First fire in the Beta Ideal Steel Woodstock stove

Yeah, that's a bit much.

 

You guys may also be mssing some extra area's in the corners, above and.or below the ledge down to the grate,.... I know the PH has more space tan advertised if you add inthe extra space you can pack small stuff into the corners....

I know you did say "ussable" space, but jut saying.... there may be lots more space in there your no calculating... I'd guess those spaces are normally added into the "marketing" litature of stoves, no?

 

That's great to know/be reminded of. I asked woodstock a similar question last year after intalling my stove. I noticed the tile closest to the corner of my PH will hit 180 when it's running hot for a long time, and that was ok. Of course, this is stone tile, and it is backed with mortor and then Next Gen cement board, so it's a different story, but I was suprised. I think my stones dark grey/silvery color and metalic quality (slate has some metal in it) actually soaks some heat up on the surface. I'm also sure the IR meter does not measure it properly since one spot will be 180, and 1" over will be 150, another inch over will be 170.... Bewteem the odd color, shiny surface... it confuses the IR gun.

 

Uh oh. Bad news from Woodstock:

From: Tom Morrissey
Date: November 26, 2013 at 1:09:32 PM EST
To: Brian
Subject: I'm going to have to get your stove back...

... you’re having too much fun with it!

Tom
​

 

Hey Brian,

What kind of burn times are you getting so far ? .........I see you have loaded it a couple times

 

We just started burning Saturday afternoon so it's still early to make any generalizations.

We're loading roughly twice a day, every twelve hours, except when we want to play (i.e., get those really cool secondaries, in which case we throw on a couple splits just for effect.)

The stove always has more than enough coals at 12 hours to catch the splits up on contact so far, not even any need for kindling. We would have needed kindling and a bit of encouragement at ten hours with the Fireview.

Stove top temps are down to 175-18o at this point. It's still throwing off some heat at that point but not enough if its really cold or windy outside.

80% -90% of what we are burning right now is cherry. It is good burning wood but it's not ash, oak or locust.

Fed a steady diet of the latter I think this stove would easily go a lot longer between reloads and retain higher stove top temps.

However if we need more heat out of it and turn the air up higher it burns down quicker.

 

Thanks for the info...........Yeah I see a lot of coals there in your pics. Is cherry a high coaling wood ?
So after 12 hours your stove top temp is down to around 180 ? With all those coals I would think it would be much higher....
That's awesome you get to beta test this thing.........a little jealous .....heh

 

I was wondering if that was the case. We didn't have near this much coals with the Fireview but that was burning mostly ash and kiln dried oak.

 

Ok, here's a question for everyone...

Which thermometer would you trust, a Harbor Freight IR gun thermometer, a Lowes stove top thermometer (Condar?), or a Woodstock stove top thermometer?

My youngest son just reloaded the stove, and after reload we usually leave the air fully open for a couple minutes to get a hot firebox, then engage the cat at around 350 on the IR thermometer on 8" to 6" reducer just above the stove collar. If its chilly in here, we'll keep the air on high for a while longer to get the stove up to about 500 then cut back the air to about a quarter to a third open.

Tonight he left the air on high longer than usual and the stove got hotter than its been at any point up til now. I cut back the air and shot some temps.

IR temps on the top of the stove around the collar were 570. The Lowes stove top thermometer read 650 and the Woodstock 675. I was playing with the Woodstock thermometer because it was sticking and I might very well have screwed it up. The IR thermometer is rated up to 1100.

What had my son concerned was that at these temps the andirons had a slight orange glow!

Has anyone seen their andirons glow on any of their stoves? Is this normal/common?

And are the Harbor Freight IR thermometer temps more trustworthy than the two mechanical thermometers?

 

I would think an average of the 3 thermometers would be about right.

When the andirons glow orange it's probably hot enough.
When they start to lean over....it's too hot!

 

I've only used Condars. You could check the HF IR gun against your kitchen stove I suppose, not sure how accurate that would be. Stick a pot in it and set to 400, when the buzzer goes off, slide the pot out and shoot it real quick. At least you'd know if you were baking taquitos correctly.

 

I'm curious if an OAK might be required or even recommended? I'm musing, thinking about my potential install.

 

Not in my drafty old house.

 

Ahhh, a drafty house, and it's performing like it does? I'm liking that stove more and more.

 

80 years old, no insulation in the walls except behind the fiberglass siding and a bit in the attic. We know its windy outside when we see the curtains move.

 

I get plenty of heat with just coals in the Progress Hybrid, in fact it will maintain my farmhouse temps for 2-3 hours with just coals... others with the PH have said the same thing... I let them burn down and stay warm at the same time... In fact with the PH, just because you see coals , in no way means you need to add wood in a hurry.. She still has lots of heat life left... Something that's very impressive with PH...

 

I hear you. Mine is a basic cabin, built in the 50's, then re-modeled in '76. Framing is rough-sawn, R-11 in the walls and no vapor barrier. Can't keep a candle lit inside, when it's windy outside. But I love it.