Woodstock Ideal Steel Questions/Thoughts

[sfox7076]

Hi all. I am in the process of replacing an older Pacific Energy unit that is in our kitchen area in Columbia County, NY (near Hudson, NY). I have settled on the ideal steel or an offering from Blaze King. The house is a log cabin build in 1992 that has a 1950sq. ft. basement, a 1950sq. ft first floor and a 384sq. ft. loft. The dining room at one end of the house has 8' ceilings, which opens up to the Kitchen/Dining Room that has 18' ceilings. That is connected to the Great Room/Game area which has 20-22' ceilings. There is then two bedrooms and a bathroom (walled in) and stairs up to a lofted master bedroom. I will attach a rudimentary diagram below. Each room has a Mitsubishi heat pump. I want to use the woodstove as a primary heat source when it is cold out. There are two wood burning stoves in the house now. Both are circled on the plans and pictures below. Both have a chimney height of at least 15' (one is 15' and one is more than 20'). The stove we want to replace is in the kitchen area. We have had some issues with it and its burn time is relatively short, but it is also the one we burn the most. It is on a semi-circular brick pad with a brick back. Behind the brick wall is cinderblock. The semi-circular brick pad has a 47" radius. So across the back it is 94" wide, but the pad only protrudes 47" at center, and as you move further, the pad is less distance from the back wall (with the arc of the circle). I am trying to determine what I might need to do to use the Ideal Steel there (if anything). I am going to hire a chimney person to come line the chimney and install the stove, but I want to ensure that I can use what I have instead of having to redo the whole pad. The other option would be to replace the stove in the great room. It is a currently a massive old Wehrle stove. I am not sure how old, but it is cast iron and really a piece to look at, but it doesn't move heat the way the pacific energy does when it is rolling and has the blower going. So interested in all of your thoughts on this. Also, I believe that there is cement board under the brick, but I am not sure. The chimney has its cleanout in the garage. Let me know your thoughts. I am leaning Ideal Steel as of now, and want to take advantage of the tax credit. A few things of note as well. The kitchen woodstove shares a chimney (not a flue) with the oil burner in the basement (not used anymore) and the great room has 3 flues in the chimney. One for the wood burner on the backside, one for the gas fireplace in the front and a separate flue to the basement (we have a propane stove there as it gets into the 40s in winter). Any of the stoves will need a new liner, so we are ready for that.

 

[bholler]

Honestly if it were my house I would be looking to replace the old stove in the great room. Possibly put the PE there and a slower burning cat stove in the kitchen.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

What model is the PE, and which chimney is it currently on? The 15 or the 20ft?

What is your wood situation? Newer stoves are going to be a lot more picky about your wood supply than your older ones.

 

[sfox7076]

I cannot find a model number on the PE. I was told it was a PE by the child of the former owner and it has a PE blower attached to the back. It is hooked to the 15' chimney.

My wife prefers the aesthetic of the big Wherle and wants to keep it over the PE. What do you mean as a slow burning cat stove? Is the IS that in your eyes? As to the wood situation, I currently have about 1 year of dry wood left and a second year drying. I still have more wood to cut up and split. There have been a lot of windy storms this year and a bunch of treed have fallen of late (a few ash and one maple). I also have some massive fir trunks (12"+ thick) that is cut and sitting for disposal (after I cut down and chipped 100 blue spruce trees and 4 firs that were all over the property but had fungus) but always assumed that burning the fir trees would be a bad idea in any stove. I just have not yet figured out what to do with those.

 

[bholler]

I cannot find a model number on the PE. I was told it was a PE by the child of the former owner and it has a PE blower attached to the back. It is hooked to the 15' chimney.

My wife prefers the aesthetic of the big Wherle and wants to keep it over the PE. What do you mean as a slow burning cat stove? Is the IS that in your eyes? As to the wood situation, I currently have about 1 year of dry wood left and a second year drying. I still have more wood to cut up and split. There have been a lot of windy storms this year and a bunch of treed have fallen of late (a few ash and one maple). I also have some massive fir trunks (12"+ thick) that is cut and sitting for disposal (after I cut down and chipped 100 blue spruce trees and 4 firs that were all over the property but had fungus) but always assumed that burning the fir trees would be a bad idea in any stove. I just have not yet figured out what to do with those.

Burn the fir no reason not to if it's dry. And yes the IS can burn slow

 

[begreen]

Looks like an old Super possibly. FWIW, when Tom Oyen tested stoves in his shop back a decade ago, the 2012? Super had the longest burntime in the shop. He posted 16 hrs. with plenty of coals for a hot restart. This stove may need maintenance or perhaps it is not being run correctly? How far closed is the air control once the fire is burning well?

Can you post some pictures of the interior of the stove, looking up at the underside of the baffle?

 

[sfox7076]

The old owner said it was from 1992. I had not used a wood burner since the 1990s since I started using it. So some of it could be my issue, but in any event, my wife is sort of set on changing the PE out. Especially if we can get rid of the blower noise...

 

[begreen]

The old owner said it was from 1992. I had not used a wood burner since the 1990s since I started using it. So some of it could be my issue, but in any event, my wife is sort of set on changing the PE out. Especially if we can get rid of the blower noise...

I don't know about the 1992 model but the modern PE blower is pretty quiet. Has the blower ever been cleaned, oiled? If the blower is necessary to distribute the heat, then that will be true of other stoves too.

Can you post a picture of the inside of the stove showing the baffle?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I burn fir, spruce, and pine in my PE all the time. It's great stuff! I know we have great wood here, but on shoulder seasons, and on the really cold snaps, light wood that burns with few coals and little ash is hard to beat!

 

[Da16652]

I cannot find a model number on the PE. I was told it was a PE by the child of the former owner and it has a PE blower attached to the back. It is hooked to the 15' chimney.

My wife prefers the aesthetic of the big Wherle and wants to keep it over the PE. What do you mean as a slow burning cat stove? Is the IS that in your eyes? As to the wood situation, I currently have about 1 year of dry wood left and a second year drying. I still have more wood to cut up and split. There have been a lot of windy storms this year and a bunch of treed have fallen of late (a few ash and one maple). I also have some massive fir trunks (12"+ thick) that is cut and sitting for disposal (after I cut down and chipped 100 blue spruce trees and 4 firs that were all over the property but had fungus) but always assumed that burning the fir trees would be a bad idea in any stove. I just have not yet figured out what to do with those.

I have burned wood for 36 years and always heard pine was a bad idea. 2 falls ago we had to cut down several jack pines that were threatening electrical lines. I normally save that pine for our outside summer bonfires however I started to burn it in my Harmon wood furnace. It actually makes for a hot fire just doesn’t hold a long overnight fire like locust or oak. So now I am burning the pine and poplar, also cut from our property in the day time and the harder woods at night with great results so far.

 

[DBoon]

That's a beautiful setup in a nice area - I spent many drives on the Taconic Parkway to 82 to 23 to 9H through that area to get to RPI/Troy and back.

The brick pad/hearth in the kitchen might not have the front clearances for the Ideal Steel (I recall that is front loading?), and the Absolute Steel might be a better choice with less front clearance requirements (due to side loading). Also, another thing that might affect the front clearances is the chimney pipe size - my Woodstock Keystone has 10" front clearance with a 6" chimney pipe and 8" with a 7" chimney pipe. Plan accordingly if clearances are tight.

Shipping costs might favor the Woodstock over the Blaze King.