Production Woodstock IS

Yes, all that is true. But my problem with them is they just ain't shaped right...

When I see this:



My mind sees this:

 

Almost the same here: full re-load at 9:30, 11F here (na na), draft set to 1/4 open.

The door helps burn down the coals but it also introduces a lot of room air that goes through the stove, carrying heat up the chimney too. If only there were some way to get just a little air to enter the coals bed from underneath.... then you could burn the coals down fairly quick and steady and keep the stove top at 450F easily. If only..... A nice addition to this stove would be an air inlet under the firebox that opened automatically about 6 hours into the burn IMO.

Brian

 

I'm sure an offseason sketch and some minor fabrication will be in order this summer. Too bad WS didn't have a spare IS we could tinker with on weekends

 

Yeah, the modeling can be done now. The spare parts just do not seem to be available- I asked but pointed out it was not an emergency, and those folks are just so flat- out that they cannot divert any resources from production.

By the way, you DO have the ash pan, right?

Brian

 

Yes on the ash pan. And I think I know where your going with this.

 

A popular item during Prohibition in the US was the 'wine brick'. This was dried, compressed grapes of about a pound, or about the size of a brick. There were no instructions per se but there was a warning. It went something like this: Do not soak this product in water, then add XX amount of sugar and YY amount of yeast and cover the mixture in a cool, dark area. If this is done, the product will ferment into wine and that would be illegal.

The warning seemed to be enough.

Brian

 

BrianK , you should make sure your patriots jersey is all cleaned and pressed for tomorrow's game.

 

Might be cause for a PM, with only folks knowing the secret handshake (and signing liability waivers) invited.

 

Them's feuding words, my friend.

We have cousins who are so unfortunate as to live in Patriot fan territory. When the Stillers play the Patriots, we bet equal weights of Lobster to Lebanon bologna on the outcome.

 

???

 

Way OFFTOPIC: My son is a BIG Patriots fan. So much so that we spoke today and I told him I might not talk to him for a week or so depending on how things go tomorrow. He works one day a week from home, Thursday, but arranged to move that day to Monday this week by explaining to his boss that he would not be fit to be around other humans should the worst possible thing happen tomorrow. That there boy is a little over the top with that stuff but what do I know

OK, back to woodstoves....

Brian

 

A little small (in capacity to flow air) and a little overly precise but yeah, that is the idea.

The IS has a rather small primary air supply with a rather large secondary air supply. This is fine and well, and actually tends to make the stove burn top- down, which is not a bad thing at all. But coals just do not burn well unless air is kind of 'inserted' into them because they quickly ash and actually insulate themselves from getting more oxygen. So a little air from below is the ticket to burning coals. The key thing to remember here is the word little. Way too much air, such as opening the ash pan door, is downright dangerous. But used in a controlled, reasonable manner, bottom drafted stoves are perfectly safe and have been in use forever; pot bellied stoves are all bottom / front drafted and they will last a century or more if not abused.Manufacturers have to take a firm stand on this issue and just say it is 'bad' because they cannot control how users will use such a vent. Now a vent built into the ash pan door that had a limited opening, well I think that would be a great idea- both safe and effective.

Brian

 

So who is going to be the first one to do a modification to the ash pan adding the air valve vent? Makes total and perfect sense.....

 

I'm one of those "lurkers" you all are referring to. Haha. I've never owned or really operated a wood stove, but the rising cost of electricity and propane have led to me explore the option of wood burning (wood is very easy to come by here). I think if I decide to pull the trigger, it will be a WS IS. It seems like a good option for a first-timer, and you all having nothing poor to say about the company or customer service. You all may very well be able to chalk up a sale b/c of these forums. Thank you all for the beneficial info!

 

Welcome Brad!

 

I would hope for some kind of spring-loaded or automated default-closed valve here. I'm thinking about the time my DW had reloaded our previous stove and opened the ash pan door to boost restart. The phone rang, she walked away, yakked a time and forgot the stove. Nuclear meltdown. Best I can determine, an hour later she remembered. . Lucky the house is still standing. I of course would never do such a thing because I never get distracted...NOT!!!

 

Well my andirons are warped again haha. I think opening that ash door is a terrible idea. This thing will blow torch itself into a pile of scrap metal. The reality is if you are getting too much coaling, you probably overloaded the thing.

I never pack this stove. Infact, I've been subtracting from my normal load and finding it still burns long. The whole point of buying this stove is to be efficient and use less wood right?

 

I'd be concerned that having air flow through the ash door would pull flyash up into the air path. I am going to get a ash pan to stop just that happening in my PH. Leads to the cat surface clogging. My PH burns the coals down just fine, and I only have the one, rather than the IS's 2 air supplies down in the coal region. Have you tried raking the coals forward when you are down to large coals, and shoveling the coals away from the two air holes, establishing a channel at those point to the back of the stove? That's what I do: coals heaped to wither side of the bottom front air supply, good wide (several inches) air supply to the back of the stove. Then the ash that is formed never covers that hole. I burn my coals down to maybe 2 or three cups total coals unless it is bitterly cold out, in which case I reload sooner.