Production Woodstock IS

I was a little shocked myself. I’m going to try a repeat performance tonight.

Only thing that is new to me is the air intake hole just underneath the door gasket . I tried to bring the firebox to black last night but the flames continued. And because the channeling of the air from the intake hole draws the air up, the bottom firebox was dark, only the upper part of load was lit.
I’m gonna plug it tonight and see what happens

 

I laid on the floor and took the picture

 

Update on the new air intake underneath the lower door gasket. I'm not quite sure why WS put it there but it has thrown a wrench in the works on how I burn the IS.
I used a piece of door gasket I had in storage and cut a small bit to put into the intake temporarily, nothing permanent just yet. I did a reload about 3 hours ago and left the stoves main intake on notch number 3 after engaging the cat. Things are seeming a little more like I remember now, I got a dark firebox with a stovetop temp of about 500 deg, the cat was at about 900 with a slight glow to it. I feel like I have a little more control than I did last night. I may leave the new air intake hole blocked for a few days so I can run a few different reloads and stretch her legs out a bit.

 

Thanks to the group of you sharing your experiences with this crack situation. It seems that Woodstock is stepping up large on taking care of their customers here. The service reputation was really the tipping point for us in buying the IS over a BK - not that BK lacks service, but being able to drive a couple hours to the factory AND get this level of service made it a simple decision.

Once they see a bundle of these failures and get some R&D time, I hope that a preventative kit is devised that will obviate the need for a new firebox.

Question for those in the know: if this crack were to come up mid season, would temporary measures be possible so the stove could still be run safely? Thinking something along the lines of a drilled hole to stop the crack and some cement, or maybe a piece of gasket material screwed into the hole and worked into the crack. It looks like most of these pictures show the crack stopping onboard of the door gasket's coverage, so maybe just stopping the crack from spreading would be enough.

 

Like I said, Mike recommended either drill a 1/8" to stop the crack and use some cement, I am guessing stove cement, or having it brazed to get through the season. I'm going to try the hole and cement on mine, maybe tonight and try to take it easier for awhile.

 

as long as that crack is inside the gasket it is not a leak and I would consider it cosmetic. Run it.

 

Cool pics. It looks scary hot but 1200 is well within the safe operating range of the catalyst. Heck, my cat meter (on a bk) spends most of its time in the 1300-1400 range when the stove is at a low cruise. This just barely keeps flue probe temps above 400.

 

Its crazy how the cat is 1200 to 1300 degrees yet the stove top is 400 to 500. I don't have a flue probe on my pipe. Its double wall and I'm nervous to drill the holes needed for the probe.

 

Could you post a photo of that? Mine has an air inlet hole just under the gasket and was a first- generation IS. But it is only about 1/4" to 5/16 in diameter, feeds the air channel in the angle iron inside the stove, and the angle has two smaller holes drilled on each end inside the stove to add some 'bottom' air. Has Woodstock enlarged this hole? If so, it was probably in response to the stoves having a hard time burning the coals down; sort of their version of a little air from under the grate.

 

Weird, we both have first generation stoves and I never had this air intake hole you talk about having.
You can see in the pic I have some gasket material in the hole to restrict any air from affecting my main air control.

I’m considering placing a “flapper” type cover over the hole so that I can use it if I need to, similar to your coal burn down issue. Only thing is the air doesn’t enter down low, it comes in towards the top.

Not sure if the exact hole size but I’d say your very close with 1/4-5/16.

 

Magnet?

 

Not sure why I didn’t think of that, thank you!

 

I bought my stove in October of 2015. My stove has the 1/4" hole on the bottom of the door opening. I heard it's an EPA air intake hole....

What date would the second generation for the stove be....?

 

I use a magnet to hold my cat probe in place. it has a hole through the middle of it to allow the probe through it. Works great. I think a magnet to cover the bottom air inlet hole would work well.

 

Wait for Spring. Burn it over the winter. By Spring they may even have a better handle on the fix and you'll be warm all winter.

 

Harley-Davidson should take lessons from Woodstock. Product Bugs happen, how a company deals with them is what defines the company and builds trust and loyalty. In the end I think Customer Service and Backing up the Product are the most important differentiators.

 

Mine was purchased in the fall of '14 and was one of the first production batch. I have that same hole (Easy Boys!) and as mentioned, it channels air into a cross piece and then has two small (1/8" or so) on each end that emit air directly into the firebox bottom front. In fact, there are a lot of photos of other peoples' I.S. stoves showing a bright spot in the lower right front corner of the firebox because this is where the air from that front hole is introduced. I am actually surprised that did not have one in your original stove. ?? Maybe yours got missed in production?

As far as letting in too much air, it has generally not been a problem but when extremely cold outside, and a full load of very dry wood, I have had difficult slowing the stove down below what I would call 'medium', even with the draft control shut. That is why I ended up putting in a stove pipe damper and now it is just not a problem to throttle the stove under any circumstances I have had since, and that was a couple- three years ago.

I initially thought of enlarging those supplement firebox air holes but was not in love with the idea of a hand drill inside the stove- I can only imagine how much ash the fan in the drill would stir up and throw out of the stove! I also thought of drilling through the stove box from the outside and then through the original internal holes to enlarge them but ended up just supplying a very little 'under grate' air to burn down the mounds of coals that oak leaves.

Brian

 

I 100% agree with you. Not knowing WS prior to the IS coming out, I really had nothing to go on, it was all about the stove for me. Little did I know what an incredible company Tom created with his front office team.

Anytime I talk about WS in any situation I rarely fail to mention their customer service and how good it is.

I know I’ve met you at the shop before at one of their open houses.

 

I have to think it did get missed. I really had no idea until I picked up the new firebox. I looked at it and thought that it was new to the improved body's.

I have learned to burn with the stove without having the EPA “hole” for the last 5 years, so having this new air “hole” is a new learning curve for me. Since I blocked it I feel more comfortable again.

That pic you saw with the glowing cat was the first burn with the air hole blocked. The main air was on notch 2-3 and the firebox black.

 

3 or so BBQs back. I hadn't been able to make the last two for one reason or another. Two years ago my daughter had a baby that week-end, so.. life. But yeah.. I love getting up there though.