Production Woodstock IS

Just a side note, you can always change the color. Woodstock sells spray cans of their colors if you change your mind down the road. You can also order parts in different colors as I know a few did here.

 

Call Woodstock, I am pretty sure some one there would take a pic and send it too you

 

My stove is charcoal with black accents (door, side panels, top discs). But honestly, the charcoal is so close to black I would not worry about it too much; in fact, if you just bought an all- charcoal colored stove, everyone would just assume it is black. The charcoal is very, very dark and only shows up as [not black] if something black is right up against it.

Brian

 

Trilifter7 I think if you are looking for similar contrast you might go with blk and silver color combination.

 

Trilifter,
Congrats on the new purchase. I just installed our new IS on 1/11 and we got it in charcoal/copper combination.
I'm a Steeler fan and wife is an Iowa Hawkeyes fan, so it's the closest we could come to black and gold.

I started a thread and posted some pics if you wanna check it out.

We went with the wolf theme, has cabin and wolf sides and pawprints and wolf silhouette on top.

1 very small criticism, with the center top plate they could have done some charcoal in the center for contrast, but I will likely buy some paint from them and take care of that myself.

OH, and it WILL stink the first few days of running, first day being the worst. If you have the capacity to give it some initial burn-in fires outdoors, SO much the better.

Being new to the IS stove myself, it is a new breed of stove for us, but my wife has zero issues with the cat engagement temps and such, and she loves the stove.

I will have to look into one of the cat temp probes that I see others have, and will eventually check on new cat prices.

That was one of the things that caught my eye in this thread. If Woodstock has issues getting/keeping replacement cat's, would I be best off getting one well in advance??

I'm also glad that they brought up the fact that if you want the ashpan you must order it that way upfront.

Hope you enjoy your new stove as much as we do.

Chaz

 

Could you post pics of your stove BDF?

 

Thanks Chaz! Once I sign the approval I should be a couple weeks out from setting up install on our IS

 

Sure. But it is tough to see the two colors in a photograph, and even tougher to see the difference at all once the stove in not 'brand new- clean'.



Brian

 

That helps Brian. I ordered it with charcoal stove and fenders and black door and handles with black top and side artwork.

 

Great- glad to help if I can.

I like dark woodstoves generally, guess I am just old- skool (and old too). That said, I really like the dark red enameled stoves from Vermont Castings and might have actually considered one until I saw one hugely discounted at a store because the corner was struck by something and the enamel flaked off; it ruined the stove and there is really no way to fix that, or at least not fix it very well.

Your I.S. will be painted with standard paints that you can easily duplicate / freshen / re-paint as needed or wanted. And a lot of the parts are easy to remove and take elsewhere to sand and paint, so that is a big plus too. Only the main stove body is heavy and kind of 'stuck' where you put it.

Best of luck with the stove and I hope it performs as well as you expect and a little beyond. Most of us who own them really are quite happy with the stove as well as the company so I think the odds are high that you too will be a happy customer.

Brian

 

Hello Woodstock IS owners, first-time poster on this forum (posted elsewhere). I've read through the 150 pages of postings - lots of good stuff here.

I'm renovating a old 1750 square foot two-story house. It will be very well air-sealed and insulated when completed. Heat loss will be ~20,000 BTUs/hour at 0 degrees F. Climate is 7500-8000 degree day per winter, with typically a good solid three months of cold weather (mid-December through early March). The house will have a GSHP with under-floor radiant heating. The woodstove will be located in a masonry "alcove" about 41" wide and 51" high (and plenty deep) - think of this as just a tall fireplace opening with no firebrick inside it, and taller. Stovepipe is 25 feet straight up double-wall insulated pipe in an outside masonry chimney. I have temporarily installed an old Lopi 1750 in the alcove for now - I'd like to have something that burns more evenly and longer - would like to get two loads a day during the coldest three months of the heating season. I have lots of good, dry wood.

Given the alcove location and my (good) experience with lopi stoves, I've looked at the Rockport. I really need a front-opening stove, and don't need a huge firebox. I also like that this stove has a good outer jacket and blower construction (like the Answer) to get heat out of an alcove really well. But I don't hear a lot about the Rockport and I think it is about $3500, and the previous Lopi stove (Cape Cod) had problems.

So I am looking at an Ideal Steel. I'd like to know the following:

• Will this stove burn well on half firebox loads? With my maple, ash and hickory mix, a half load would do well 2 months of the year, and I could burn fuller loads with soft maple, cherry and walnut. I'd let the GSHP take over on warmer days.
• How hot do the sides of the stove get? I'll have roughly 7-8" of clearance to the sides of my masonry alcove - I've read that most of the heat comes off the top which would work well in my installation.
• Has anyone put any kind of fan system behind the stove to blow air around the stove and distribute heat? The stove will not be fully enclosed above, so there would be good convection of heat on the top of the stove.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice.

 

Welcome to the site DBoon,

You will find a lot of helpful people here.
Knowledgeable people will be by shortly I'm sure.
I cannot answer your questions, as I'm new to my IS stove that has been installed less than a month.

BDF (Brian) as well as many others have given me plenty of help and advice, and there are a great many threads to peruse for information.

edit.. GSHP=geothermal heat pump?

Chaz

 

Welcome to the club, DBoon!
I think your gonna like it here!
Lots of friendly folks here and all are willing to help.


The IS will burn good on half loads but will probably take a bit longer to get up to cruising speed.

 

It burns very well on smaller loads. I find it burns better and is easier to control with half or smaller loads than when stuffed to the gills. When you want more heat for longer it is nice to be able to fill it up.

The sides do not get nearly as hot as the top does. My tools that are hanging within a couple of inches of the side don’t ever get too hot to touch. That said, there is still a significant minimum distance to combustibles so how your masonry is constructed and what is behind it will be important.

I have not put a fan behind mine but I do use a ceiling fan to move air around it and throughout the room. Any type of air movement will help distribute heat with any type of stove.

 

Front 529



Side at front top 471


Side at top center 291


Leg with soapstone 224

 

That mag therm in pic one seems to be reading a bit on the high side.

I don't have an IR sensor yet, thx for the checking/posting

Chaz

 

As I think others have already said, I think most of the heat this stove produces comes out the front and top. A fan above and behind the stove should do a nice job of moving a lot (most?) of that heat out of the alcove you describe.

The stove will run fine on a half- load but it does run best with a layer of coals under the fresh splits. The stove also runs well and pretty steady, although like most stoves warmer in the first 1/3 or so of the burning cycle than the last 2/3.

Tim (TurboDiesel) provided some nice, useful temp. readings from his I.S. Just to add to that data with a comment, even though the top corner of the stove was pretty hot in temp., there is not much heat coming off of the sides; that one spot he shows is actually the only part of the side of the stove not insulated with soapstone or firebrick (only one- depends on which way you order the stove). So the majority of the side area is no where near that hot.

Best of luck with whatever you get.

Brian

 

Thanks for the quick replies. The IR data is exactly what I was looking for. The front part of the shown with higher IR readings should be proud of my alcove, so I think I will be fine. Good to know that it takes half loads ok. Front loading is a big advantage, and having a big firebox gives me ability to handle the coldest below zero degree days, and I like the ability to cook on top of the stove compared to Absolute Steel.

GSHP = ground source heat pump

 

If I remember correctly the side clearance is 6" to combustibles.

When you are running with secondaries you get a lot of radiant heat from the glass in front. When you are running cat mode it's more of the top and upper front above the glass. The sides and back stay relatively cool compared to the rest of the stove.

 

February 4th and I'm thru just over a cord of wood. I've been using black locus almost all season. It was a pain in the azz in October but it's great for the rest of the season so far. It takes a little longer to get black locust going.