Ideal Steel Season #2 Tips, Tricks, and Improvements.

I agree with that very much so.

 

Well,
The Mrs. wanted a fire.... It is cold enough to cure the paint that was touched up. I will try to get up to a medium fire by Sunday

Proof you say?

 

Yikes! How close is that wood to the stove?

 

I was thinking the same thing.... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too close.

 

Most of the shoulder season burns I do turn into cat only burns. Maybe I don't have enough chimney draft for the secondaries.

 

Very close.....

The IS actually is better than my old Lopi. Most of the heat comes up the channels or from the front. I spent a couple of years keeping a close eye on it. When I installed the IS I was afraid it would get too hot, but the soapstone sides must help. I only had a problem once:
My sister came over to watch our baby for the evening while we went out for a few hours. We got home at it smelled HOT and there was the faint smell of smoke in the house as well. My sister had put wood into the stove (Lopi), but never closed down the air intake or the bypass. It was really hot! I had to pull a log out and throw it out the window and shut the stove down.....

That is the only time I have been worried so far

 

This is why you always either show the females how to run the stove or tell them to keep their mitts off of it!

 

I did show her, but the little sister must have been remembering old times and ignored her older brother

My wife, however, is proficient at getting a fire going and she handles reloading duties just fine !!!! What was that other thread about a great wife?.....

 

Well... confession time. I didn't notify my insurance company of the changes I made last year.

So, I decided to do the right thing and fill out their form. I sent them pictures of the install.

This is the response I got back.
"Hi Jeff,

Thanks so much. Everything looks in order and you did a fantastic job. Nothing further is required, other than you staying warm and enjoying your woodstove!"

Have a great day!"

That was easy.

 

What insurance company?

 

Gibbel insurance agency. They require a 3 page questionnaire and pictures.

 

Woodstock took the remainder of the money today. I paid half up front and said take the other half when it's ready to go.

I ordered the metallic blue accents but because it's going to be a corner install I didn't get the extra designs on the sides. That means they paint the whole leg blue. Might be ordering a set in regular Ole charcoal or painting the blue ones. I don't want the blue to overpower the rest of the stove. I want it to accent it. Guess we will see in a few days. Hopefully it shipped today so it's moving versus shipping Monday and just sitting for the next few days.

 

Hello everyone! I am a new ideal steel owner. I bought the stove last spring and have had just a few fires in it. I am still trying to figure it all out. I have read most of this thread as well.

My question is, can you over fire this thing in a "cat burn"? Last night I loaded it up 2/3 the way with maple and yellow birch. About an hour after I closed it down, the stove got wicked hot (overfire?). I had the thermometer next to the bolt over the top of the door, and it read 800. The stove top near the middle was reading around 715. I looked up at the ceiling of the inside of the stove, and it was a pretty bright orange. The firebox was almost completely dark. The air was at 3/4 closed. I closed it all the way and nothing changed. Unsure of what to do I disengaged the cat for a few minutes and let it cool and then closed the cat again and it settled down a bit.
Did I over fire the stove? Possibility of damage?

This also made me wonder what would have happened if I had gone to bed after loading the stove, and how to prevent it again.

Any help would be great! thanks!

 

I've seen very simular things with mine. I will say that the cat tends to be hyperactive when it's new. If I were you I would test it again with an infrared temp gun. Those magnetic thermometers aren't the most accurate. I remember being worried as well. The infrared gun proved that it was under control. I would also say the glowing is normal. You can get a catalytic probe as well.

 

Good choice of stove ( I'm biased) Maineidealsteel. Welcome to FHC.
I doubt if you hurt anything because mine has been there. To control your cat-only burns:
Engage the cat sooner and after 6 minutes slowly (3 min's) close the intake to 3 or 4 marks.
Use fewer but larger splits, nestled tightly together instead of lotsa spaces between splits.
Use dense dry wood (oak, locust), avoid whole loads of silver maple or dry poplar.
Last year had a huge thread on the IS, I will try to find the link..
BTW, you definitely don't need any flame in the firebox at all to make the IS pump out heat (cat-only mode). That's when the cat does all the work. Once she's cruising, I can easily run the intake halfway between 1/4 open and totally closed. The owners manual does say it runs best at a quarter open but we found that settings below 1/4 can extinguish flames, crank out heat and extend the burn.
Search "Production Woodstock IS" for a very informative (and LONG) discussion on the IS.
Happy learnin' and burnin'!

 

sounds about right!!! Remember, the cat has its own air supply. You were running full bore on the cat, but not too hot. The best way to actually cool the stove is to open the bypass and the air for a minute or few.

 

Same thing happened to me when I first got the stove. Freaked me out!

Like everyone said, cut the air back all the way and open the bypass if necessary for a short while. This happens when you have a bunch of really dry splits loaded up and they are at the peak of off gassing.

Now if it happens to me, I know it's not going to get much hotter than that and I just cut the air back and don't worry about it. It's more prone to do that with dry and softer splits like you were burning.

Get's hot, doesn't it!!? Especially when you don't see any fire...

 

I appreciate everyone's help. Seems like it wasn't that big of a deal after all. The last thing i wanted to do is damage this brand new stove. I am really looking forward to the 24/7 burn season to see how this stove works out!

 

I took some time today and sealed all the joints in the pipe from my stove to the liner. I used furnace cement. My hopes are to lessen smoke getting into the house when the door is open. I also found a way to angle my horizontal run to aid in draft performance. So far things look good. The stove works great. It breathes well. Time will tell if it was a worthy improvement.

 

Just a quick note. Even after I have installed the liner and extended the chimney 4 feet I find I'm fighting smoke spillage on reload. I've only reloaded twice and I want to experiment with different habits to eliminate this like opening bypass maybe 5 mins before opening door to improve draft rather than just a minute or two. But to experienced users, do you have issues with this? How do you handle it?