I have a Woodstock AS. I’ve had it since they’ve come out. I love the company and the concept of the stove. The problem is probably me and I am too dumb a wood burner to figure things out. I have had all sorts of problems and I’m ready to give up on it and get rid of it. Frustrated! Need a simple noncat stove with an air control and that’s it.
Long story. In the second year with it, I noticed the secondary burn grate warped. Wood stock said it’s designed to flex. Then the metal warped at the bypass gasket channel. I don’t think I overburned it as it burned 500-550 STT until it warped and started reaching STT temps of 600-625. I brought it and it got repaired.
Burned it for another year and a half after that. Again it broke near the bypass channel. Again, I don’t think I overburned it, as the STT temps were 500-550. The stove got fixed again.
Another problem I had is I had condensation in the chimney on a cold start, so much so that it dripped back in through the thimble and I needed to build a dam inside to prevent it with refractory cement.
Before this burning season, I had the chimney lined with 6 inch preinsulated liner and I put in a fresh air intake. No more condensation. I think the fresh air intake was a mistake, but I put it in based on advice of people from forums. The STT temps were climbing to 600 a few times, and Woodstock says that’s potential warping temps. I disconnected the fresh air intake on advice of my chimney sweep to see what would happen.
Right now, on a hot reload, I can close the bypass almost immediately with the STT temp at least 250, shut the air down to half way between 0and 1 and the STT temps will reach 500-550 at peak.
But another problem I’m having is sudden ignition of secondaries, so much that it startles me when it happens. This happens even after I have cleaned the cat with vinegar and water, and I’m confident I didn’t shut the air down too quickly.
I’ve played with a key damper in the pipe to see if that helps, wondering if potential overdraft. But I’m not sure that is the answer. Seems to burn too low, and then I was using it and it had sudden ignition of gasses and smoke came out every orifice it could and scared the Dickens out of me. Wondering if something is broken somewhere, but I can’t figure it out. I don’t notice anything (other than the warped/flexed secondary burn grate/not sure if this would cause a problem).
This evening, I built a top down fire on a cold start. Let the pipe temp get to above 250, closed the air to just below 3, let STT temps get above 350, then chit the air to 2. Pipe temp rose to 325 and STT to 500. When it came out of cat mode, it came out with sudden ignition of gasses a little hard. Went back into cat mode, again came out a little hard but okay. Then back to cat mode, then came out with a “whoosh” that’s enough to scare you .
I’m about to give up.
