Ideal steel/cat wood stove…?

I've had it both ways.. i loved the Fireview, but hated separating coals and scooping ash and getting my knuckles cooked while hurrying trying to get the house warmed up on a cold day.
I'll take the ash pan!

 

Load stove full and everything normally shut bypass put air between 1/4 and off; I have strong draft
36 hours later my STT between 120-140 degree
NOT throwing any heat
Rake ash out. I will have a pile of coals 6+ cups

 

Canadian border VT, is that on certain types of wood, or all species that you burn? Also, are you using certain size splits to help accomplish this? Meaning larger splits, or rounds....or is this the norm for "standard" splits?

Just wondering. But you saying "load stove full and everything normally...", guessing you don't have to do any specific tactics...

 

I dont make or use "all nighters".
All my splits are in the 4x4 range.
4x4, 3x5, 4x5. All 16" long. And i seldom stuff the stove tight.

My stove is in the basement so i set the air around 1/4 and i can have enough coals to rekindle a fire after 18-20 hours.
It would have gone much further if i hadn't drilled the 1/4" hole in the ash pan door. But with trying to push heat to the first floor, I'm better off without the overabundance of coals and getting a new fuel load in the stove sooner.

 

My splits are same size as ^^ Tim’s
Listen guys this isn’t magic. Guy in IS thread got 56 hours when he and wife had a baby.

I always load stove full and I mean full not tight; 3 to 4 rows front to back the 2 or 3 pieces over 16” long go on top east to west. Char it and shut it down cat then air;

why is I think stoves uses 25% of fuel from loading to shut down.

I well repeat at end stove top is 120 to 150 (thanks soap stone.) NOT THROWING usable heat!

The IS is big think 30” kitchen stove that’s a slight exaggeration.

if you leave stove alone this long and open it it usually 4” of ashes rake them ( why ash pan is great) I find 6 cups of coals in there.

Eckie I keep maybe a quarter cord of beech, Musclewood, etc. for cold night lower than Negative 25. Other than that I burn a mix what’s dry that year. Usually a good wood; maple, ash, oak yellow birch. With SS wood; tulip poplar, silver maple pine

 

Not trying to antagonize...just trying to learn details and concepts, and to see if there are things that help one person get results that others aren't getting. I understand that there are lots if variables that affect this other than what I asked about.

 

I get it brother you fight fires
How long does hot coals last in ash until there a wind? How many fires caused by bad coals management putting it all way out

this happens a lot in spring you go visiting; leave Sat morning early come back Sunday night.

 

Burning the exact same way EXCEPT i cant load the stove that full as the house (over 2000 sq feet) would be too warm, it is at times anyway.

 

If the stove is warm so is ash pan, i have an extra long pair of welding gloves and had to use them to empty ash pan plus I have stove at its lowest position so ash pan is almost setting on floor so on hands and knees getting it out. No cooked knuckles here as I wear welding glove when the need arises, I'm getting clumsy in my old age.

 

We understand its important to have as much knowledge as possible but eventually you have to get your feet wet kinda like sex.

 

Bahahahahahaha!

Yes, I understand......

 

Eckie if you want real world data on IS look up BDF Brian recently passed but man was brilliant. Put 4 thermocouples in stove and charted data
Stove top, firebox, flue and Cat temps. Posted here on FHC
Lived in Jersey and we joked; that we had same stove; it was used it completely different. He wanted long burns at STT of 300* I needed temps between 500-650 in winter

 

Yeah, I remember reading his posts and just being mesmerized at the data he was collecting.....

 

Wow, thanks for all the amazing responses. I'm just now appreciating how active and vibrant this community is.
Such great info, with respectful commens and no 'heated' debates
I much appreciate having you all to lean on for advice in the future with my ISH.

The catalytic element is now 7 years old, do I need to change it. Only 185, seems fair. Ideal Steel Hybrid 210 Catalytic Combustor
All the best.

 

Was he still posting last winter, i remember communicating with a guy that had many sensors on his stove, bummer he passed.

 

Yes

 

Not as warm as sticking your hands inside a stove full of red coals. (That kind of heat goes through welding gloves pretty fast).

I flip the ash pan door open and slide the pan out onto the concrete. Shovel the ash into the ash bucket, then put the empty ash pan back in place. With no problem. (All with gloves on, of coarse. )

 

Holee crapp. I hadn't heard.

 

We lost an FHC member the other day....