Ideal Steel may not fit.....Help!

quotejso said:

Oh well glad it worked out who would have thought to flip the exit piece?

Click to expand...

Actually, one of the customer service reps at Woodstock mentioned it to me when I called about clearances. Apparently, I'm not the first person with this issue.

quotejso said:

Is that smooth wall necessary sounds like you have plenty of draft?

Click to expand...

I'm going with the Flex King HD because of durability. I'm not comfortable trying to thread anything else down the chimney without tearing it. It should also be easier to clean.

OhioBurner© said:

Yeah that sounds like a great solution compared to hacking off legs and bending handles lol! I thought they expressly prohibited that in the instructions somewhere, but as long as your draft isn't suffering I don't see the big deal. Might tend to get more smoke spillage on start up perhaps, but the smoke flap and closing the door quickly should help. Might be due to my strong draft but I find I rarely ever have to crack the door or anything, usually close it tight once the paper is lit. Glad it worked out, I was really worried you were cutting it too close!

Click to expand...

I was worried about the effect on the draft when I first fired the stove.....but it was 50F that day. Cooler temps this past weekend made a huge difference in how the beast breathes. If it will run in my current setup (leaky smoke dragon type system), then the upcoming chimney liner should supercharge the IS draft. BTW....I did have to close the key damper Saturday night due to high winds. Calmed the stove down perfectly. I would highly recommend adding one if high winds are frequent.

It's been too hot to do much around here.....I'm just now getting to the liner installation. For the record, the Flex King HD is one tough ass liner. I've been dragging a short piece up and down the chimney for a week to make sure everything will fit, and it is holding up nicely. It really reminds me of the old flexible tailpipes. I'm not familiar with any of the other brands, but this liner should last forever. Good customer service, quick delivery and VERY good price, too.

It's amazing how much difference a decent installation can make. My old smoke dragon setup was leaky and ran into an interior clay tile flue. Heated very well and was safe, but man did it eat wood! I put the IS in the same setup last spring just to get a feel for it. It ran well. I was very pleased with the new stove.

Fast forward to now with SS liner in place. All I can say is "WOW". First top down startup was screaming in a matter of minutes. Cat was engaged in half the time, and the stove responds immediately to changes in the damper whether in bypass mode (intensity of flame) or cat mode (change in vent pipe temperature). There is no comparison after the liner was installed. Stove is running like a well oiled machine.

For the record, the exhaust collar is still on upside down, and the pipe is running downhill just a bit. It is a basement installation, and it draws like a beast. I could actually hear a leak past the seam in the exhaust pipe and had to stuff a tiny piece of foil in that area to stop it. The liner made all the difference in the world.

Bring on the cold weather!!

JA600L said:

Draft seems to affect this stove a lot. My draft is decent but not great. My stove tends to do more catalytic burns. A guy I work with has one and his secondaries are on all the time. He actually warped the body on his. His chimney drafts extremely well and he will need to install a damper.

Click to expand...

I had a damper in line on the old setup and actually had to use it on the temporary IS installation last spring on a very windy night to calm things down a bit. I'm glad than happened then....it let me know that I needed to put one in the new setup just in case. With a good draft, this thing can get hot in a hurry, but it really settles in when the bypass is closed.