Got the call earlier in the week that the stove was ready. I took an afternoon off work to go get it at the factory becaue I couldn't wait for my wife to be able to get it later in the week. We set it onto the porch using the tractor, slide it into the house on planks, and then using a small crowbar and blocks got it lifted up to the hearth height.
It has the ash pan, some some assembly required (legs, ash pan and shields, and rear shield). Finished with three extra parts. Hmmm. Finally found reference to the front and rear ash pan heat shields in the directions and decided that was what I had (photo's included in the directions, but black and white photos of a black stove part). The third extra part I already knew was the heat shield to use when top-venting, which I am not.
Pretty straight forward directions and steps needed to get it assembled. No directions for torque on leg bolts - I snugged them on and will check over time. Past stories of broken legs had me nervous - that is a lot of weight, up quite a ways.
I had to wait until the next evening to get a short piece of pipe to extend the Tee off the end of the liner. Got that installed intime to do a small kindling fire, a cool down, and another small kindling fire. Very easy to start (32' of straight-up liner helps), and responsiveness to the draft control is very comforting. We did a medium fire the next morning and let it die down while we were gone to work. That evening my wife started it with kindling last night, and we've settled in to keep it running 24-7.
Still getting used to both a new stove and first cat. So far no real issues. Amazing the difference between the flue probe (Condor, same position on this stove as previous non-EPA stove) - we used to run at 900 degrees to get as much heat as we could. So far I haven't seen this go above 600 at the flue. We've cruised at 500 degrees stove-top for a couple of loads, but haven't ventured higher yet. If it ever gets cold I'll have to move up above the 500 degree stove-top temp to keep the house warm. Also amazed at how steady the temp stays throughout the burn. Very impressed.
It has the ash pan, some some assembly required (legs, ash pan and shields, and rear shield). Finished with three extra parts. Hmmm. Finally found reference to the front and rear ash pan heat shields in the directions and decided that was what I had (photo's included in the directions, but black and white photos of a black stove part). The third extra part I already knew was the heat shield to use when top-venting, which I am not.
Pretty straight forward directions and steps needed to get it assembled. No directions for torque on leg bolts - I snugged them on and will check over time. Past stories of broken legs had me nervous - that is a lot of weight, up quite a ways.
I had to wait until the next evening to get a short piece of pipe to extend the Tee off the end of the liner. Got that installed intime to do a small kindling fire, a cool down, and another small kindling fire. Very easy to start (32' of straight-up liner helps), and responsiveness to the draft control is very comforting. We did a medium fire the next morning and let it die down while we were gone to work. That evening my wife started it with kindling last night, and we've settled in to keep it running 24-7.
Still getting used to both a new stove and first cat. So far no real issues. Amazing the difference between the flue probe (Condor, same position on this stove as previous non-EPA stove) - we used to run at 900 degrees to get as much heat as we could. So far I haven't seen this go above 600 at the flue. We've cruised at 500 degrees stove-top for a couple of loads, but haven't ventured higher yet. If it ever gets cold I'll have to move up above the 500 degree stove-top temp to keep the house warm. Also amazed at how steady the temp stays throughout the burn. Very impressed.
