Production Woodstock IS

Chestnut,

Enjoy the visit. And the stove if you're picking one up.

 

You are in for a treat. Actually, two treats: one will be your new stove of course but the other one is just the visit to a great company filled with nice people. Even the dogs there are nice It is great to see an American company that is both successful but also pleasant and happy.

Brian

 

That should seal the deal right there.
I want to see pics of a new stove in the back of a truck.

 

Its in the house, in front of the hearth and we just opened the crate, its looking good.
It took my wife Roberta and I about an hour and a half to bring it in.
Its 13 degrees outside, going into the single digits by morning, I am glad to have it inside where its warm.
First fire tomorrow, lots of pictures to follow.
The little Lopi patriot is working full blast to keep this place warm tonight.

 

Just a teaser, sucked down a couple of cold ones and crashing out for the night.

 

My guess is that this stove will far exceed your expectations. One issue I did run into initially, and this may be unique to my stove color, was that it took quite a prolonged duration for the paint to cure and the smell to go away. I'm talking close to a month of burning. My stove is almond with terra cotta accents, so perhaps yours won't have the same issue. The smell went away and this stove is a winner, big time. Let's see some pics when you get her in!

 

The andirons look very familiar. Looking good Chestnut .

 

Some things burning, first match @ 930 am.
Windows are open and fans are going and the smoke detector is screaming.

.

 

Beautiful.
So, the 2nd fire will be what.....Tuesday?

 

What did you do for your side panels?

 

Still on the pallet at midnight, burning wood at 9:00 AM- outstanding!

I think I can feel the heat just a little but if I face west.... (Chestnut lives w/in a few miles of where I live). Wait until you idle that thing down for tomorrow when it is in the mid- 40'sF. I think you will be amazed at how low and slow that stove can burn perfectly and with a perfectly clear exhaust, at least to the eye.

And yep, the paint stench does go on for quite a while; that said, the paint does seem to be pretty resistant to lightening in color as the stove is used too so maybe the two things are interlinked.

Brian

 

I got a little creative. I call it "The Coal Slayer". I bought a Redstone fireplace poker and welded up a rake on the end of it. This is extremely effective for burning down the coals. It makes air channels and sorts through the ash. I made a 16" span with 4" spacing. 4" points. My little 110 Flux core welder was effective enough to hold it together until I take it to work and put the Miller 220 on it.

 

How well does it work getting ash into the ash pan? I have to really work coals/ash with a stove shovel to get the ash down into the ash pan.

 

I'm not really sure, but it sifts it so I'm sure it drops some in.

 

I think to effectively burn down coals you need air channels from the top to the bottom of the coal bed. That gives more surface area of the coal for the air to reach.

 

I like your coal rake

 

Absolutely!
I have nothing more than a fireplace shovel (at the moment). And when I want to burn down coal bed; I use the shovel to move the coals ending up with two channels in line with the primary air ports, front to back of firebox and down to the firebrick.
You're right JA600L - much more surface area in the bed. And air passing the full depth of the firebox allows for faster coal bed burn-down and greater heat output.

 

The factory set ratio of primary : secondary air in the IS is designed to minimize unburned hydrocarbons, maximize burn time, maximize efficiency and meet or exceed the EPA criteria. The coal bed build-up we are all experiencing is a byproduct of this design IMO. Reduced primary air into the firebox prolongs the burn and allows increased secondary and catalytic combustion thereby promoting combustion of the volatiles; yielding more heat per pound of fuel, longer burn times and cleaner exhaust up the flu.
Blocking the secondary air at the point in the burn when coaling occurs alters the design of the primary : secondary air ratio in the stove but happens at a time of the burn when there are few volatiles and the requirement for secondary air is minimal, again, IMO.
My preliminary trials show significantly greater primary air into the firebox. However, creating channels into the coal bed allowing primary air to move from the front to the rear of the box cannot be underestimated. Lately I shovel coals from either side of the box to the center, rake the coals over the grate to allow fine ash to drop into the ash-pan, then arrange the coals in three beds; left / center / right with the two channels front to back as paths for the primary air. Doing this at dinner time results in a minimal coal bed for the overnight load before going to bed for the night.

 

The process of separating the coals into piles may happen when I'm at home but my wife will never go for this. I have to find something a little more simple or doing nothing at all when she is involved. Our fascination with how the IS burns is just that, she just wants simple directions to keep warm while I'm at work.