Keystone Instal complete

[rob bennett]

I passed my inspection the other day. Thought I would recap my install experience.

The first day that the energy tax credits came out I put an order in for a keystone, extra soapstone tops, and a 7 to 6 inch chimney reducer
Shipping was a great experience. Unloaded and pushed the stove on fence post rollers and ramps by myself into my living room.

I had to rebuild the top 8 feet of my chimney it is 2 feet by 4 feet in size so that was a bit of a chore. I managed to fall off the ladder onto the roof and had a brick hit my head. Just a few stitches later I was as good as new.

I had to chip out the 6 by 12 liner with a 10 foot breaker bar. Dropped the bar, it got stuck and had to fish it out. Not fun.

Lined the chimney with a forever flex 6 inch liner. Wrapped the liner with ul approved insulation.

Bricked in my fireplace and then covered it with thin brick

custom built a heat shield for my mantle

Roto hammered a 5 inch whole into my lower chimney foundation for the OAK. So the oak runs from the stove through the wall, down the ash clean out, into the basement out through the chimney and 10 feet over through the rim joist. Lots of work and dust

So Monday night I passed the inspection and started my first tiny break in fire. A little smell but not bad. My wife didn't even complain. The stove retained its heat at around 150 for hours with basically a kindling fire.

Tuesday night I little larger fire and brought the heat up to about 300 and lit off the cat. I followed the Woodstock instructions and turned it down, but I managed to completely smoke the front glass. Rats. But, it held it heat again for a surprisingly long time. Minimal paint smell, and wife pretty happy.

Today I built what I would consider a medium to small fire using alder/big leaf maple. Kicked off the cat at 250 and shut the air down slowly. The temp went up to 350 and then shut off my forced air furnace. Wife really happy. 4 kids laying in front of the stove. It could be a commercial for Woodstock. I engaged the cat at 7:30 this morning and it is still at 250 at noon. That is with a small load and soft woods. Really happy.

Tonight I'm going to load it up and bring it up to 500. That should be fun.

It was a TON of work and I am very happy with the outcome. I live in WA state so I had to go with an oak. I'd go with the OAK again. If you put your hand in the intake outside the house, there is an impressive amount of air getting sucked into that stove.

Things I learned. Brickwork should be left to the masons. It is hard grueling and dangerous work. Get 4 friends to unload the stove. The rest of the work was pretty easy.

I love tools, and I really get excited about elegant engineering and design. This is one of the highest quality things I own. The castings fit and finish are amazing. The feel of the air lever just feels right. There are a lot of small things that work together really well.

This forum has been a great asset to me. I wouldn't have purchased this stove without it. When it came time to pass my inspeciton and light the first fire, I was 100 percnet sure that I had a safe install thanks to this site.

So thanks all.


PS in the picture there is a fire in the stove and the strange lights is a reflection from my Christmas Tree.

 

[shawneyboy]

Looks really nice. Perfect timing as well. (with the holidays) I can only guess the feeling of pride you have looking at that knowing you did the install work yourself. Well worth the hard work. Enjoy

 

[leeave96]

Beautiful install!

We have a Keystone and really love it. Like you, I had some pains installing this stove and it almost brought me to my knees. My biggest problem in the beginning was dirty glass - almost solid from bottom to top on either side of the andirons. With a little tip from Todd (and reading my manual's troubleshooting section), I adjusted the airwash plate to the factory specs of 1/4 inch. Also, there is a little hole in the back center of the ash pan housing. Again, this was a Todd tip (thanks again Todd) and plugged it with a dab of stove pipe cement. This little mod forced all of the air intake to the stove over the airwash plate and across the glass. Now when I clean the glass, it is only a little fly ash. I also get a true front to back burn and am in complete control of it.

You are right that the slightest damper movement makes a difference in the stove performance. Low glowing coals, to bright glowing embers to a box full of flames - a few movements of the damper makes a big difference.

My damper settings at the start needed to be more open (than other Woodstock owners) over the first couple of months of operation. Some advised me my wood wasn't so good, but I knew better having cut and burned wood for over 40 years. Something just wasn't right. My glass cleared-up after the above adjustments, but I still needed to crank the damper to get to 500 degrees and above. Long story short is that I had a new 6 inch liner installed in my chimney with 1/2 inch wrap insulation (and switch to a rear vs top vent) and my draft improved dramatically! Now I am re-learning my damper settings. We easily hit 500 degree temps and if we allow it over 600. I think I have maxed out at about 650 to 675 degrees and the little Keystone is throwing some heat. I kind of like to let it cruise at 500 degrees for now just so I am more comfortable leaving the stove alone while I toil with other chores.

The Keystone has a tremendous view of the fire. I first got hung-up dampering down to red coals and a glowing cat, but decided I wanted the large glass for a view of the fire - not a bunch of hot coals. So now, we open the damper and let the flames wick the cat shield and it is such a relaxing, beautiful view. Looks like a miniature fireplace - and your's especially does so setting against that big hearth.

I also bought the additional stones for the top of my Keystone, but found they suppressed the heat output so have removed them for now.

Good luck and ask away if you have any questions.

Bill

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is a beautiful install. It does sound like you had your hands full getting ready for this and that fall and getting hit with the brick, well, you paid your dues! lol Congratulations.

 

[Todd]

Congrats, great looking install. You make me feel a little better that I payed a mason and didn't have any bricks fall on my head. OUCH! You will love this stove, it's a great little heater that can produce a ton of heat but also be turned down for a long slow even output perfect for your climate.