Production Woodstock IS

Nope, I do not mind- that is a good question; the outside is measuring around 12% to 15% and the inside is between 18% and maybe 22, 23 %.

Brian

 

Brian, I have noticed the same thing with mine so I have made burn time schedules work for me so there is no overnite burns affecting the lower output in the coaling stage. In the initial stages of a reload I have tried to make the transition from heating up the firebox to engaging the cat as quick as possible so I can tune in the IS for the first stage of the reload. Depending on how cold it is outside and what wood I'm burning helps dictate when I start working the coals. In the past couple weeks I have been able to rake the coals forward and open the air damper to 3/4 and I can get an additional 1-2 hours of coals burning down and get stove top temps between 350-400.
In the last 2 days I have stopped with working the IS for 12 hr burns and gone to 10 just to get a little more heat out of it. I'm working oak into mixed hardwood loads and the oak is producing some huge coals that hang around alot longer than any other species. I think when the colder weather finally drops in and stays awhile the new IS owners will be sharing how they are burning differently for the colder weather.

 

The way to burn the coals down, is to add a soft wood that doesn't coal. I like Aspen, Pine or Sasafrass, split very small, and throw 3 or 4 on top the coals. It will raise the firebox temp up dramatically and not add to the coal bed while helping to burn down the coals. Dryer wood and smaller the splits are best. You don't have to open the air up too much either, which I try to minimize as much as I can. If you still have more coals than you want add a few more, they burn up quick.

 

Do you leave the coal bed as is or do your rake the coals before adding?

 

I do not have any soft wood (Easy Boys!). All my wood is hardwood, and the majority of it is oak so I end up with a LOT of coals.

Brian

 

Yeah, me too- I am flipping my loading timing around so the major reload is during the early evening rather than later in the day. Hopefully this will allow me to open the draft a bit more for the overnight burn and burn down the coal bed a bit more thoroughly before morning.

We are pretty close in location and are not getting a bit of colder weather that is more normal for this time of year- it has been unusually warm up until yesterday but now we will get to see how to drive the stove a bit harder.

Brian

 

My new reload time is 9pm, at least for the last 2 days. I run it a bit warmer like you said, then I reload around 7:30 in the morning with the same amount of coals after a 12 hr burn would have. The 7:30 am reload starts right up, no burning down of the coals in the morning.

 

I'm thinking that burning hotter is the ticket as well. The steel stove Is definitely prone to temperature swings. Perhaps the progress hybrid is better at being stable in temperatures. I am running locust and I'm currently in a state of overheat for me. 74 inside and climbing 25 outside. This stove has some serious muscle when you need it.

 

I've found the IS to be more controllable than the PH. If I need to, I can always shut down the secondaries on the IS and not see any flame, even if stove top temps climb to 600* as it did the other night (left the air intake wide open too long). I put the air intake at about notch 2, and the temps came down pretty quickly. There has been many a time I can't stop the secondaries in the PH.

The heat coming off the cast iron as opposed to the steel stove does have a different feel though, and the additional amount of soapstone on the PH evens things out a bit.

 

This is a full load of maple large chunks. After I snapped the pic flames were visible in the upper part of the stove. Cat area.

 

Shut it down to the 3rd mark from closed at 8:00 pm and walked by and saw the tremendous glow. Never had the beta do that.

 

Very cool pic. I haven't seen this yet, and I've been keeping my eye out for it. Thanks for sharing.

I installed the new new valve the other day. Simple as pie. We had one evening in December when the bell ringing went on for an hour as the temps gradually came down. It made the wife happy to make that change on Christmas Day. I talked to Lorin and Penny at the factory when picking it up. From what I can tell, they do like this forum!

 

I'm so glad you shared that burndat, I had an almost identical situation tonight and the best part was I was watching the stove the entire time (while watching a movie ). I reloaded tonight at 8:30, I used Fanatical1 's trick with the coal burndown about and hour before using some small birch pieces, it worked well. (TY again F) After the reload, the stove climbed to 250 on the stovepipe, then I engaged the cat. I dropped the air damper to notch 4 and let it be for an hour. During a quick glance at the stove I noticed the top plate was glowing red and the temperatures on the stove top were 625 deg, the cat therm was pinned at 2,000 deg. Way too hot! I knocked it down to notch #2 and the IS seemed to settle nicely, stove top is now 450 and the stove pipe is 225 deg. But in all of that I said to my wife if she could see what I was seeing so she knew what I was going to do because the stove was too hot. She saw the glow and felt the heat on the slate hearth being as hot as its been. She likes the idea of using the notch numbering system, keeps us on the same page.

Being able to control this stove as well as it can be by using the air damper is mind blowing. My Oslo (from last year) did not have anything close to the control the IS has. The results from moving the air damper are almost immediate.

 

Is this the secondaries top plate Hollywood ?

 

I'm glad to hear the IS is an improvement over the Oslo for you. I don't think it's letting anyone down so far.

I can imagine an engineer really liking this stove. It has the feel of a precision instrument to me. More so than the Progress Hybrid, and the notches on the air damper do have a lot to do with that. I see an immediate reduction in the flame in the box when cutting the air as well. I still love the PH though - it's a beautiful stove, and it cranks out the heat.

This is our family's first year burning with wood, and we're loving our stoves. I'm glad that their performance is meeting my expectations as the weather gets colder. We used to have to wear two layers of socks, and I'd put on three layers of shirts/sweaters when it got really cold out. No more of that!

 

I'm happy to see that WS is getting the orders filled and the FHC folks awaiting stoves will have them shortly.
I'm glad they stuck it out and had alot of patience.

 

It was left and above the sled bypass.

 

I am trying a new approach: I put the andirons back in the stove and raked all the coals up against the other side of them. In other words. I have the majority of the coals in the front of the stove, and stacked up much higher than the bottom lip of the stove body. Both the airwash primary as well as the little side jets of primary air are burning the coals much faster than when they were spread out over the bottom of the stove.

Brian

 

Good idea, and the coals raked to the front keeps the coldest part of the stove warmer

 

17* outside tonight. Calling it a night and checking on the stove and saw this.
Had to go and reread the "overfireing" section of the owners manual, for Pease of mind. Although my beta took it ALOT hotter. Running in excess of 700* is overfiring. Cutting it a little close. Had a block box, orange bypass plate and full of flames on both visible sides of the cat. Closed draft completely for approx 5 min until surface temp read 550* then opened back up some.