Production Woodstock IS

Your stove really compliments your room, everything looks like it goes well together.

When the heating season is in full swing, where do you store "near the stove" wood?

 

I'd probably agree with you on the trip north to collect the stove. I was borderline in going myself but the trip to the shop in itself was what sold me to take the ride. I was 2.5 hours each way and 3/4 of a tank of gas in all. Probably was cheaper but not for my time, glad it was to WS and not somewhere else.

 

Congrats on your first burn, your description was almost identical to my experience too.
I also found (in the 3 burns that Ive had) that reloading this stove will be a dream, knowing (as you also said) you will be able to get every BTU out of a piece of wood, is comforting to know.
I'm burning today, it's colder and rainy today here in SE Mass.
On a reload (about an hour ago) I have stove top temp of 500 deg and a flue temp of 275.
The reload was only 2 large splits, they look so small in that big firebox.

 

We (my wife and I) have been to W.S. twice this year, the last time only a couple of weeks ago but we ride there so even the trip is a positive. Driving there in my SUV, dragging a trailer would not be nearly as enjoyable. So the actual delivery is just a mechanical function really.

By the way, I just want to mention that a trip to W.S. is a pleasure in itself. First of all it is a manufacturer in full swing, apparently thriving not only in the US but in the northeast US which is pretty unusual these days. The second reason is what everyone always says: these are really nice people. The whole place is permeated with 'nice'. I know that is a cliche and used all too often but in this case it is really accurate. Institutions have personalities (companies, agencies, any grouping of people) and a lot of companies are neutral to negative. Not W.S.- that place just oozes both nice and relaxed. Hey, they even have great dogs there to get to know if one is inclined (I carry dog biscuits with me wherever / whenever I travel). Of course it being a company full of 'niceness' does not really make a better product, but there is a certain amount of pleasure knowing that we are sending our money to nice people.

Back to the stove: not looking forward to the install though. But until I find a magic wand, I am going to have to do it the old, hard, labor intensive (and several very bad words) way. So I am anxiously waiting but a little anxious about it getting here.

Brian

 

Thanks My IS. Looking forward to sharing my experience with this stove over the first winter with the early adopters, yourself included of course. Have to mention I really like the front loading. A big, gnarly chunk of cherry I couldn't fit in the door of the PH went in today around noon. I still could have fit a number of splits in there, but at almost 7 pm it's still cruising along at 425 stove top temp, with a good amount to still burn from that piece. It's like my first date with my wife, I won't say it's love at first sight, but I know this is going to be a good long-term relationship.

 

I just started a fire really hot. The fluttering came. I moved the air to half way and with in two minutes it was quiet. Good dry wood with proper technique and that noise won't be an issue.

 

Ok fellas,
Not a good ending to a decent day of burning. In the picture you can see the carriage handle to move the by-pass in and out. As I was doing a reload at about 7:30 tonight, I moved the carriage handle up and in to open the door. In the pic you can see that the handle wouldn't go all the way back. As I started to move the handle upwards it was stiff, after moving it a little further it began to seize and it's final resting place is where you see. In the position it's in (in the pic) the handle would now not go in either direction and it had a feel that if I was to put anymore force into it I would most likely break something or bend a part. Not sure what happened, the carriage worked fine all day. The stove was never really hot either, burned two 2/3 full loads from 8 am to now, all small piece shoulder wood. Stove top max was 600 and stovepipe 350.
I think I'll let the stove run cold into the morn and then take the top off and take a look. Any other IS folks have anything like this happen??

 

Yep... Same issue. Let Woodstock know.

 

We're trying, but thanks....

Most of our wood is under cover for the season, but good question as to where to keep the inside the house wood! Haven't figured that out just yet, but it's on the to do list....

Here's some of it....

 

Has this also happened to you? A seized carriage...

 

Mine works smooth. Once you get the cover off you will easily be able to see what happened. That can all be taken apart .

 

It's nice to see some real world comments.

 

I just got home from work. Last night before leaving I let the stove run so that I knew it would be cool this morn.
I opened up the top and I see the basic mechanics but since it's seized towards the back I cannot see where the problem is.
Had to load the stove this morn, will let it run out again and look again this afternoon.

 

I was hopeful in the beginning....

 

Hope to hear that this is a one-time fix if I need to call Woodstock, not something I'll need to do on a regular basis.

 

My Beta did this once during the season last year. Since it was a Beta and they told me to use it hard and try to break it, I just grabbed the handle, worked it back and forth a bit, and pulled forward and it came free.

There are two small metal "ramps" that the carriage slides on at the top of the rear of the stove on the inside. The carriage can get hung up on the rear edge of that ramp. I suspect this is all that happened. In my case it never did it again.

That lever mechanism is pretty robust. I wouldn't worry about putting a little more effort into it to see if it frees up. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to just wait and give them a call in the morning.

 

Good to hear Brian, thanks for posting. If I experience this, I'll just apply a little extra pressure. This beast doesn't look too fragile to me.

 

Picked up the production IS yesterday morning and moved it home. I had to add a couple washers to the door so it would close, but other than that is was painless. My wife did the design and wanted something that matched the room, and apparently a family theme. After curing the paint last night and touching up some small areas this morning it is ready for heating season.
One word of caution. If you really pay attention to the paint curing instructions (I did because I know from my beta unit that Almond is a tricky color), you need to monitor the temps. But if you leave the stove top thermometer on, it will leave a mark. If I had to do it again, I would have picked up an IR thermometer so I didn't have to go back and use touch up paint. I would also have had a can on compressed air to blow off any dust and ash that falls on the stove while curing.

 

Yes, at first, I was concerned it may be something it may have done, but after we looked a little closer, it appears the issue is where the rod extending off the handle fits into a hole that controls the carriage motion. We were able to cool the rod with a wet towel and added a drop of oil and rocked the lever back and fourth until it freed itself. I could see small metal powder shavings where the rod fits into the hole, so it's wearing itself in. Woodstock responded promptly to my issue and confirmed the tolerances are tight at this contact point and if it occurred again, and If I was willing, the hole could be filed ever so slightly to open up the contact point. Obviously the oil won't last with the heat of the stove, so either it will wear itself in or I will file the hole slightly and use some emory cloth on the rod end to free things up.

Currently it works as new, but I have not burned the stove much at this point.

I think it's important you let Woodstock know.

 

You are right in that oil will not last but a solid based lubricant will, or at least it will last much longer than oil. Two come to mind: anti- seize and moly paste. Of the two, anti seize is easier to find in retail outlets such as auto supply stores. Unfortunately the rod should really be fully coated with the stuff as it does not flow well; if put on the outside it is not likely to work itself into the mating parts (Easy Boys!). What would probably be best would be to remove the rod, give it a light coating and re-install it; that should last the season easily. I do not yet have my stove though so do not know how readily / easily that operating rod is removed.

A caution though for anyone doing this: I would not get a glob (technical term) on the inside of the stove- anti seize is metal based (the silver stuff is nickle), and that will probably work its way into the combustor and coat it; that would certainly not be helpful to the combustor.

Brian