Our ideal steel in charcoal and copper

[smokedragon]

Here is the ideal steel in charcoal and copper. Pardon the shoddy camera work. We will have the back plate in (over the old fireplace) and fire it tomorrow. I will be reporting in a few weeks on how she does.

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If you want to see the video of me talking about and showing off the new stove.

We will start the burning season with the andirons OUT, loading NS. We may put them back. We chose to go with the ashpan, and I will see how well that does.

Had an insert in that fireplace last year, had to expand the hearth greatly. I hope it is worth it, and we will know in a month or so.

 

[HotCoals]

wow nice vid!
I was interested more in this stove and you did a great job talking about it.
I really like how easy the cat is to service and you don't have to change the gasket every time it seems.
I like the dual latch on the door also Ash pan seems like it is thought out well also.
Still having a hard time getting used to the looks of it and that is coming from a BK owner..lol.
Hope it works well for you! cheers!

 

[begreen]

Very helpful video. Thanks for posting smokedragon. There are a lot of innovations in the IS. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it during the heating season.

 

[tarzan]

Great job with the video! Several features about that stove leave no doubt that Woodstock is listening to customer feedback.

O'l and great looking stove to. You should have many warm years ahead.

 

[Comanche79p]

How is the stove doing for you?

Great video.

 

[Elbinwyp]

First time burner here. I have been slowly pushing the IS harder over the past few weeks. Past 3 loads have been ash and packed ~80% full. Each load had burnt for 24 hrs and I have been able to reload on coals. I just stirred up the coals buried in the ashes from a fire I lit 38 hours ago and successfully reloaded on them.

The stove is very very easy to operate. The ability to control a full load makes it very fun and easy to run.

 

[osagebow]

Cool vid-well done.
"Clang clang" is NOT funny!
I know- that touch up paint is pricey!

 

[smokedragon]

How is the stove doing for you?

Great video.

We have done all of our break in fires. First fire only took it up to 350. Second one 400.

Last night it was cold and windy, so we cranked it up to 550. Lots of secondary action and loads of heat. I loaded the stove 2/3 full at 7pm, the house was 82 downstairs and 73 upstairs this morning (at 5:30am) with outside temps at 40. There was still wood in the stove, and it was 300 degree.

Disengaged the cat, put two more splits on it, let it flame up for a few minutes, re-engaged the cat. It will be warm when I get home today.

Oh, and by the way, my results are using NOTHING but southern yellow pine (which is not the best of firewood). In years past I couldn't get this performance from my old stove with red oak and hickory.

 

[smokedragon]

Cool vid-well done.
"Clang clang" is NOT funny!
I know- that touch up paint is pricey!

Cool vid-well done.
"Clang clang" is NOT funny!
I know- that touch up paint is pricey!

Ha. Glad it's not just me )

Does your stove make the bell ringing sound??

Mine (when started from below 200) will start to 'ring' at about 240 surface temp (on the plate where you would top exit).

Woodstock says they are aware of the issue and that it will not hurt the stove or affect the performance.

I was joking with a friend and said that I thought mine came with a special alarm that told me it was almost time to engage the cat.

 

[smokedragon]

I will say one other thing about this:

If you see my setup, it is a horizontal run to my liner. My previous stove was in that fireplace and vented straight up. With all the nooks and crannys and paths that this stove has, I really expected to have trouble lighting a fire (especially if it wasn't that cold).

Our first break in fire was on a evening where the temps would be in the mid 50's in the morning, but it was 64 outside when I lit the stove. To my surprise I did not need to heat my flue and it draws extremely well (way better than my old stove). I cannot say enough about it (good thing).

 

[osagebow]

Ha. Glad it's not just me )

Does your stove make the bell ringing sound??

Mine (when started from below 200) will start to 'ring' at about 240 surface temp (on the plate where you would top exit).

Woodstock says they are aware of the issue and that it will not hurt the stove or affect the performance.

I was joking with a friend and said that I thought mine came with a special alarm that told me it was almost time to engage the cat.

Yes, I think it may be due to marginal early season draft, though. I was breaking it in when it did that, 50's outside. Added a thin washer under that bolt, per thier advice. It rattled 3-4 seconds last night. It was in the 40's, getting better draft.

 

[smokedragon]

Once they told me it wouldn't hurt anything, I said oh well.

It still beats the noise my old blower used to make.

 

[ladyofglass]

Yes, I think it may be due to marginal early season draft, though. I was breaking it in when it did that, 50's outside. Added a thin washer under that bolt, per thier advice. It rattled 3-4 seconds last night. It was in the 40's, getting better draft.

Could you elaborate on that? I started burning in my new ideal steel last night, and the rattling starts around 200.

 

[smokedragon]

Could you elaborate on that? I started burning in my new ideal steel last night, and the rattling starts around 200.

Contact Woodstock.
They will send you out something to try (since they are currently trying to solve the problem). Mine starts at about 230, but quits at about 250.

I was told it will do not harm to your stove and not affect the performance. I am not really worried about it.

From my understanding of the conversation I had with Woodstock, it is being caused by a bimetallic strip in the stove (that controls automatic air to the catalyst). The strip is causing a valve (for lack of a better word) to vibrate until it gets hot enough to completely open it. It only does it on cold start where the catalyst air is completely closed.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for relaying the explanation. The old thermostatic air flapper on our Resolute would do that when it was at neutral demand. It would tap tap tap (actually more like ting ting ting) constantly until heat was demanded and it opened enough to stop tapping. I finally cured it by placing a tiny magnet on the edge. That way it was either closed or open enough to stop tapping.

 

[osagebow]

Could you elaborate on that? I started burning in my new ideal steel last night, and the rattling starts around 200.

Mike from WS had me try this.
You can take the cover on the rear right ( as you face stove) off, just a few small bolts to get to the part. It is a metal square attached with another strip of metal. Take that bolt off and add a small thin washer. It will still close and open when needed, but wont rattle. Like the magnet idea also.

What are they sending out, Dragon?

 

[smokedragon]

It would tap tap tap (actually more like ting ting ting) constantly until heat was demanded and it opened enough to stop tapping.

Begreen: That is EXACTLY what this is doing. I haven't taken the cover off yet, but I'll bet something like that would work.

What are they sending out

They are sending me a new part that has a gasket on it (from what I was told, I haven't gotten it yet). I assume that they gasket is to stop it from making sound if it flaps

We shall see. It really doesn't bother me much. Once we get past shoulder season, it will not rattle any more because it only does it if the stove gets below 200 and then you heat it back up. I doubt it will get cool enough once we get into serious burning season.

I will update the thread once I get the part in.

 

[Huntindog1]

Thanks for the Video, your video really gives a person a feel for the size and how heavy duty the stove is built. Nice Stove!

 

[smokedragon]

Thanks,

For a frame of reference I am 5'10 and 220lbs. It is a BIG stove, the hearth it is on is 6 foot by 6 foot tile over concrete slab.

Here is a picture of our install. I was amazed at how well this stove draws being a back exit install like this.

 

[smokedragon]

So here is the mod woodstock has come up with to silence my catalytic alarm

The old part is on the right (flat SS plate with a bimetallic strip attached to it). The new part is on the left, same thing but with a very heavy gasket on it.



This is the new part installed (guess what was in the mailbox when I got home today)



Still waiting on the wife to stain the transitions before I put them down, so that is why the carpet looks so ragged around the hearth. Pardon the work in progress.

 

[smokedragon]

Also, here is a video of the ideal steel in secondary burn mode.

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[begreen]

That's a beautiful light show.

 

[smokedragon]

Thought I would update the thread. We have a BIG house that is a fixer-upper, but we love it. The house originally had a drive in garage downstairs (1.5 car) and the previous owner finished it (but put no insulation). That is my attached workshop now. The entire downstairs in uninsulated (except the stove room, I did that 2 years ago). Our family room is where we have the stove, it is a big room (550 sq feet). The other rooms downstairs had to stay shut up with the old stove, and even then if it dropped below freezing the heat came on by 4am. So now picture a 3,650 square foot split foyer house, with the entire downstairs (save for 2 exerior walls in the stove room) uninsulated with the original windows from 1962, and trying to heat that with one stove.......

So we had a few cold days in a row with lots of wind, and I really got to test the stove. I have been bragging about how I am only burning pine and it is keeping the house warm, but in fairness I live in a moderate climate.

That said, Saturday night it was 24 outside when I went to bed, 18 when I woke up. I stoked the stove with a mix of pine and oak (50/50) at 8:30pm. When I decided it was finally time to go fidget with my IS on Sunday morning (8:30 am) it was 78 downstairs (opposite end of the room the stove is in) and 68 upstairs (down the hall outside our three bedrooms, as far from the stove as you can get). We have decided to shut my workshop (600 square feet) when it gets really cold so that the bedrooms stay a little warmer, but other than that, it will certainly heat the rest of the house. If my wife were more like me, I would leave the shop open and it would do fine for me, but she likes it a few degrees warmer when she wakes up.

Here is a picture of the thermostat in the stove room from Saturday at 11pm. I decided to see how well it heated and got the stove up to 625 surface temp (on the plate that covers the top flue exit, since we rear vent). So running hard from 8:30 - 11, this is what you get......



Now that is in the room with the stove, but still

I think if I got my lazy butt downstairs sooner, I could have kept the upstairs 70 with all the rooms open.