Was the heat shield the problem?

[BrowningBAR]

So, anyone that was around last year might remember my ongoing battle with the Intrepid. Long story short, it put out far less heat that it should have. As the winter progressed I worked out some kinks (swapped out wood with kiln dried [was a non factor], pushed the stove further out of the fireplace, sealed any possible leaks in the stove pipe, cursed, complained, etc.) and was able to get it to produce an acceptable amount of heat. But still extremely frustrating.

This year I removed the heat shield to prep it for sand blasting. In doing so, I think I found the main issue with the poor performances. Last year if the stove was under 500° the stove was useless. To get heat out of the stove I needed to maintain at least 600°, and even then, heat out put seemed marginal.

This year, without the heat shield, there is a noticeable difference. It's 39° out right now and the stove is keeping the main part of the house at 65° and the kitchen, where it is located, and the bedroom above at 73°. All the while the stove is running at 400-450° as oppose to 600°.

The only thing I can think of is that the heat shield, combined with the location of the stove created a perfect mix where the heat stayed trapped... somewhere. I'll be damned if I know where. But, clearly, the answer appears to be; yes, the heat shield was a big factor in the stove's poor performance.

 

[Todd]

Sounds strange, you would think the heat shield would help reflect the heat from absorbing into the fireplace, maybe it needed to heat up that extra mass and radiate more? Glad it's working out better than last year, now you won't have to buy a 4th stove. :lol:

I was thinking with my new Keystone install that I would need a rear shield to keep all my brick from sucking up most of the heat, but so far it's heating great.

 

[BrowningBAR]

you would think the heat shield would help reflect the heat from absorbing into the fireplace

And that is pretty much why I never touched it last season. My thinking was "thank god the heat shield is there or the stove would be even more useless".

 

[begreen]

Good to hear you are getting more meaningful heat out of the stove. Hard to refute empirical evidence. Did the heat shield get bent in too much at the top? Anyway, if it ain't fixed, don't broke it!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Good to hear you are getting more meaningful heat out of the stove. Hard to refute empirical evidence. Did the heat shield get bent in too much at the top? Anyway, if it ain't fixed, don't broke it!

No damage or unintended bends were on the heat shield. Apart from some paint chips, the shield was in perfect condition. Surprising results.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Ongoing update:

Friday night the temps dropped to 27-28° and I was able to get the kitchen and bedroom up to 80° without much effort. You have no idea how huge of a difference this is when compared to last year.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is strange BrowningBar. I do remember your battle last year. Glad you found the fix, even it doesn't appear to make sense. You just can not trust these inanimate objects sometimes.