Yup I pulled the trigger. The forcast low for tonight was mid 40’s so after work I made sure the stove (Ideal Steel), chimney and whatnot was good to go in case I decided to light it up. I also put fresh batteries in the CO detectors - smoke alarm batteries are changed each spring. At 11:30 it was 47 out, low 60’s in the house - so I built a nice 8 split fire in the IS. This years wood Supply is mix of 28 month split & stacked Ash, Silver Maple, and Locust with a wee bit of Pine. Stovetop is now 440 and the stove room is warming up. BTW - Woodstock rebuilt this stove last October - I ran it from mid November to end of last season. Gave it a good look over tonight - still looks good - no cracks! Before you start your first fire of the year be sure to give everything a good one over safety check. Stay safe, Gpsfool
It's not that cold on the farm, yet. I just replaced the stove's fiberglass door seals last night. Got parts and equipment ready to do a quick chimney sweep, inspection, and flue pipe to chimney replacement. Replaced a smoke/CO detector that started failing. I've got 2 cords split and stacked oak and hickory that are about 2 years old. Half rick of hedge. Rick of 8 month cut locust. Picking up 2 cords of 3 year old oak tomorrow. Have about a cord of unsplit scrounge wood and a standing dead oak waiting for cooler weather. The locust, standing oak, and scrounge should make it too next winter. Covid has made getting some parts difficult so I have a new firebox blower sitting on a shelf and looking at getting a replacement transformer and relays. Because if one fails, it will be during a blizzard or ice storm. We have propane for backup heat. I ran the generator last month but need to finish making a power cord to keep the well and furnace blowers running. I've been making mental notes of where I see standing dead oaks and elm the last 2 weeks. Once it cools off I'll start trying to get them. I got a small dead elm last week from my wife's employer. He asked if I could cut it down to save him some money. I noticed several neighbors have similar problems that I hope to "fix" soon. Trying to get the 3 year plan done this winter. My new 75 hp tractor will help with that.
Not cool enough here...yet. 54 outside right now. 67 inside. After having all windows open yesterday, I closed them after sundown last night. I've scheduled to have my chimney cleaned. I'll be unbolting the stove top to gain access to the cat, to get it cleaned. Any day now, I'll get my wood rack on the deck, and loading it up. "Winter is coming"
We fired up on Tuesday evening. Low was 34° here in Anoka County, MN. Been reloading on coals every morning since
We lot up the stove Thursday night. It was in the low 50's, but the wife wanted a fire, and we had a lot of mail in the stove that had to be burned. Why not? 4 splits of silver maple and it put out heat all night.
Did you have cracks before? Do you happen to have pics of the stove before and after the repair?? Man I'm stoked to get mine back and have me a look see!!
Picked up 2 bundles of slab wood today. The oldest son helped me clean the chimney and replace flue pipe from the wood stove to chimney. Creosote came loose real easy. I used 2 of the creosote cleaner logs at the end of last season at 2 different times. Basically one complete push and pull through the chimney broke it all loose. There was more buildup than I would have liked. Guess I'll need to do a mid season cleaning this winter. Trailer has one bundle on it.
Chance04 - yes my stove had cracks and other issues, they did rebuild it. I sent it back in mind October 2019 and got it back mid November. At the time I was unaware they were rebuilding stoves. I was having some issues, it was getting increasingly hard to fully engage the cat, that last 5% of handle travel to engage the cat would frequently “Catch” and not complete it’s travel. Also when I got the cat fully engaged I noticed more smoke out the chimney than I thought normal. Stuff in the top end of the stove was warping/bending and I had a crack in that upper right area of the door opening. In getting ready for last years burn season, in late September I cleaned everything out, took pics and emailed Woodstock about the issues I was having. We then spoke and they offered to rebuild the stove. Here is pic of the cracks in my stove, Sorry, the pic is rotated 90 degrees. Gpsfool
Mine had the crack in the corner and you could run your finger along the face and feel that same crack you show in your pic basically forming just below the drop-down flap/airwash area. Have you felt for any distortion in the corners or where it cracked before?
I looked today on how it’s doing- smooth an silk but interesting looking lines - they are not cracks - see below. I set the area before taking the pic so it would shame out a bit more.
