Finally pulled the trigger...

Well I was able to follow TurboDiesel and BDF advice and fiddle the ash pan door open slightly to burn off accumulated coals this morning. Thanks for the advice fellers! It took a good 40 minutes, but was enough to convince me to mod the ash pan door.

I went with a 5/16 hole initially. The weather guessers are calling for 21 as the high here Friday with a low around 10, so I should know better in a couple days how well it will help. I can always add more holes if necessary.

 

YOU DID WHAT?!?





Don't worry, it'll be fine.
That one hole will change your life.



(Shut up, Eric!)

 

Does it give a faint whistle?
Mine does. (Gotta be quiet in the house)

 

Don’t know yet. I just did it about an hour ago. It’s warm here today 38. I probably won’t need to reload the stove for a couple hours yet. I sure hope it doesn’t whistle though that would be annoying right in the living room. We’ll see…

 

Great. I think you are going to like how the stove behaves with that extra bit of under- grate air. And with that magnet, you can either reduce the air or just shut it down entirely. Also, you can always put a button head screw through that hole if you find you do not like it and it will stay sealed permanently

BTW- cracking the ash pan door is a splendid way to start a fire. As always, do not leave the stove unattended AT ALL if the ash pan door is cracked but it will start, and especially re-start much faster and easier using that door. Back before it became pure evil itself, they used to put an under- grate adjustable air feed on lots of stoves. And all would 'go nuclear' if left open. Look at any pot bellied stove and note the draft in the ash clean- out door in the base.

 

And not even an 'Easy Boys!' after that little gem.

And notice he blamed both of us but YOU WERE FIRST, thereby accruing the majority of the blame.... or at least that is how the jury will see it, I figure (or is that hope?).

 

My parents old school wood furnace had a firebox much the same physically as the IS. With an ash clean out/door under the burn chamber. It was old hat for me to crack that door on the IS open to get the party started on a relight. It’s one of my favorite features of this stove! I used to tweak the ash clean-out plug in the Drolet to get the same effect. Although that was a much more fiddly exercise.

yeah as far as the small hole I agree it won’t be a big deal to seal it up if i want to, but I don’t believe I’ll want too.

 

Nah I listed Tim first because I like him better! I’ll throw you under the bus first

 

Just need to teach it a catchy tune!

 

Yes of course I’m joking and take full responsibility for my own actions. As any responsible adult should. As for feeling better I feel that may be weeks yet…

 

.
Hmmm.

 

What length do you cut your firewood to get it to fit in the fire box both directions?

 

16”/17” fits in there north/south perfectly.

 

there’s room in there at one side or the other to stick a couple more north/south splits too if you shift that whole second level over a bit

 

The IS will take 18" n/s
And 22" e/w
IIRC

 

Yep but I found quick not much more than 16” will fit behind the andirons.

 

Yep agreed but I find I cannot fill the stove with 22" splits E/W because there is not sufficient room to 'walk' the splits in one side and then get the other end in the stove. So the last couple of splits just do not go in. If loading N/S, 18" is fine (my andirons have long been busy doing a gravity check under the stove) until getting to the top with that slanted fire box top. And loading one or two splits E/W on top of a firebox nearly full of 18" N/S splits usually results in them falling out or laying against the glass. For me it came down to having to pick my poison and I eventually ended up with 20" splits and always load E/W. All of that said, I have not found it possible to regularly load my I.S. to, say 85% full or more anyway. Also, I find end loading stoves are easier to fill than front loading stoves so again the lack of ability to really fill the I.S.

 

Thanks for all the input fellas!

 

I’d like to provide a small update. It was cold in the 20s yesterday here. Last night it went down into the low teens. I loaded the stove full last night and went to bed with the living room at 82. This is what I found 8 hours later with the house at 72 needing a reload.
Seems like a lot of coals but it’s actually not. Not like before anyway. Those coals are actually way different too. Lighter and throwing way more heat than before. In short the ash pan door hole is going to make a huge difference!


BDF In my humble opinion this stove is built to be loaded with standard 16” splits you can load it right up:









I’d call that 85% and there is easily room in there yet for 2-3 more medium splits if you really wanted to load it up. I’ve got some 18/20” splits here and experimented with lots of different ways to load this stove. I agree that angled secondary baffle plate is a hurdle. I have concluded so far the above method is the easiest way for ME to load this sucker 90-95% full. YMMV folks