Woodstove progress hybris question

That's a lot o wood! I stuff also stuff my Ideal about 3/4 full with a cold start, and usually use just one piece of kindling.
I enjoy reading your posts about the subtle differences between the two stoves. Good info.....

 

I see you have a wood inspector, I have one also, everytime I bring new wood in from outside he's on the job inspecting the hell out of it

 

did'ja use the kittie for kindling too?

*singing* Kitties roasting on a open fire.....

 

WOW! that's a lot of wood!

I bet it keeps ya warm on them really cold nights.

 

Hey Scotty Overkill can we change that title to the right one, so I don't look like a bigger nincompoop than I already normally do?

 

Hi Chuck, sorry, I've been busy and traveling.... Anyway, I've had the PH for 3 full seasons now, going into 4th. Your NOT going to overfire the PH, unless you have a problem (aka leak) with the stove somewhere, and even then you will have a hard time. I had a gasket blow out in the back of the stove last year around the air intake which allowed a lot of air into the stove even when it was closed, and I still did not even come close to "over-fireing it". It instead just burned a load of wood a lot faster than normally, that was it. Before I bought my PH, I had the same concern and question and asked it on an old site. WE got a great answer from somebody who had the PH, and that was (I paraphrase...): "You can NOT over-fire the PH, I tried it, you can't do it! I stuffed the box with all super dry split up 2x4's to the bring on a hot coal bed and opened it wide open and let it rip. It got hot, but not too hot to call an over-fire and nothing happened except for it all burning fast". I would never try that, but it sure was good to here!

As for cold starting the PH, it's super easy and pretty fast, 10 to 20 minutes using 1/4 or 1/2 piece of a super cedar. I simply lay down 2 or 3 small pieces of kindling (branches or really small splits about 1 or 2" thick), lay the super cedar on top of them, then put 2 pieces of larger kindling on top of that crisscrossed a bit. Then I lay 2, 3 or 4 full size splits on top depending on what kind of fire I want (small to take a chill out, or a full blast heating fire...). Light the super cedar, shut the door and wait 5 minutes or so for the temp on the pipe to reach 250 or so. Close the CAT bypass, and start shutting the air down (1/2 way, then 3/4 way, then to almost closed in 2 or 3 minute steps). DONE! This will burn for anywhere from 2 to 6 hours depending on what you put in, and then you can re-load for a nice 8 to 16 hour burn. The burn time depends on a few things:
1. How much you load of course.
2. SIZE of the splits, I find the thicker larger splits burn a bit longer and slower usually.
3. Type of wood of course, the harder higher BTU woods tend to burn slower and longer....
4. Your air setting(how much heat you want), draft and temp outside....

Last year I burned 24 x 7 almost the entire winter (December thru mid March). On really cold spells, I do 3 loads a day, otherwise 2. When really cold here is my plan: almost full load in morning, shut it down and let slow burn all day while at work, after dinner I do a small re-load to last a few hours, sometimes it's just a split or 2, sometimes it's 4 splits... Then late night 1/2 before bedtime, I do 3/4 to a full load depending on how cold out it is. By the way, loading on a hot stove/coal bed is as easy as can be. Open the bypass, open the air, open the door and rake the coals forward. Slid in your splits and close the door, wait 2 or 3 minutes for fire to get going (sometimes even shorter!), close bypass an start shutting air down. 5 or 10 minutes, done!

Yea, about 5 ort 6 good size splits is about a normal load I would say also. Not stuffed or full, but you will get 8 to 12 hours out of it easy. I always rake all my coals forward (and the ash falls into the ash pan which is AWESOME!), and place the largest thickest split in the back on the bottom. I literally lay it right onto the grate with nothing under, so it doesn't start burning at all. That split is usually the last t burn and is what is left burning in the morning.

I don't think I have never reached anywhere close to 700 on my PH top. I've don't even think I've got the stove pipe up that hot. I've hit 650 on the pipe, and the hottest I've got the stove top (soapstone) is probably 550 or 600 and even that is rare. My top is normally about 350 to 450 when it's running full blast. But when it is 450, the stove is a BLAST FURNACE. There is a crap load of heat coming off that thing at that point!!

 

Great info Machria Thanks!

 

Mind if I ask, Machria what made the gasket blow?

 

Well, it really wasn't a "gasket", but a spot that seals with stove cement and a gasket on it as well. I had a few parts of my stove re-built onsite by Woodstock 2 years ago to solve a "smoke smell" issue the early stoves had. While burning, you could smell a smoke smell from the back corner of the stove above the door. So under warranty they fixed the issue and while they were at it they updated the stove to some new parts they were using I guess. To change them out they had to take apart much of the stove. I think when they put it back together they just didn't get enough stove cement around the primary air intake in the back of the stove, and it started coming off a bit (the gasket and stove cement). So they sent me some stove cement and a gasket for it, with instructions on how to fix. It was pretty easy, took about 15 minutes. I just removed the rear heat shield, unscrewed two bolts and took a small panel off, cleaned the surface (scrapped off the old cement) and applied new cement and stuck the gasket on. Then put the panel and heat shield back on and it's been fine since. The only other gasket I have needed to change so far has been the door gasket which is pretty normal wear and tear.

I have to say, Woodstock is a really nice company to deal with. They have backed the product beyond expectations, and are very attentive to solve any issues.

 

I hear ya. One day, I will own one. Maybe not in the near future. But, someday. With the situation I am in; I am just buying or "bidin" my time. (I sound is long as in "buy")

 

What's the "situation" your in? if it's not to personal .....

 

Check your PM's, please.

 

Flamestead and Machria, I just want to say thanks! your explanations with pictures and details are fantastic! I don't know what you do for work but with your talents you should be teacher's or educators. kudos!

 

LOL! Your welcome! I laugh cause I don't have the patients to teach anybody anything normally!

I've gotten TONS of help from all of you folks, just giving a bit back where I can.

 

No Patients? You'd never make it as a doctor.

Wacka wacka!

 

AND I can't spell!!!

 

Join the club. Thank goodness for spellcheckers. All I'm sayin'...

and I can't type fer chit either! Thank goodness for the edit feature here!