Production Woodstock IS

Thanks... I had it shipped as it was a long, long way to pick it up and yes I did get the heat shield. I needed to be close off the wall in that room.

I also bought the pipe and fittings from Woodstock. Going through the lower level through to the second floor and then through the attic and then through the metal roof. Straight shot up. Lots of cutting and boxing out the second floor chase.

I'm looking forward to getting the work done and moving on to the fires.

 

What does it cost to have one of their stoves shipped? I live a little over 2 hours away so I picked mine up but was just wondering what the cost is for you others scattered across the country.

 

Yep, I spoke to them about that and they 'thought' it was a 1/4-20 but could not confirm easily (I will get mine soon enough so did not need anyone to actually check). I plan on using that hole too but to monitor the cat temp (output). What I want to add is a pre- cat temp sensor somewhere in the top of the firebox, away from the secondaries so I can get a handle on what the temp. differential is across the cat, and what min. temps. are required inside the stove to keep the cat lit.

Drilling through the carriage (bypass) operator pivot looks like it might be a quick and effective way to accomplish that.... without drilling holes in the firebox itself of course. That way merely replacing the operator handle itself would restore the stove to 'stock'. Put another way, I am looking to poke holes in the cheaper parts of the stove first

Brian

 

I am 3 hours south of W.S. and the cost to ship to a commercial facility (w/ loading dock and forklift) is $198, which is ABF's minimum charge. It was a toss- up really but in the end I went for the shipping so I don't have to drag a trailer to NH and back in one day.

Brian

 

I got mine shipped for ~$260. They were having some kind of special.

 

Mine was about $220 from what I recall.

 

Pics?!?

 

JA, when you get a chance, can you tell me what other locations you have surface thermometers on the IS. The only one I have right now is the flue one. I'm still not sure where to monitor the combustor temps or the firebox.
Do you know if anyone has considered getting a probe therm for the portal?

 

Ok BDF, I'm a little more on the same page with you now. I was a little confused as to what you were trying to do but understand it better now. A pre-cat (firebox) temp, a post cat temp (portal) and several exterior therms (flue pipe and stove surfaces).
I'm still curious how well you do on the firebox probe idea. I suppose since you dont have your stove just yet it's hard to see what we see.

 

I put the temp gauge right in front of the hole for the cat probe and another one at the hot spot above the cat. With my double wall stove pipe it is hard to get stack Temps. I also have my infrared heat temp gun close by.

 

Am I missing something? What's the advantage of knowing the temp in the firebox?

 

Well, a couple of reasons: the first is that it is the temp. of the smoke that enters the cat. that makes it work. So when shutting down the fire after a re- load, keeping a minimum temp. or even better, not having the inside temp. fall off like a rock will prevent the cat. from stopping once it has been 'ignited'. The other thing that is pretty important is to know the differential across the cat. rather than just the cat. output temp. For example, if the cat. output temp. has dropped to, say, 850 F, that is fine if the internal stove temp. is, again say, 375F and indicates the cat. is reacting pretty well. Odds are, while the stove is burning quite low, it is burning clean and not putting out any creosote (at least not an appreciable amount).

Brian

 

Wow, and I thought I was anal about monitoring temps. Should be some interesting info to share.

 

Working with Woodstock now as to where I can tap into the firebox.

I will shave the data as I get it- graphed data of at least four points on the stove during the burn: inside the firebox, above the combustor, the top (exit) of the flue where it meets the thimble and most probably, the top of the plate over the combustor (stove surface temp.).

I've been doing this for a while on the stove I currently use and I find the data very valuable for both the obvious reasons (when to engage the combustor, when to close the intake air, etc.) as well as the [not so obvious] data: how much air is required for a clean burn during different parts of the batch of wood's burning life.

Brian

 

Which cat stove did you have previously? OK, we know that the cat will burn smoke at 500 and above. If you've reloaded, and the cat is inactive, and the bypass is open, some of the exhaust is still going through the cat so the cat probe will still indicate to some degree the firebox temp, or conditions above it which bear some relation to firebox temps. The Dutchwest manual says to wait until you have 500 on the probe but I can get light-off below that. The Buck on the other hand wants a few hundred degrees more than that for a quick, strong cat light-off, maybe because it's a more massive stove. And that's the temp that the Buck manual advises. The Fireview cat probe is more of an indicator of temp at the flue exit. I doesn't really indicate cat temp since the end of the probe isn't over the cat, but I know that if I maintain enough fire to keep the probe at 700+ for 10-15 min, conditions will be such that the cat will light and be glowing in less than a minute. I can even do the same thing just by maintaining a flue temp as indicated by a surface thermo on the pipe at a certain temp for a certain amount of time, regardless of stovetop temp. Once the cat is lit, they say it will self-sustain until there is no longer enough smoke to burn. You might be able to sustain it at that point by opening the air a little, and that's where your firebox temp monitoring may help. But since the cat doesn't glow at lower burn temps it might be hard to tell on the probe if the cat is burning or if you are just getting the increased temp of the firebox exhaust, which has risen from opening the air. At any rate, the smoke output is so low at that point that there just isn't much to burn, regardless. I don't concern myself with keeping the firebox temp up because even with the air cut all the way, I don't think I can snuff the cat, at least on the stoves I run. Maybe it would be possible with a BK, but I doubt it. After I re-gasketed and sealed the Dutchwest, it seemed like I snuffed the cat once but I haven't run it enough since to see if maybe it was a wood moisture issue, weak draft with higher outside temps, didn't establish the re-load well enough, or what.

 

Even if the cat isn't glowing, a rapid rise in the probe temp indicates that it has lit. On the stoves I run I can see the cat glow, with more or less difficulty. I can see the Keystone cat from the couch.

 

Final got r done.....

 

I'm interested to hear from those running their IS stoves about the bell ringing noise. Something you can live with? I have yet to have my first seasoning fire in mine, and wanted to get impressions from my fellow first gen production line IS owners. Thanks.

 

I had it too. It sounds like a quieter version of an old fashioned alarm clock. It lasted for about 5 minutes during the startup and then never heard it again. Not too loud, but you can hear it. It won't be bothersome to me if it's only on a startup.

 

Something else I did with the Buck was to open the door and shoot the top of the firebox, then compare that to what the temp on a surface meter that I have on the top front of the stove, where the firebox top intersects the front. 350 on the front is about 575 on the top inside the stove.