Production Woodstock IS

Maybe someday I'll get over there... It's quite the trip to make, maybe I'll plan a vacation on the East coast for the family and I'll scoot by then. Little too long (2,841 miles) of a drive for just a visit to the stove shop....

 

Not a day trip!

 

Oh boy guess what I found above top hinge

 

What ever its cause, its definitely following the "line" in the picture I posted earlier.... Crazy!!!!! I look at that area every damm time I open the stove now....

 

Surprised you didn’t see that sooner, it’s fairly big.

 

One of the things I've found om my Absolute Steel is that the door closure handle/lock mechanics are such that the lever is large and allows for far more pressure to be applied to that door hinge that is actually needed. I mean it's nice to have a big solid handle, but us guys can over do the muscle we put behind closing that door. I found this when I realized the gasket had flattend out and was allowing some air leakage at one of the corners. I also noticed that one of the bolts in one of the hinges (upper maybe?) was lifted up slightly in it's channel. Probably from me applying slightly too my pressure to the door closing.

The fix was simply use my fingers to push that big fat door gasket back into shape and use a more gently effort when shutting the door. Simple as that.

BUT! I wonder of these cracks are being caused by some similar door pressure/stress resulting from closing and using more force than needed when closing that door. I'm unable to remember what the handles look like on an IS. But given that the cracks are all right there at that upper hinge, I gotta wonder if that hinge isn't at least part of the culprit?

 

Mine fractured last year...twice.

It was sent back to WS and was welded in their shop. A few months later it fractured in the same locations (top & bottom right side corners). I sent it back to WS again & they swapped stove bodies for me, & added the previously described reinforcements & heat shields.

That being said, I still highly recommend the company & will be purchasing another stove from them shortly (I sold my house & the stove was part of the deal). WoodStock stood behind their product & earned my loyalty...not too mention that stove was awesome.

 

Wow! Been missing this. Just how many stoves are we aware of with issues on this site?

Customer service is one thing and I am glad customer service at WS is taking of people, but what are some of you doing for heat while the stove is in repair?

Do they have a handle on this yet?

 

They most definitely have a handle on things. As this thread grows, more folks are chiming in with stories of what has happened with them and what WS has done to remedy it, me being one of them.
The fractures have taken awhile to show up, for some they have had no problems. Despite the time table, WS deserves a call and they will listen.

 

Called Woodstock this morning they basically told me it was safe to burn put a little furnace cement on it and bring it down in the spring.. I’ve always been careful about buying the first of a production year.. Their customer service is outstanding.!

 

Ours is looking fine so far, installed in Jan 2018.

Wonder if there's any preventive measures that can be taken.

 

Yes...run the oil furnace...bulletproof cure!

 

Dats just crazy talk.

 

I couldn’t agree more! Just crazy...

 

Has anyone got a new combustor that was a smidgen too wide and would not drop in the hole? I got 3 ish years out of mine but the performance last year was lagging, though my wood situation wasn't great either, so not sure, but I wanted 2 anyhow to facilitate cleaning and still running the stove.

Wow I haven't been on in a while and checked back several pages to see if the above combustor question had recently come up and I see all these cracked stoves! Very unsettling. Now i'm a bit worried will be checking there next load! I hope you are all getting taken care of by WS

 

Me too. IS delivered 6/16, so 3 full seasons. Only ever had it near 600 a few times (and that's as measured on the WS supplied stovetop thermo-which on my stove shows high by 25 to 50 degrees). Many of us have mentioned that fires burn right to left looking at the firebox from the front, and on mine the upper front right side of the stove gets much hotter than any other part of the stove, other than the top front when the catalyst is working hard. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? I spoke with Ron at WS on 11/1 and he said the stove is safe to use, and he would get back to me re WS's intentions to address these situations. Haven't heard anything yet.

 

looks like right where the (cold ) air wash air meets the heat of the stove.

 

Totally agree!
With that in mind I’m blocking the air intake under the lower door gasket seal. Gonna give that a go and see if I have more control for a black firebox .

 

Yes. I bought a new combustor and had to talk it into fitting into the slide- it was hanging up on the welded corners of the combustor. Not bad though and nothing I could not push to seat, no banging or tapping required.

Brian

 

Yes, the cracks occur right at the bottom of the air wash guide. Not because of the air wash though but because the steel welded there makes the firebox stronger and that strength ends with the weld, thereby creating a weak spot or 'stress riser' and that is where the stoves are cracking. The actual cause is temperature induced stress in the steel body of the stove; notice that is most, if not all the photos of these cracks there are smoke or creosote patterns running vertically right around or over the crack? That is the result of these tremendous stresses put on the stove when heating or cooling (I suspect heating but it does not matter).

The fix is to put a gusset behind that area, preferably going around the door opening corner and all the way down the right side of the stove, again hopefully around the bottom corner also.

Woodstock has redesigned the fireboxes on these stoves (I believe they call it the stove body) and is swapping them out on the older stoves.

Brian