Ideal Steel is on its way
- Thread starter Randy Acton
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Congratulations. I'm planning to build a new home next year, which will include an Ideal Steel. Looking forward to your reports.
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I have been anticipating the arrival of this this stove for two years now (delays on my part not Woodstock), but the day is finally coming. I feel like a kid in a candy storeWill post pics as I can....
Congrats... it's a beautiful stove from a good company
Just curious.. what made you chose the ideal steel over one of their soapstone models.. looks, capacity cost?
Add to that list weight, performance, efficiency, burn times, front loading. There is a lot that the IS can do that the PH can't.
Been a crazy year and with cooler temps on the way thought I would update a long since dead thread. Ordered the IS early this year but within days of placing the order had to cancel due to unforeseen weather related events. We had a major storm hit our area and the wind and heavy rain sprang a leak in our chimney. To top it off, the next day a Hemlock that was close to the house snapped, hit the house and tore a hole in the roof. Needless to say the stove took a backseat to house repairs.
Finally reordered the IS and this time there is no backing out. The stove has arrived at the nearest ABF and I will be picking it up within hours and installing this evening. We ordered Charcoal/Moss Green, fully loaded and one of the nature scenes for artwork.
To answer the earlier post, we went with the IS mainly due to the cost, efficiency and burn times.
We are replacing an old Hearthstone soapstone stove and although we love the comfort and even heat produced other factors made it unpractical for or use. I have found over the last six years of running a soapstone stove that the most efficient way to run them is "batch" runs. IMHO to get the best use of the "thermal battery" you need to heat it up and the let it expend its energy. Unfortunately this cycling (along with an inefficient stove) just didn't work with our schedule and it seemed we were constantly relighting and when relighting a completely cold stove it takes forever to get it warm again.
Finally reordered the IS and this time there is no backing out. The stove has arrived at the nearest ABF and I will be picking it up within hours and installing this evening. We ordered Charcoal/Moss Green, fully loaded and one of the nature scenes for artwork.
To answer the earlier post, we went with the IS mainly due to the cost, efficiency and burn times.
We are replacing an old Hearthstone soapstone stove and although we love the comfort and even heat produced other factors made it unpractical for or use. I have found over the last six years of running a soapstone stove that the most efficient way to run them is "batch" runs. IMHO to get the best use of the "thermal battery" you need to heat it up and the let it expend its energy. Unfortunately this cycling (along with an inefficient stove) just didn't work with our schedule and it seemed we were constantly relighting and when relighting a completely cold stove it takes forever to get it warm again.
As a fellow convert from soapstone non-cat (heritage) to a cat stove, I think you will be very happy with the upgrade.
Picked the stove up yesterday morning and had it installed in the afternoon. Surprised at how quick and easy the whole thing went, had the Heritage out and the IS installed in about 90 minutes. Wow is the IS a beast!! The Heritage looks like a camp stove when they sat side by side.
Now I sit and anxiously wait for Michigan to decide to finally cool down, thermometer hit 90 today as we were installing the stove.
Now I sit and anxiously wait for Michigan to decide to finally cool down, thermometer hit 90 today as we were installing the stove.
Here are a couple pics of the installed stove
![[Hearth.com] Ideal Steel is on its way](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/200/200629-2095e57cf4f1f2e9c56507518df0b64a.jpg?hash=j4RQwv5U0S "[Hearth.com] Ideal Steel is on its way")
![[Hearth.com] Ideal Steel is on its way](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/200/200630-9b7e09018e2df671d8b854c7885b553f.jpg?hash=vBtNUJeUIQ "[Hearth.com] Ideal Steel is on its way")
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Looks great! Mine should be done in mid October. I ordered the same uni-iron but chose the other tree of life for the side panels.
Michael Sean
Member
Beautiful stove! I'm building a house this spring, including an Ideal Steel. Toured the factory and was impressed.
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I've been told that you can load this stove north/south which makes the stupid andirons unnecessary and inconvenient. Are they easily removed?
The andirons fold down easily. See 3:30 in the video below. Or for complete removal, see 4:35 in the video.
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I see, I would pitch them in the woods! Can you actually fit 16" wood in there north/south with any room to spare?
I started cutting/splitting my wood for this stove last year and it's all 18-20" so I plan on loading east/west and the andirons may come in useful, not only that the wife picked out the artwork so it has to stay for now. I will take a couple measurements of the firebox interior and post tomorrow. It is so easy to flip it out of the way I cant see it being a huge nuisance.
Sconnie Burner
Feeling the Heat
18" wood will fit easily north/south with the andirons removed. With the slope of the ceiling at the top I find myself loading 2-3 splits east/west on the top to get it super full. I played around with alternating rows in the same load and found it doesn't really matter how you load it up.
I can consistently get 12-14+ hours of useable heat out of it. Thats with opening it wide open and getting the coals bright red and burning down for an hour or so before reload. I'm heating approx 3100 sq ft from my unfinished basement and the upstairs never dipped below 70 last winter. A fan blowing across the top of the stove, a fan at the bottom of the steps blowing at the stove, and the hvac fan is what I'm using to move heat. I think I also get a fair amount af radiant heat coming up through the floor as the basement ceiling is unfinished at the moment. You'll be impressed with the nice long, even heat you get out of the Ideal Steel!
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Took measurements of the inside of the firebox. North/South I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything longer than 17" maybe 17 1/2" (18" lands on the steel door apron). East/West you could probably squeeze in 21" but a 20" split would fit nicely.
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