Isle Royale Ordered

[northwinds]

Well, after knocking my head against a brick wall for a number of months, I've come to the conclusion
that this isn't the best time to sell our house. So the realtor sign has come down, and I've ordered a
Quadrafire Isle Royale for the existing house. We'll be staying here for at least five years; our building
plans are on indefinite hold.

It will be a couple of weeks until the stove comes into the store. jtp10181's employer in madison got the
order and, and they will be doing the installation. It's going into a finished, insulated walk-out basement
with an open staircase, interior fabricated steel chimney, cast iron black. The stove is primarily intended
to heat the lower level which includes a family room and two bedrooms. We'll also get some heat going
up the open staircase to the great room and beyond. The lower level has always been too cool, and we
get a lot of solar gain upstairs, so we should be in good shape.

Most of my firewood is less than a year old, but I have a couple of cords of seasoned firewood to get
through the rest of the winter and should have plenty of wood for next year.

 

[carpniels]

Hi N winds,

Good luck with the IR. That is a great stove (if I say so myself). I have come to like it a lot. Especially the really large splits it can take.

However, at this point, I am contemplating changing to a PE Alderlea T6. I like the looks, similar to the IR but it has that famous EBT, which will regulate the heat output. That would be ideal to have (at least, from what I have read).

Too bad you don't live closer: I would have sold you mine for a good price!!

Carpniels

 

[begreen]

Congratulations northwinds. That's exciting, keep us posted. I'll bet with a small fan pointed down the stairs towards the stove, you will get some good heating upstairs as well.

Don't worry about Neil. He's the only one that flips stoves more frequently than me . I just wish we lived closer so I could get his hand me downs. %-P

 

[Jags]

Congrats Northwinds. You should get along with that stove very well. It gets good owner ratings where ever you look (including me). And Carp is the first person I have ever heard of that wants to trade it for something. He just can't be right ;-P

 

[LarryD]

Northwinds,

You indeed are a smart one! ;-)

If I may make a suggestion, the warming shelves, while a bit expensive, are a nice feature. We move our steamer on to them when we top load. They also came in handy on Christmas day warming up some trays of food.

Let us know how you make out with it

Larry D

 

[northwinds]

Thanks for the replies and comments. Can't wait to be burning and producing real efficient wood heat again.

northwinds

 

[James04]

Northwinds,

How much is the T6? I am just curious as, I like the specs and the looks.

James

 

[northwinds]

carpniels was the person looking at the T6. I didn't look at that stove.

I will say that I based my decision on the stove choices available at the two dealers
closest to me. I didn't see any Pacific Energy Stoves.

 

[derbygreg]

Welcome to the Isle Royale Club.

 

[Burn-1]

I will pile on the Isle Royle love as well. In a basement install, (where I have mine), an inline damper in the pipe is not a bad idea. Be mindful the first couple times you use it. You will be pretty surprised at the kind of heat and griddle top temps you'll see. Good luck and congrats on a great choice.

 

[bbc557ci]

Northwinds,

How much is the T6? I am just curious as, I like the specs and the looks.

James

T6 lists for $2250. I ordered one a couple of days ago and got it for $1862.00 )

 

[James04]

That is an awesome price. The only quote that I ever got was over $2500. I almost laughed.

James

 

[northwinds]

I will pile on the Isle Royle love as well. In a basement install, (where I have mine), an inline damper in the pipe is not a bad idea. Be mindful the first couple times you use it. You will be pretty surprised at the kind of heat and griddle top temps you'll see. Good luck and congrats on a great choice.

I did order it with the inline damper. The sales person wasn't too excited about the idea and told me that I was guilty of old school thinking. But based upon what I've read here, and with a straight up shot to the roof, I ordered it anyway. It will be interesting to see how it does with and without using the damper.

 

[jtp10181]

Ahh... the retail coordinator and I were looking at your order yesterday. I told him he had the wrong stove adaptor one, but he said the customer asked for the one with the damper. We were discussing how much of a pain the wood stove orders are, sooo many parts and if you forget one you are in trouble. I will have to review your order next week to make sure it goes smooth.

 

[northwinds]

Thanks, jtp.

 

[Todd]

Hi N winds,

Good luck with the IR. That is a great stove (if I say so myself). I have come to like it a lot. Especially the really large splits it can take.

However, at this point, I am contemplating changing to a PE Alderlea T6. I like the looks, similar to the IR but it has that famous EBT, which will regulate the heat output. That would be ideal to have (at least, from what I have read).

Too bad you don't live closer: I would have sold you mine for a good price!!

Carpniels

Why on earth would you give up top loading for a front door loader? The EBT is nothing more than a way to give that big firebox more air so it passes the EPA emissions test on a low burn.

 

[northwinds]

January 29th installation date. Yippee!

 

[northwinds]

One more day. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[jtp10181]

Ahhh yes, I saw the big heap of pipe in the warehouse today. Was talking to the guy who came out to your house. Looks like it should be a fun install up through the closet from he told me.

 

[jpl1nh]

NW, congratulations. Those ae beautiful stoves. I was looking closely at them a while back myself. I'm sure you'll love it. Waiting for the pics!

 

[northwinds]

Ahhh yes, I saw the big heap of pipe in the warehouse today. Was talking to the guy who came out to your house. Looks like it should be a fun install up through the closet from he told me.

It was more fun than they expected. Even though I had the previewer check the room for possible installation problems,
the installers immediately ran into a problem with a furnace run in the ceiling above the selected wood stove location.
They weren't able to proceed without additional work by a heating contractor. Other stove locations in the room are
problematic also.

They left a few minutes ago with the hearth pad and ceiling box. A pilot hole in the ceiling is the only thing that will greet
my wife when she comes home tonight. With temps dipping below zero tonight and a cold spell for the coming days after,
I'm very disappointed and unsure about the future of the project.

I'm waiting to hear from the store manager about options. Because of the lengthy chimney run from the lower level
through the main floor, attic and roof, this was an expensive project already. I had hoped with the preview to
avoid this situation from happening. Murphy's Law, I guess.

 

[carpniels]

HI NW,

Don't give up! Nothing ever goes as planned. That is how life works. I hope it wil be a relatively easy fix.

You will forget about all those installations inconveniences once you have the IR running. I have been using mine continuously since November and it does heat the entire 2500 sq. ft. Even at 5 degrees. The trick is good dry hardwood. And pack it nicely. Plus, when my wife is taking care of our 3 boys and forgets to tend to the stove, I have a fun job at 5:30 when I get home to get the house up to temp. I pack the stove, open the air and wait 10 minutes. Temp shoots to 800 and I close the air almost completely, then it cruises from there down to 500 in about 3-4 hours. In the mean time, the fan takes the heated air and blows it through the house, getting it up to 70 or so. Repeat at 9 PM before bedtime.

Thanks

Carpniels

 

[northwinds]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Carpniels.

I've got a pile of clothing, shoes, and other closet contents to put
back into the walk-in closet before my wife gets home tonight.

Then I'm going to have a couple of beers and try to forget about
how things went today. I might even light a fire in my crappy
Majestic fireplace upstairs.

 

[northwinds]

I've been working with the dealer over the past couple of days on a resolution. Since the issue was missed
during the dealer preview on-site, they knocked $300 off the project, and I have a friend/customer
coming in sometime over the next couple of days to look at moving the heat/air register further up the heat
duct tube.

There will be some dry wall and painting work also, if we go that route. Alternatively, the dealer will cut
through the heat line and and cap it off--in which case I lose one of two registers in a large room. In any
event, we have a new installation date: 2/7/08. Credit to the dealer for working to satisfy an unhappy
customer. The dealer, by the way, is Fireside Hearth & Home , jtp10181's employer. Everyone makes
mistakes; it's how one deals with those mistakes that helps determine one's character.

Keeping my finger's crossed that the stove is installed, and I'm burning--before warm weather returns.
Temperatures around zero this morning.

 

[begreen]

By all means relocate the register. Capping it off will not only starve the room for heat/cool, it also has the potential to unbalance the system.