Help with research on stove selection

Mine is charcoal with black accents or accessories (sides, door and so forth are black). Looks like this (ignore the thermocouple wires and grubby fingerprints / handling marks on the front):



Brian

 

Thanks, I'll show my wife. I will not ignore the thermocouple wires, if I get one I will do the same.

 

cootcraig mine is black on black just realize the pics of this stove do not do it justice. Also the size surprised me think slightly smaller than your kitchen stove.

 

Those were the temporary thermocouples I happen to have lying around; that photo was taken right after installation but before the first fire, which was about 20 minutes after installation If you want to set up your stove with thermocouples, you can (and should) do a much better job that what is in those photos. The front thermcouple is visible but only for 1" as it runs up and under the top flange, and the stove top T.C. is very thin, brown wire that is just not visible on the stove at all. So if you choose to go that way, I can help steer you toward much more correct T.C.'s that are not obvious or ugly and work quite well. And they are even cheaper than the 'wrong' ones in that photo so no reason to avoid using the better ones.

BTW, this is the side / top round design I chose to allow as much of the soapstone to show as was possible. Very little metal left in these covers. This is not my stove but it is the model I used when I bought mine-



Brian

 

I've owned the Mansfield and Phoenix but now own the Progress. All great stoves. The Progress wins out because the glass never gets black (2 pane design), and is cook top friendly with the flip'em up stones. Customer service unsurpassed. If I moved again I would certainly consider the IS.

 

For my search, I really wanted the utility and size of the Blaze King King but I did not like its looks or the price tag. The deal killer though was the 8” chimney requirement when I already had an existing 6” chimney.

With the BKK scratched off the list, the Ideal Steel was a clear winner for us on paper, and in practice we have not been disappointed. It burns way cleaner, longer, and more efficiently than our prior secondary only EPA stove. This is my first experience with a cat or hybrid, but I would never go back to a stove without a cat now.

Design wise, I didn’t love the charcoal so we went satin black with mahogany door and burners. Design wise we went with a tree theme, with a tree on the side, tree andirons and end view of a cut log side burners. The center burner is the plain circle. Ignore the mess as we are still working on redoing the brick around the hearth. You can see the Fiber Fuel testing in progress, but that is another thread.

 

+1 on the Woodstock comments above in reagards to functionality.

Their customer service was top notch from the inception through post-delivery. The custom design option pleased my wife immensely- and Woodstock's patience and willingness to work through the many iterations of design changes made the whole process very enjoyable.

In fact, reflecting on the whole she-bang, I would buy a 55 gallon burn barrel with hand cut vent holes from them because of their great customer service.

 

You mean like a WS ugly drum smoker? Sign me up! For two!
​

 

I would go with a stove from a local dealer. It's hard to get service from a dealer that's not located nearby. I believe the IS has had a lot of problems (Failed Parts) as stated on these forums. Although Woodstock is known for their service and help and sending new parts. A new stove should not require any new parts for quit a few years. Just my $.02

 

I would respectfully disagree with Mitch, in full disclosure I own an IS and have since 2015. Have I had a couple parts Warp, yes but this was the first year production model of the stove. If you buy a new truck it needs to go to the dealer to get something fixed at some point. The local dealers around me are basically salesman, most don't even use wood to heat their house. When you go to Woodstock you're not dealing with salesman you're doing with a fabricator a welder the designer of the stove or people that have worked there for 30 years. If you have a question the people at Woodstock can answer it. If they don't happen to be open at that time there must be 20 or 30 IS owners on this site, all willing to help solve a situation. My 2 cents.

 

I hear you Mitch. This is why you don’t buy a product when it first comes out. Let all of these bugs get worked out. That’s what these owners are saying, there are problems but the company is taking care of them as the product evolves. The IS continues to be a great product.

 

Also consider the Woodstock Fireview and/or the Woodstock Absolute Steel. With a 1500 sq ft home, either of these would be an adequate heater. The AS is just slightly smaller box size but has a smaller footprint. I gotta tell you. I have a 1600sq ft New England Chalet and the Fireview does a damm good job on the main floor and 2nd floor and it is gorgeous!