Absolute Steel Hybrid

Seeing as you have had all three (the PH, the IS and now the AS) stoves, and as this is the smallest one going by cubic volume of the firebox, how would you compare how much wood you can get into this one vs. the Ideal Steel? The reason I ask is because I find front loading stoves both harder to load and much harder to fully fill as the last split or two would like to fall out; end loading stoves do not have that problem. I guess I am asking if you think you can get as much wood in the A.S. as you could in the I.S. because it is a side loader?

Brian

 

I lived 25 years with a side loading stove with too short andirons; can't count the number of times I wished they were taller. I don't find the andirons take away from the fire at all, so my preference would be for them to be high enough so that you simply cannot put even the smallest split between them and the glass when loading as much as possible. The height of the Fireview andirons relative to the top of the glass seems perfect and I never have to worry about the front glass. Why would you not want them even taller?

 

I'm enjoying this image!! LOL!

 

My carpentry tape measure says 3/16" on the AS.

 

I guess some of it is a sense of proportion, and some a sense of function. Looking back, we are not getting wood on the glass, even with the shorter andirons, so that leaves it mostly in the court of aesthetics.

Note the metal inside the firebox, framing the window. It comes back into the firebox the same distance as the back of the andirons. Plus there is about 2.5" more firebox width on each side of the frame. Ken says these pieces are there intentionally to help keep splits off the glass, and it seems to work.

 

It does feel smaller, but I think part of that is because we have 16" wood for this stove, and use 20-21" wood in the other two stoves. We were just talking tonight about how the IS has that big door but seems more cumbersome to load than the two side-loaders. I took pictures of the amount of wood I could fit in the IS. I think I loaded and then unloaded and laid them out on the floor - I'll try to replicate that for the AS and post the two pics together (it will likely have to wait until we get through this cold spell).

 

Sides and top? Looks like the bricks go most of the way up the sides. What protects the top of the front above the glass, and the stove top, as those secondary flames and heat hit that area? Can you get a pic from that area, back toward the flue exit, or describe what the flame path looks like? I guess once it gets to the cat, it's a different story. What protects the cat, BTW? If the plant wasn't 1000 miles away, I would go out there and look at one.

 

Well, here is what it looks like:

 

Did the graphic that fortydegnorth posted, above, help? Next time we slow the stove down I'll try to get some pics. The top lid has a heat shield attached to the underside, and there is a removable shield directly above the cat (it protects the stovetop from the cat).

Oh, here's a pic from when we first got it that shows the cat shield and the top lid. ...

 

Forum members passing through the neighborhood are welcome to try catching us at home to see the stove burning - Rt 103 runs by our place (but it would only shorten your trip by 4% as compared to going all the way).

 

Yes! I had seen the one for the PH but not any others. With that, and your pics, it's clear what's going on.

 

If you can let it burn the coals low sometime, could you get an actual, usable volume measurement of the firebox? I'm trying to get an idea how much bigger it is than the Fireview I had...

 

New paint job on the artwork! It is getting pretty high wife approval ratings...

 

That does look better.

 

15 5/8" from the inside of the andirons to the back of the stove
19 1/2" from the inside of the soapstone around the door to the other side (split length)
13" tall at the back and 15 1/2" tall above the andirons

Then there is an additional 1" deep x 12" wide x 10" tall space at the door (the door comes flush with the outside of the firebox, and this is the part of the firebox without soapstone lining).

{edit: and there is 1 7/8" from the glass to the backside of the andirons}

 

While cooled off for replacing the artwork, I checked the stove over pretty carefully. There is no sign of damage to the high-heat parts like the cat scoop, shield over the cat, etc. The cat was so clean I did not bother to vacuum it - this is at about 1/2 cord. Probably having the key-damper is helping with this some; normally we would have had to vacuum the PH's cat by now.

Here's a couple pics of the internals...



Cat and shield removed, key damper visible in the stovepipe.

 

OK, then about .5 more that the Fireview.

 

A couple of pics for a cold, windy day...

 

Wow that's a good N/S stack! What is the cut length of those pieces?? This will be an interesting test.