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

40 degrees this morning. Started a small fire to take the chill off.

The black box really takes some getting used to. It looks dead but it's still pumping out heat and when I hit it with the infrared thermometer it's showing 300 degrees plus on the front of the stove. 330 with a small fire that is.

 

Ordered my Ideal Steel last week and can't wait!!!

 

I know this is technically a hybrid, but it performs very much like a cat only stove when you want it to. Most of my burns are dark and boring. The glass gets a thick layer of buildup.

From last year I will say that increased draft from colder weather to come will encourage more secondary activity.

 

Slapped in the double wall probe thermometer. Going to have to order the cat probe.

 

Not getting any secondaries tonight. Had em for 5 minutes and it went to black box. Bah humbug.

 

Hint: turn up the intake some 'til you get the light show back if that's your wish. Though the first season with the IS was infatuation for me with its cat-only mode, this year so far is all about getting hypnotized by the secondary lazy flames.

 

Welcome to the FHC, NVhunter. This is a great place and I look forward to pic's of your new stove. Maybe you can tell, we enjoy pictures!

 

I went back to air fully open and nothing so I disengaged the cat and flames shot back in seconds. Engaged the cat again and backed down the air and got secondaries. Backed it down to 20% and still have some small secondaries, that's fine with me.

 

Thanks! Something else-I loaded tonight and as I was letting it come up to temp, I heard a strange noise. I looked inside the glass, and I think the fireback assembly (the top metal plate with the little holes-part pg-12) may have warped some on the right side a little bit. I was nowhere near over firing temps. I did have a good fire going near the top of the fireback. Has anyone else had this happen? Will it impede operation?

 

Look closely at the bolt in the center of that plate. You cannot tighten it. That plate is made to flex. The bolt and nut are there to keep it from expanding too much. You will see that plate change forms many times.

 

That's a relief. Thanks

 

Wait for it to get cold out. The extra draft will stretch it's legs. My glass stays cleaner in colder weather too.

 

I have found that most of my concerns were explainable. The one main problem I had was they didn't make my bypass sled straight and there was a gap at the front when it sat on the gasket. They sent me a new one also bent. Finally, they sent me a straight one. I would be willing to bet there are a lot of bent ones out there. It got warped from their welding the cat holder.

 

What's everyone's flue temps? I'm running in cat mode only this morning. Secondaries have died off. My probe thermometer says my flue gasses are around 600 degrees. I thought they drop when the cat is active? I'm getting 500 on the face of the stove near the hex bolt for the cat probe and 450 on my center medallion up top.

Edit They dropped to around 500 within a few minutes of the original post

 

I will definitely keep everyone posted with pictures!! I have to rebuild the hearth and all too so it will be a little project for me!!

Thanks!

 

After I engaged the cat, my in-flue probe was running at about 390-400. Ir thermometer read 430 stovetop. (Back of stove to the right of the stovepipe) ir thermometer right above the door was reading about 510. Doesn't sound like you were too far off from mine. As others have suggested, you may want to wait just at tad longer before engaging the cat. Especially in shoulder season weather.

 

I'm amazed! I loaded the stove about 80% full for the overnight (around 12:30 am) and this pic is from 12:30 pm.



My stovetop is 200 and still plenty of hot coals. Going to be above 60 today, so I will probably do a cold start tonight for another overnight burn. We had a low of about 30 last night, and woke up to a 71 degree house. Love it. One tip, I guess it's a pretty obvious one: I have a setting on my hvac that turns the fan on every 30 mins for a 10 minute duration, and it seemed to help distribute the heat into the bedrooms some last night. When it was running, I used the ir gun on the hvac vents, and it was blowing out 68 air. Not bad!

 

Are your ducts in the attic or built into the walls?

 

Fun isn't it! Ive had mine for a year now and I'm still amazed how long of a burn I can get. I bet it was really cranking the heat out last night when you went to bed. What type of wood did you load it with yesterday?

I also have the furnace fan that can cycle on and off. I messed around with it last year, but then chose not to use it. My ductwork is located in the attic and although it's insulated really well, I still it gets cold enough to not help me with circulating the heat without losing some of the heat in the process.

 

I've always thought using the duct work is key, but in very cold weather it evens the house out while lowering the total temperature. By the time morning hits the whole house gets colder. I think it's helpful if you are pumping a lot of heat out of the stove with some to spare, but overnight burns don't work as well.