Order WS Ideal Steel Stove!

They forgot to include the probe thermometer? I have an IS on order that should ship this week, but every time I read one of these threads, it makes me second guess my decision.

It seems like too much of Woodstock's reputation stems from the fact that they're "good" and not that "good at it." I.E. great customer service, but often less than perfect execution of the product itself.

 

I ordered the stove in May I think. They were only including a surface thermometer at that time. There was a small chip in one of the soapstone liners (from shipping). When I asked them about it they said they would send me another one. That is when I asked to purchase a probe and they said the would just put one in with the stone since they now include them with new stoves.

 

They don't or haven't included the probe thermometer with the stove purchase, just a surface thermometer as the OP has indicated. I think Woodstock has done a fantastic job and have a great product. No need to be apprehensive in my opinion.

 

^^x a lot
I had a 5 year old stove it had metal cracks by hinges. They took stove back and made it as new.

I own many things that break in 5 years!! Only company to stand behind it!! I would buy another

 

Every manufacturer has screw ups. Not all of them work so hard to make it right.

 

First fire!

Warm and comfortable (74*F, 47%H) in house b/c it is made of concrete and has been hot outside other than the last day or so. 50ish *F outside. Used scrap pallet wood to start a fire. 6-8 pieces of the thin stuff of varying length. Not enough to engage cat but enough to feel the heat, get some small lift off from the wood, and smell the paint. If I have time I’ll try a bigger fire tomorrow but we are heating back up so not sure. First impressions: stove is VERY easy to light and keep a fire, The big glass radiates heat well, the air control seemed to have an almost immediate effect on fire, NO smoke rollout (I messed with the wood a bit during the fire and could smell it but that’s it).

 

The fact that people so consistently apologize and make excuses for Woodstock is making me feel a lot better about cancelling my order. Friendly but incompetent isn't a great way to run a business, unless your customers are all suckers.

 

Well wishing you the best of luck finding a quality woodstove and having it installed before Christmas!

I personally know 2 installers that are working 6 days a week 1 in NH and 1 in VT and they can’t get anyone in before January!

I am sure Tom (owner of Woodstock) will manage this loss of sale. He was working Saturdays trying to keep up

 

Because I am curious, what gives you the impression that WS doesn’t make a quality product?

 

Second Fire:

outside temp of 70*. Easy to light fire. Had a bit of smoke inside at beginning but I didn’t warm up pipe first. Used some fallen tree limbs so moisture content was a bit higher than should have been. So far nothing exciting but I can tell this stove will be soooo much easier to work than the SH2K. I’m excited for a cool week to test it out properly. I’ll do an actual fire in about two weeks when I get back into town.

 

Finally started to use the stove. I will say, this stove (and I assume other cat stoves) are MUCH different than my previous stoves. So far I like it a LOT.

few things I noticed. I had a 12’ chimney with two 45’s. This wasn’t much of a problem for the SH2K or the smoke dragon before it. It is a problem for this stove in my house on startup and getting things to stay running on warmer evenings. I have a VERY tight house. I added 48” to chimney last night and this has prevented smoke rollout. It also helped to fully burn down the 3 splits I put in last night.

I am still having to adjust wood size and timing of air control/damper. Sure, I read the instructions but this is taking me longer to learn than I thought; I need to get a probe thermometer for pipe.

Keeping it on low last night it kept LR/Kitchen in low 70’s till 9:30am for re-load with 3 decent sized splits at around 11pm. A few small bits of wood and coals left; enough that I just used smallish splits, some paper, and torch on coals for a sec to get fire going. A few pieces of kindling and I wouldn’t have used torch but I didn’t want to go outside.

I’m working my way to better wood so future fires will be even better. I’ll probably try to get room up near 80 to see how stove does compared to other stoves. Will be nice to know what it can do before I have to find out b/c of weather.

anyone with suggestions on adjustments or other tricks to using the Ideal Steel?

 

My first choice was the IS. Placed my order. Both my pals who were going to assist with the install began to speak of their intermittent back problems when informed of the 700 lb crate. So I called the Blaze King dealer and was quoted the same price as the IS with shipping. Got the BK Sirocco installed (placed on hearth)for the same cost as the IS. So far, very pleased with the BK.

 

They seem to perform much better with a full firebox.

 

I looked a lot at BK; I wanted the thermostat feature and longer low burn. The dealers here don’t keep them and it would have been a substantial increase in cost. I even checked dealers within a days drive. Glad you like it!

I’ll try that today and see how it compares.

 

Loaded up stove with larger sized splits on a bed of coals and burning sticks. Took a bit to get going; it got fairly hot. Turned it down and it leveled out. About 2 hours later I could smell the stove and checked the temp. After it leveled out it had gone back up… Pictures are what it was at. Temp in house has gone from 70-75 since 7pm. Now 10:30pm.

 

This is where a thermostat helps to smooth out the bumps. I find that the catalyst gets hotter whenever it gets more smoke to eat. So sometimes cat output goes up when you turn the air down enough to snuff the flames because the flames were eating smoke. I believe that the catalyst at low intake settings is more efficient than flames at making heat from smoke.

Really nuanced stuff here. I really like having a flue temperature meter and have grown to like using a numbered catalyst temperature meter too for these types of operational issues.

In time, that temperature spike from shutting the air down would have passed since the fire itself would produce less smoke.

 

wow, my stove got HOT last night. I need to turn it down faster I guess. Loaded it up, waited till about 500ish to engage cat. Took it down slowly to 1/4 mark. Went and fiddled around for about 15-20 min. Walked in and smelled the stove and looked. Darn cat probe was hot enough to be pointing almost straight down! Closed air all the way and closed down my outside air. Took over an hour before it got back into readable range. Nothing glowing. I’ll double check everything tonight; I don’t think it messed anything up. Need to hurry up and get a pipe probe thermometer.

 

snaple4 i did that once, I checked it over good and called Woodstock, talked to Tom, the owner. I told him how I normally run the stove.. Stove Top Temp around 550. His comment was “about time you took that thing past 3rd gear.

 

After a few more fires the Cat has settled down a bit. Much easier to keep control on the higher Temp. Tonight I have it set fairly low. It was having periodic secondary action, now it will be dark for a bit then flair up with a blast and settle back to dark. Rather neat. That isn’t causing a problem is it?
A few more observations:
1)I had used some wet wood (3 year) but still moist. And it left some impossibly hard to remove black soot on glass. Used oven cleaner and it came right off.
2) you can stand right next to the stove and not feel like a rotisserie chicken but it still heats the house very well. Much bette than my old steel stoves (granted those were not new high dollar stoves).
3) the flame show on this is the best out of all my other previous stoves.
4) it complains if you use wet wood even if it is seasoned.