would like to say hello

just joined the forum. i've been heating with wood for decades and like the rest of you am addicted to the bliss of wood heat.
funny little tale. my neighbor is shopping for a wood stove, it's going to be a new install to greatly reduce his use of heating oil. as a long term wood guy i've been his mentor, first thing i told him was to forget about catalytic stoves.
back in the day i had a vermont castings defiant, then upgraded it, this must be 15 years ago, with vermont castings' catalytic stove. what a mistake. the $175- at that time- cat was cooked after one year and a hassle to replace. i sold the stove extremely pizzed and got a jotul 500.
i'm going along in my daze thinking the jotul was the bee's knees, it was pretty good back at one point, and then in researching stoves for the neighbor the truth began to be revealed. it took a long process to get to the info, part of it was discovering this forum past the hearth.com place. the real revelation was the better business bureau's complaint chart which gives a strong indication of some good hardware. A+ on that is woodstock soapstone and blaze king. also jotul for that matter. then finally the truth smacked me in the head like a 2x4 how the catalytic technology had come along.
the neighbor is still making up his mind about hardware. i needed VERY little provocation and called woodstock last friday the last day of the sale and have an ideal on order. more heat less wood, that could be a real problem. i now know what an idiot i had become and how nearly useless the jotul really is.
time marches on and a lot of hardware becomes obsolete and needs replacement. thanks for this forum. it's a great place and i will never allow myself to not be up to date on the goings on.

 

welcome, mine is ordered too.

 

thanks. i don't think i could handle northern vermont. when i was born mom left out the starch.

 

chucker, welcome aboard.
At least you're willing to change when it's warranted.

We'd love to see pics of your new stove and install when it shows up. Lots of very satisfied owners of the IS on here.

 

I think a lot of what works for which person is what that person expects along with how he / she runs a woodstove. A good friend of mine has two Jotuls (a 'big' one and a little one in the family room) and as far as I can tell, they light them, fill them and leave the draft wide open. The wood burns and they get whatever heat they get, for as long as it lasts. I think they would be very disappointed in a catalytic stove because they would not adjust the stove to perform well, starting with closing the bypass once it is well engaged. So I do not think it is so much good stove / bad stove as it is different equipment will deliver different results but it also requires different use and input.

As far as the I.S. goes, it is a nice design because the combustor is directly over and in the path of the hottest part of the firebox yet it is still very well protected from excess temperatures and flame impingement, which are very hard on combustors. The I.S. combustor lights easily and quickly, and is quite easy to keep engaged and 'lit' with a very wide draft range.

Congrats on the stove order- a lot of us on this forum have them and like them pretty well. Of course you folks are the 'newbies' while us oldtimers have had these stoves for months and months.

Brian

 

Welcome to da club chucker, glad ya made it here
Is your neighbor going to get an IS also ?
How many sqft are ya heating ?

 

Welcome!!!!

 

Welcome

 

my neighbor is doing a good job of 'shopping' although he doesn't mention alternatives so god knows what is really going on. he has a long commute on some days so the BK for example would be good for him only he doesn't want to go 3k and plus so there is only one alternative, the IS, and he's doing a good job of ignoring it and acting like i'm stuck on it just because i bought it. his only alternative in the price range is in fact the IS, if there's anything better please advise. all i've seen worth purchasing are the WS and BK and frankly he should bleed for the BK, but whatever he wants is fine.
i'm heating 936 sq. ft. so it's a small place. the kicker is that my wood shop is on the basement level and sucks air from the house with different speed fans, so a bit of excess capacity is in order for when it's needed. naturally you have to adjust things as not to have too much negative pressure.
this feeds into BDF's point about how you run a stove. i run 'em cranked down, conserve fuel. the jotul is miserable run like this but what the hey, it works. the catalytics are going to be great as they are designed to sip. the BKs are pretty cool with the thermostat and the ultra long burn but i liked the direct sales, mechanical simplicity and elegance of the IS.

 

well you shouldn't have any problems keeping the place warm with the IS

 

Nice to see new members with years of experience. Like you, I'm not to old to learn. I've updated my pellet stove. I can't do the cut wood thing mostly due to limited mobility. My point was that my update was due to the advice I got here from my good buddies. They listed options, but said the Harman was one of my best options so that is exactly what I did. I am so happy I listened. That advise really paid off. Good luck with your new stove. I hope you will post pictures and talk about you experience with it.
Larry

 

Welcome aboard, chucker.
Since no one else has mentioned it, I will. We like pics! Lots of 'em! (Great photo ops with the upcoming install going on.)

 

Welcome chucker
20 years ago I heard all the horror stories about cat stoves. Never would have considered buying one. Fast forward, after lots of research I got a Woodstock Keystone 2 1/2 years ago and couldn't be happier. Feed your new stove good DRY wood and you will be impressed.

 

Welcome to FHC chucker

 

Welcome chucker
I upgraded to a catalytic, 2010, never going back.
Burn Oct thru mid May.
I do replace the combustor every couple years, saves a cord or 2 of wood per year I get long burn times.
Neighbors ask all the time if I'm burning, no smoke. Clean burning too

 

yeah, i guess so. i can't see how you do better than the IS. how much money are you going to save considering the IS is so reasonably priced. after reading here i talked to him about the englander 30 as a low end price reference. he can make up his own mind.
using less wood is HUGE. he can choose whatever unit he wishes. i mostly object to personally being put through cost and grief, should others opt for the experience it's their own business. wood heat is work, we all know and appreciate this. i don't mind or resent the effort but you don't do unnecessary work and waste resources.
the neighbor has done me a very good turn. without him i would still be in the dark.

 

How is your chimney system?