there until flue temp was 500, then engage cat and shut air all the way, or possibly crack it slightly open if mild out. Most of the time, used size, species and quantity of wood to regulate output.

First fire with the flue damper in situ, I can leave the air all the way open for a few minutes, though I don't need to. But, I can shut it half way and leave it there, and I do not get the roaring draft I previously experienced. So, I can burn at a higher burn rate if I need to, if we get 30 below weather, without getting a flue temp of 800. Without the damper, I could (and did) burn at a high rate when needful, but did get correspondingly high flue temps and heat loss. I anticipate that the damper will not only let the stove radiate more heat, but also noticeably reduce wood usage. I am expecting it will also reduce fly ash on the cat.

So far: slower draft, more heat off the stove, flue temp reduced from 800 to 600.

I'll post my findings after a reasonably time, sooner if anything truly dramatic happens.

I am really shocked at how strong my draft is even with the damper installed and closed. I am pretty certain I am going to seriously regret not having installed it three years ago when I first considered doing so....

Click to expand...

Good to hear you finally got that thing installed.
Look forward to hearing reports on how its working out for you.

rideau said:

The stove store finally got my ICC damper section in (they didn't order it originally when I placed the order...). I installed it at noon today, after letting the fire die down from a 5 PM yesterday smallish load. It was about 10 degrees here last night, in the teens this morning, 20's this afternoon. The house cooled down to about 62.

I will start a thread after I have been running with the damper for a few days. Immediately obvious: I have a very strong draft.

I am running the stove now with the ICC stovepipe damper completely shut, which cuts the flue air draft down by 80%. I am running with the air intake all the way closed. I have had active secondaries since loading at 8:30 (it is now 12:30), the stovetop temp has stayed right around 420, flue temp between 550 and 600. I obviously could use an even slower draft but that isn't going to happen.

There is noticeably more heat coming off the stove, so less being lost up the flue. The wood is also burning more slowly. So, less air being sucked up the chimney, less air being pulled into and through the firebox, more time for the air to heat in the firebox and radiate some of its heat into the room.

Prior to installation of the damper, on reload I had to shut the air intake by 50% immediately after closing the loading door or I would get roaring draft within a minute or two max. At 50% I would get the roaring within another minute or two, and need to reduce the air to about 20% open, leave there until flue temp was 500, then engage cat and shut air all the way, or possibly crack it slightly open if mild out. Most of the time, used size, species and quantity of wood to regulate output.

First fire with the flue damper in situ, I can leave the air all the way open for a few minutes, though I don't need to. But, I can shut it half way and leave it there, and I do not get the roaring draft I previously experienced. So, I can burn at a higher burn rate if I need to, if we get 30 below weather, without getting a flue temp of 800. Without the damper, I could (and did) burn at a high rate when needful, but did get correspondingly high flue temps and heat loss. I anticipate that the damper will not only let the stove radiate more heat, but also noticeably reduce wood usage. I am expecting it will also reduce fly ash on the cat.

So far: slower draft, more heat off the stove, flue temp reduced from 800 to 600.

I'll post my findings after a reasonably time, sooner if anything truly dramatic happens.

I am really shocked at how strong my draft is even with the damper installed and closed. I am pretty certain I am going to seriously regret not having installed it three years ago when I first considered doing so....

Click to expand...

Rideau, thanks for keeping us posted on how the damper works. I currently do not have one but could see how useful it could be when the weather is really cold and the draft increases. At times I can hear the draft going up the chimney. I just went online and found a 6" round damper, 5" length for $25.

toddnic said:

Rideau, thanks for keeping us posted on how the damper works. I currently do not have one but could see how useful it could be when the weather is really cold and the draft increases. At times I can hear the draft going up the chimney. I just went online and found a 6" round damper, 5" length for $25.

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I have ICC pipe so got the ICC ultrablack section..$78 from a local stove shop here in Ontario. When I looked online a year or two ago they were a similar price in the States. 13% harmonized sales tax up here, but the Canadian dollar down 16% and I'm using US funds, so that's a break even. No shipping as I picked it up....so not too bad, and will pay for itself very quickly. And keeps my stovepipe/chimney setup ultrasafe and warranteed or life.