Another Woodstock Beta tester - Ideal Steel

Not "inside info". I was talking with Lorin the other day about my stove. Told her I had read on the forum that they were coming out with another new stove. She verified that. I asked if it was a smaller version, and if it was to be Fireview sized. She said it hadn't been tested yet, but would likely come in between the Fireview and Ideal Steel.

 

Cool!

 

Yeah, that's sort of inside info.
Cool, I think I'll wait for a bit more detail before ordering the IS.
That would be more the size I need.

 

Where are you gonna put that one Brian? Might have to put another stack in.

 

Dave, put yourself on the Beta list maybe?

 

My mind is reeling with the possibilities!

 

With regard to stovetop temp, with our draft and wood, I can bring both stoves up to a temp and level off easily. With the Ideal Steel I can bring the temp back down, but with the PH I can not.

The first half of the draft control on the PH, between wide open and 50%, is essentially unused (for me) - adjustment in that range has little effect, if any, on the fire. When we say the Ideal Steel is more responsive, picture taking the control on the lower half of the PH range and spreading it out across the whole range of the lever (does that make sense?). So as soon as you start to move the lever, you start seeing effects in the firebox. Not as necessary for the upper part of the range, but very nice for the lower part of the range -- 5% movement up from fully closed on the PH is similar to maybe 15% movement on the Ideal Steel. Having more useful movement on the Ideal Steel makes it easier to find the sweet spot.

The opening in the draft plate on the Ideal Steel is also tapered, so as you get close to closing, you are closing off less air for the same amount of travel as compared to when at a higher setting (this is why I compared 5% PH travel to 15% Ideal Steel travel).

The PH is highly controllable. The Ideal Steel is even better, in a very useful way.

 

I'll wait until I see info on the new stove, and maybe a conceptual rendering of the thing before I do that. My initial reaction to the IS was fairly negative, and now ....not so much.
There's time.
However, right now, the IS sounds like the stove I need.
I'm just hoping that shipping won't break the bank......

 

Your right, you have some time.

 

I didn't appreciate how simple and brilliant this design was until I looked at the stove. I hope someone thought to patent it.

 

I might be able to help there. You could have it shipped to a terminal here, then buy me lunch on one of my trips thru town

The slate for my hearth came from Vermont, and I saved a couple hundred by picking it up at the Old Dominion terminal 15 minutes from my house.

 

Thanks Jeff, I'll def. keep that in mind.
If they'll ship to the house for a little bump, that might be easier.
Did you see the new thread from Brian on the "Gearhead"?

 

D&T, sorry for the partial de-rail. These IS threads are all over the place so I just picked one.
If this has been covered, I apologize.

Have any beta testers had warm enough weather to try a Very low heat SS type burn? How far can four/five pieces of hardwood be stretched with enough coals to restart a load? I've read the posts where full loads were stretched, but I'd guess two small loads would produce less heat over time than a full load stretched out. With blackout/cat capable burns, I see the IS doing very well in the SS.
For reference- my Keystone will always go 14 hrs on 3-4 pieces of oak with plenty of coals for a quick relight. I asked another member (in a PM) who has burned a KS and a Princess on the same chimney, which was capable of lower BTU burns. He said it was close (to close to call?) but of course the Princess could maintain the burn longer with twice the firebox.

The reason I'm asking, PapaDave seems a little worried about the low burn controllability of the IS. I suspect this will not be an issue for him.

 

Fox,

I more or less did this the other night, tho it wasn't intentional. I had a fire going that was down to mostly coals, about 10pm I put in 3-5 splits of hardwood(I wasnt paying close attention). I had the air shutdown on my control lever, I had the cat engaged, the mag them I leave on the cat hotspot was sitting at 400 degrees. I went to bed about midnight without touching the stove. When I got up in the morning about 8 am I had an orange glow in the bottom of the firebox and the therm was sitting right about 300. I still could make out the shapes of the splits from bedtime, I didn't open the stove, but based on past experience it would have gone off as soon as I tossed more wood in.

As some of the other testers have stated the key seems to be getting the stove up to temp, the firebox is so big that if I try and get a fire going with only 3-4 splits it will take me a long time to get to cat temps(I tried this the other day when I was too lazy to go get more wood off the rack and just used what I had in the house). I was getting close to an hour before I realized and toss more wood in, got it hot, and set it back to cruise mode.

 

Impressive.

 

Fox - I think Z pretty much described it. I don't know how a princess burns, but my experience so far has been that I need to get the stove hot before it is in cruise mode and the temp can be set back, so that initial heat up might put out too much heat at first? dunno. Don't think so. Didn't this morning, and it's in the 50s today. So far, I have seemed to have a similar experience to Z, in that the stove seems to want to be filled up when loaded, so everything gets warm enough. A smaller load doesn't seem to get it hot quickly (and ready for cruise mode), but we have only had a couple of warmish days, so not a lot of experience. But if it does like to be filled up when loaded, I am ok with that, since it can be dialed back so far. Just means less loading for me.

 

I should have the funds by the time it comes out.
I need to put my name on the list.

 

That's how my stove is. The 'small, hot fire' doesn't work. I suppose a quick one with the bypass open would burn pretty clean, but a few small splits don't get hot enough to light the cat.

That's why it has been 75 in here since last night The only thing I have done today is turn the blower off.

 

So its not just me. Wondered if I was doing something wrong. I think the IS will burn clean with the air tubes, it just won't engage the cat so I can't turn it way down.

But its 73 in here from my fire at 6:30 this morning with a full load. Never too hot in here though cause I set the air way back, so the stove top was probably around 350 all day.

So I guess if I want a smaller load I could just ignore the cat. But I am still not sure I will have a need for a smaller load.