Loving my new to me Isle Royale

Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me this year. I picked up a Quadrafire Isle Royale that did not work out for another family. I have learned a lot from Hearth.com over the years and the folks I bought the stove from had a lousy chimney set up, 4' wide brick chimney from an old bricked over fire place with a 6" hole for the stove pipe. I brought a headlamp and a tactical flashlight to go over the stove before I said " I do". All that I saw inside of it was chunky creosote and lots of it. Can not imagine how they ever got a draft with that poor setup.

When I got home the refurb began, the shop vac choked down a lot of ash and clinkers. Dollied the stove inside then started looking at the gaskets. Made it to Emmett Brick and Block in Petoskey at 4:45 pm and bought 20' of 1/2 &1/4 Rutland Graphite gasket. Went home and read as much as possible about gasket,cement.

Saturday morn after a can of Kona Monster coffee energy drink Istarted ripping out the old gaskets and scraping the channels. Noticed that Quad used red silicone but I used tried and true Meecos fiberglass cement. If I had the patience I would have tried the silicone but I needed to burn this baby asap.

3:00pm Saturday came around as the temp started to go below zero just as I got out the drill to back out the screws on my stovepipe to my Lopi Liberty, it was a significant moment and I will remember it because it was like telling a trusted friend to get lost cause you found new more exciting friends. Almost a betrayal but I'm sentimental with stoves. Moved the big steel heater out and then had the cast iron stove on the hearth within 45 minutes.

My 1st fire started by 5:00 and was an easy transition from the routine that I had with the Liberty. That fire has been going since and I am very happy with how the Quadrafire is running. Top loading is a new luxury and the ash pan is keeping it clean. I find long burns and high heat. Nothing but good things so far.

It's been 20 below zero for a few days and I notice less ash. The ash pan comes out every other day full and no mess. My wife is not 100% on board because she's tiny and the top load is more scary than a feature. I hope she can become comfortable with the front doors. Wife's friend burnt her forearm on a woodstove recently and although I gave my wife a set of Linesmans gauntlet gloves she's still Leary of putting her arms in the cast iron inferno. I never heard a peep about the Liberty, Elm or the dammed coal stokers. I have also not had to sweep up around the hearth like I did everyday. To me this is progress.

I can get more radiant heat out of the IR, it seems. With this cold snap starting the day I installed the IR, we have been warm and have used a little less wood it seems. My Liberty had a thermo switch on the blower, that was nice. IR just hast variable speed, that's fine. I have wanted an Isle Royale for some time and it has lived up to my expectations. Very happy.

The heavy burning is over for this season and I am on the Quadrafire Isle Royale wagon. I came out of hibernation a few weeks ago and started cutting,splitting and even unstacked a row and a half to move to the front of the woodshed. The leftover wood is significant compared to the last few. Without a doubt this cast iron stove gets hotter than my Liberty, just saying. I could not tell you why it's hotter, it just is and we use less wood. I notice that on reloads I would pack the Liberty to the gills and on the Isle Royale we drop in a couple of pieces at a time and that is to do with the area to load but it works just fine. This stove has been on my list for a while and without a doubt it lived up to my expectations.

I tried looking around the interweb for pictures of a green Isle Royale, imagine it would look beautiful. Really can't find a picture of a Dovre Isle Royale for that matter.