Ideal Steel #4

welcome Kermit, how much square feet you heating?

 

Thank you for the welcome, we appreciate it.

 

Thank you for the welcome. The house has a 2600 square footage. We heat every foot of the first and second floors. The third floor has a combination storage and bedroom, but we closed off the third floor to contain the heat to the lower floors.

 

That is a lot of space to be heating with a single stove!! How much wood do you go through in a season?

 

Our burning season is late September into May so we are not yet done! Our estimate of firewood burned in the 2014-2015 season is 6 full cords.

 

Really very reasonable for a home that large considering your climate

 

You will likely be pleasantly surprised with the amount of wood you burn next heating season.

 

We will purchase 6 full cords of firewood this spring to burn during the 2016-2017 season. Enough firewood to burn during the 2015-2016 burning season is stacked, seasoned and ready. Truth be told, we expect to burn the 6 full cords. The difference with the Ideal Steel is we are warmer. The addition this last winter of a humidifier which kept our humidity level at 31% to 40% added to our comfort.

 

Will look forward to hearing your results next burning season, Kermit4.

 

Thank you very much.

 

By the way, due to the weight of the Ideal Steel and the brick hearth, as a precaution we placed a floor jack that supports three floor joists directly beneath the stove area.

 

Like a hydraulic bottle floor jack? Me personally, I would use a screw type column jack, or even jack stands, seals fail and bottle jacks let go...

 

Sure, we used a "screw type column jack".

 

Nice lookin stove kermit and good idea about bracing the floor. Alot of folks don't think about the load some of these HEAVY stoves can put on floor joists.

Oh and did i mention i love your flooring!

 

We do too. The floor boards are yellow poplar and are located in part of the house built around 1865.

 

I just ordered one on Friday. Really looking forward to heating my camp with it. How is it working out for you?

 

Welcome Jafo232

 

Thanks!

 

When we purchased the house from my parents in 1994, a Belgian Efel was the wood burning stove my father installed. It kept the cold out of the living room, just, but best of all, my father baked killer baked potatoes and steak on the swing-out grilling rack. In 2008, we replaced the Efel with the Jotul Oslo, a nice stove. In August 2014 we replaced the Jotul Oslo with the Woodstock Soapstone Ideal Steel. But I loved the Jotul. It was a very attractive stove. It now sits in lonely storage, I just can't let it go. I was reluctant to replace it and didn't particularly care for the Ideal Steel's appearance. My husband began the process of wearing down my defenses last winter to purchase an IS. I gradually saw the light and relented. He let me choose the colors and soapstone design which is Fiddlin' Frog. The first Saturday last August 2014 when our IS #4 was ready, we rented a pickup from Enterprise, drove to New Hampshire and trucked the IS home. With a lot of help from our son and the engine puller, the IS was installed. The new stove "grew" on me quickly. Now I love it. It looks fine. It burns great and maintains a long burn. We just let the IS burn out Sunday and today, Tuesday, the stove is still warm. This past winter was one of the coldest on record in Central New York. In fact, the average temperature in February was 9 degrees. The IS kept us in so much comfort. I just cannot imagine replacing it. Won't need to. Its family now. As we grow older, stacking and hauling firewood may not be so easy or fun, and although my husband disagrees somewhat, I think we'll burn a combo Ecobrick and firewood in the future, sometime... when we're old.