Gang, If you recall, my 2014 Ideal dripped creosote onto the hearth pad. the issue was reported to woodstock and much drama, mayhem, chaos, misery, degradation and squalor ensued. It has been six months since the stove was sent back to them and there has been no response about what they found when they cut into the stove, if they ever did. I don't know what the issue was, and if they don't care, well, neither do I. They sent me a new stove body in May 2015 and it is performing very differently than the old one; having done about 14 fires in the new stove, using wood that is reading 3 points higher on the moister meter (exterior) than last year, this stove is cranking out more heat. the old stove used to produce a lot of unburnt coals but the new one is producing a fine grey-white powder that just sifts down into the ash pan. don't get me wrong, I love the Ideal and want it to burn like there's no tomorrow. It is just baffling as to how and why Woodstock never responded regarding the old stove.
Golf, if it were me, I'd call directly to Woodstock. At the open house someone else had a similar problem to yours. I do recall that Tom took care of it and showed the man what they had done but I was not involved with that part so can't tell you what the fix was except that it worked.
It would be odd that they somehow forgot....this whole thing was a big kerfuffle complete with borescope photos, creosote samples etc. I sent the old stove back to Woodstock in early May of this year so it should be a rather large reminder sitting on their shop floor. Maybe they cut it open, couldn't figure it out and just moved on. In any event, the replacement stove behaves much differently than the old one. Using wood that is a couple points higher on the moisture meter than last year's, the stove had a borderline overfire this morning even though the draft lever was only on the 4th notch. The old one never acted like that. Keep in mind the combustor, cat sled, interior baffle and misc parts all came off the old stove and the only new "part" they sent was the stove body.
This makes me wonder if they changed the air intake throttle plates? What you are describing could be the result of more primary air at the same draft setting. The primaries on my stove have always been a bit limited while at the same time, the secondaries (the air introduced under the upper baffle) seem to supply a LOT of air; great for burning off gasses but useless for starting a fire or burning down coals. ??? Brian
