Mutiny on the Beta

I was going to visit a friend near Albany NY this weekend so I decided to load up the Beta Ideal Steel stove and return it to Woodstock in New Hampshire while I was "in the neighborhood."

I got home last night to find my family had "rearranged" the stove room in the absence of a wood stove. I wonder if they're trying to tell me something?!?

 

Wait till they realize we're going to have to deal with TWO stoves this year. We're getting the production model Ideal Steel delivered sometime this summer and then we'll be Beta testing the newest Gear Head stove this fall when its ready.

Not sure where we're going to put everything.

Plus the tool rental place where I used to rent the organ dollies to move stoves went out of business. I picked up one of those 1000lb rated Harbor Freight furniture dollies last week to move the Beta Ideal Steel and it was so bad I left it in Woodstock's dumpster on Saturday!

 

Two of the wheels on the dolly collapsed in the 30 feet we moved the stove from my living room to the trailer. The base of the caster wheels bent, releasing all the ball bearings.

Then the road construction all along Route 87 in New York state caused the trailer to bounce so much that two of the casters broke through the plywood decking on my trailer!

Oh well, two hours chatting with Tom at Woodstock made for a wonderful visit regardless. I still can't believe the owner of a company would come in on a Saturday to chat, just because we were bringing back our Beta stove. Woodstock, its owner and all the staff never cease to amaze me.

 

Great story Brian, simular goings on at my house. Just pulled out the furniture dolly to move out my Oslo. The hearth needed some off season attention and the thimble needed some grouting, what better time.
any word on the new beta for next winter B?

 

Yes, it's the one in their blog posts here:
http://blog.woodstove.com/search/label/Franklin Steel Hybrid?m=0

Technology is similar to the Ideal Steel but side loading and a 2.6cu ft fire box (which is half way between my previous Fireview and the Ideal Steel in size, close to the Progress.)

Plus they have a few tricks up their sleeves for this one that should be very interesting. I snapped a pic of the current prototype while I was there:

 

Sorry about that, my question was leaning more towards if you would be a beta tester again net winter with the steel franklin.

 

Yes, Tom asked me to be a Beta tester on the new steel franklin stove this fall. (He's hoping Dennis might take him up on being a Beta tester on the new steel franklin too.)

That's why I'm going to be juggling stoves again. I ordered a production model Ideal Steel stove which will come this summer. Then I'll be getting the steel franklin stove for another round of Beta testing this fall. I'm not sure where I'm going to store my Ideal Steel stove while I'm Beta testing the steel franklin stove.

 

We saw the new stove a couple of weeks ago - I think they should supply the beta testers the load cells they have under the stove to allow graphing the hourly consumption!

Brian, on your way from Albany to West Leb did you pass through Manchester, VT, or Brattleboro, or further north? If you went the Manchester route, the odds are good you passed right by us.

 

My friend lives southeast of Albany NY right at the New York/Massachusetts state line. We jumped on Route 90 East then took Route 91 North the whole way up through Vermont and crossed the river right near Woodstock. I'm not really sure what areas we passed. It was my first trip through that region. Last summer when we visited Woodstock we drove up and back from the New Hampshire shore area.

 

Is the Oslo out, as in not going back in? I read somewhere you have an IS in mind.

 

OK, that would take you through Brattleboro. I would go north out of Albany up to Troy (just 7 mi or so), then east to Vermont, then up the west side of VT to Manchester, east over the mountains to Chester, then jog up and over on several roads until eventually meeting I-91 about 15 miles south of where you crossed the river. Much easier to do if you know the roads - I can understand sticking to the major routes, especially when towing a trailer.

We have still been burning, although at 80 degrees today we are not having a fire tonight. I expect to be getting word soon that the stove needs to go home. No worries about its throne being re-purposed, though!

 

The trailer is a beater 5'x8' flatbed with home made stake sides that I picked up cheap from a friend last year. I needed something smaller than my 6'x16' dual axle trailer for situations like this. The stake sides were disintegrating the entire trip and almost fell off halfway through Vermont when I hit a really bad bump on a bridge. We tore the sides off so they could unload the stove with their fork lift and left them in Woodstock's dumpster.

 

Well Brian, maybe you've heard....we like pics.

Looking forward to this winter, and your testing of the new Beta.
Need pics and info on your new IS too, of course.

 

The new Ideal Steel is going to be very similar to the one in my avatar, which I pulled off Woodstock's website. Its exactly what I described somewhere here when I said I'd like a different color combo for my production model.

The new Beta is going to be very interesting. I'm looking forward to playing with it too.

And sorry, I didn't take any photos of that poor little trailer in its moment of agony. I left it behind in New York for my friend to use this summer. He's helping his son build a house and can put it to good use.

 

Do you guys know if testing has been completed on the IS? I thought Jamie told me it was being done April.

 

So far, yes. IS pre-order is still active. However, my stove shop has been in contact with a Jotul rep and the wheels are turning on the problem I'm having with the Oslo. One way or the other there will be either in place this coming October.

 

I suspect their work is largely done, but they do want to see how well the stoves stood up to the use and abuse we have subjected the stoves to, to make sure they haven't missed anything. Based on how well our early beta burned when we got it, I'd say we were primarily testing materials for them (construction, durability, ease of use, etc).

 

Has anybody checked to see how clean the chimney is after running the IS?