Sorry in advance for this long winded review. We are a new member here but a life-long wood burner. Chances are if you are reading this blog you are considering a new wood stove. You should consider the Woodstock Soapstone Ideal Steel Hybrid Model 210. The previous commentary on here pushed us to this decision. They were right. We recently made the plunge and after two weeks of "shoulder season" fires we are thoroughly amazed.
Before ordering we looked at everything on the market that we could find locally. We were starting to travel to see more variety. Our last stove (for a smaller house) was a Jotul model 8 catalytic that we burned for 21 years. It was fussy but a very capable heater that we grew to love. It sipped wood as compared to the various basement stoves that we upgraded every few years. After looking at many new stoves on the market we were discouraged to see most only used secondary burn tubes or baffles with various insulation mats above them. It seems like they would be hard to throttle down to a slow burn without losing the secondary re-burn, making them dirty a large portion of the season. Hence we started looking at catalytic stoves again that meet the 2020 epa standards already. We figured an outdated stove would be harder to resell in a few years.
I personally despise the look of steel stoves so we were looking at the cast iron options. There aren't many. There are a few hybrids on the market but they weren't impressive in person. Castings were light, tolerances were poor. As an example one company has an ash pan with a heavy cast iron face which was very clumsy. Another one had an ash pan that rides on exposed drawer runners that looked like homework done on the school bus. Little disappointing details that spoke volumes for the quality. We nearly settled on a Blaze King Ashford 30. Excellent reviews with proven technology. Very well done but pricey.
We regrouped again and realized we should be after function and forgo traditional looks. We went to the EPA list. We started investigating steel stoves, a Regency, a Blaze King, or the Woodstock Ideal. Regency was light that suggests less material, but we couldn't find one to look at. The princess was really ugly and only catalytic (but well done), and we couldn't see an ideal in person either.
After reading the blogs on a whim we ordered an essential black on black Ideal with only an ash pan, outside air and andirons as options. I didn't personally care for the colors or medallions, but to each his own. It admittedly seems like we fell through the cracks a little on the order. No call back from the online reservation for a day, no confirmation receipt after the phone order (until I requested one the next day) and they ended up missing the projected completion date by two weeks and we were not kept abreast without bugging them. I can forgive the oversights as growing pains and being too busy, but there is room for tracking improvement.
We drove 3-1/2 hours(one way) on a saturday to pick it up. We declined the full tour but we saw enough walking through the shop to see that they operate an impressive, organized facility. Very knowledgable and courteous employees on the skeleton weekend crew.
The stove was physically larger than expected. A big plus. Very well done, nice welds and tight tolerances. Nicely palletized and boxed for the ride. It is very minimalist but yet well engineered. The removable side fenders allow for easy height adjustment of the legs if needed. We were able to easily remove the fenders and simultaneously use our 2x12 loading ramps as levers with simple fulcrums to lift it off the pallet and set it on a movers dolly. We then used the same method to remove the dolly and set it in place. It was simple and fast. The fenders went back on and no signs of the move to show.
We did a small tempering fire per the paint instructions included and it was good to go. It's hooked up to a tall interior 8" round masonry chimney and it drafts well. We installed outside combustion air so it is unaffected by indoor pressure changes. It seems very trustable and simple. Burn it as the instructions state and obey the stovepipe thermometer. It produces amazing secondary flames and it drops into a nice catalytic burn. We are learning to stock the kindling fire with some large wood because there is some smoke spill for the first loading if not. We have only had a few single digit nights so far but it makes a 2200 sq foot house easy to heat so far near Saranac Lake NY. After two weeks of nightly fires and a few continuous day fires, the stainless catalytic looks as clean as new. The flue liner is very clean and dry looking as well, not glossy creosote as our old Jotul made our old 7x7 flue.
The owner's manual says this stove incorporates an automatic catalyst air damper that is controlled by a bimetallic coil. They attribute the stability of the fire to this and say it reduces the risk of over-firing. I believe it is key to the design and it seems very apparent as you watch the burn cycle. I'm not sure but I surmise this is a feature some competitors are lacking.
This is an unsolicited, unbiased review after only two short weeks. If anything negative arises we'll make sure to add an update. We just wanted to thank this forum for the help it offered.
Before ordering we looked at everything on the market that we could find locally. We were starting to travel to see more variety. Our last stove (for a smaller house) was a Jotul model 8 catalytic that we burned for 21 years. It was fussy but a very capable heater that we grew to love. It sipped wood as compared to the various basement stoves that we upgraded every few years. After looking at many new stoves on the market we were discouraged to see most only used secondary burn tubes or baffles with various insulation mats above them. It seems like they would be hard to throttle down to a slow burn without losing the secondary re-burn, making them dirty a large portion of the season. Hence we started looking at catalytic stoves again that meet the 2020 epa standards already. We figured an outdated stove would be harder to resell in a few years.
I personally despise the look of steel stoves so we were looking at the cast iron options. There aren't many. There are a few hybrids on the market but they weren't impressive in person. Castings were light, tolerances were poor. As an example one company has an ash pan with a heavy cast iron face which was very clumsy. Another one had an ash pan that rides on exposed drawer runners that looked like homework done on the school bus. Little disappointing details that spoke volumes for the quality. We nearly settled on a Blaze King Ashford 30. Excellent reviews with proven technology. Very well done but pricey.
We regrouped again and realized we should be after function and forgo traditional looks. We went to the EPA list. We started investigating steel stoves, a Regency, a Blaze King, or the Woodstock Ideal. Regency was light that suggests less material, but we couldn't find one to look at. The princess was really ugly and only catalytic (but well done), and we couldn't see an ideal in person either.
After reading the blogs on a whim we ordered an essential black on black Ideal with only an ash pan, outside air and andirons as options. I didn't personally care for the colors or medallions, but to each his own. It admittedly seems like we fell through the cracks a little on the order. No call back from the online reservation for a day, no confirmation receipt after the phone order (until I requested one the next day) and they ended up missing the projected completion date by two weeks and we were not kept abreast without bugging them. I can forgive the oversights as growing pains and being too busy, but there is room for tracking improvement.
We drove 3-1/2 hours(one way) on a saturday to pick it up. We declined the full tour but we saw enough walking through the shop to see that they operate an impressive, organized facility. Very knowledgable and courteous employees on the skeleton weekend crew.
The stove was physically larger than expected. A big plus. Very well done, nice welds and tight tolerances. Nicely palletized and boxed for the ride. It is very minimalist but yet well engineered. The removable side fenders allow for easy height adjustment of the legs if needed. We were able to easily remove the fenders and simultaneously use our 2x12 loading ramps as levers with simple fulcrums to lift it off the pallet and set it on a movers dolly. We then used the same method to remove the dolly and set it in place. It was simple and fast. The fenders went back on and no signs of the move to show.
We did a small tempering fire per the paint instructions included and it was good to go. It's hooked up to a tall interior 8" round masonry chimney and it drafts well. We installed outside combustion air so it is unaffected by indoor pressure changes. It seems very trustable and simple. Burn it as the instructions state and obey the stovepipe thermometer. It produces amazing secondary flames and it drops into a nice catalytic burn. We are learning to stock the kindling fire with some large wood because there is some smoke spill for the first loading if not. We have only had a few single digit nights so far but it makes a 2200 sq foot house easy to heat so far near Saranac Lake NY. After two weeks of nightly fires and a few continuous day fires, the stainless catalytic looks as clean as new. The flue liner is very clean and dry looking as well, not glossy creosote as our old Jotul made our old 7x7 flue.
The owner's manual says this stove incorporates an automatic catalyst air damper that is controlled by a bimetallic coil. They attribute the stability of the fire to this and say it reduces the risk of over-firing. I believe it is key to the design and it seems very apparent as you watch the burn cycle. I'm not sure but I surmise this is a feature some competitors are lacking.
This is an unsolicited, unbiased review after only two short weeks. If anything negative arises we'll make sure to add an update. We just wanted to thank this forum for the help it offered.
And I thought WI was rough..
