New Woodstock Blog info Ideal Steel

That's a very good point, regarding a drafty house and needing the extra power at times. The other one is that I think everyone wants a stove that can heat for 8-10 hours so they can sleep at night and go to work and come home to a house that doesn't have a cold stove and ideally still has a warm house.

I'm just worried that stoves are somewhat tuned to provide a certain heat range output with a certain fuel supply input. It's not clear to me that they can run equally as well when one starts to downscale the fuel input. We may find out real soon, as shoulder season rolls around perhaps we'll get some good info from the beta testers.

It occurs to me that the WS Beta testing is still a relatively small sampling group considering the wide range of installations they might encounter with a stove at this price point. It does appear from the testing so far that the stove does well at lower heat ranges as well as fully stocked and cruising to heat a large space.

I guess the very good news is that there is always WS return policy to fall back on if the stove doesn't work out.

 

+1 BB. I totally agree. My home is an 1880's victorian farmhouse with balloon framing. It's insulated better than when I got here but on windy days the cool air makes it's way in. Needing a change with my Oslo the IS so far has fit the bill on what I am looking for on many fronts. Initial cost, burn times, heat output, efficiency and hopefully wood consumption may be lessened with this new heater. As the Beta testers have reported, the IS is a very controllable stove.

I do like Dave's arguement onthe firebox size. Some stoves have odd sized interiors, the setup of the interior isn't always square and simple. And like Dave has said, out of 3 cuft box, maybe only 2.3 may be simply useable. Thats a very good arguement for how someone loads a stove on the regular. My thoughts on the IS firebox size before actually seeing it in person. I intend to load N/S with 16"-18" splits. The lower 2/3 of the firebox is simply square enough to load as tight as your splits can get. When you get towards the top of the firebox the roof is angled back to front and N/S loading with the bigger splits has to change. I suppose I will have to go E/W to fit that small void and to fill the box as much as I can. I'm hoping this will get me the longer burn times, as my Oslo is basically on E/W loading from a side door.

I'm looking forward to it.

 

Well I hope you find what you want papadave, I have a stove now that cost a lot of money and does not work.
I have one more thing to try (report on that when done and tested).
If that does not work the Nashua is going back in as I am done with spending money and not having the heat I need.
They can yack about the new stoves all they want but musical stoves is no fun.
Oh yea I forgot the firebox size and BTU output are like ash holes, every one has one and they all stink.

 

Good thoughts Steve.
On the one hand, I like the return policy, but on the other it doesn't set well with my mental makeup (probably shouldn't go there).
It's not just the idea of moving stoves around.
In an ideal world, and if the builder(s) of this place had done things well, I should be able to heat this house with a much smaller stove. Reality takes over, and I'm not sure I'll get done with fixing this place so that can happen.
My ideal stove would seem to be one of the BKs in the 30 series. I really think if I had a stove that could hold temp longer, it would help here.
I've now narrowed the choices to either the BK Sirocco, or the IS.
I'm also still checking the WS pages for info on a daily basis.
For BBar, I'm also checking CL several times a day for a used stove. I haven't given up on that idea just yet. I found a decent looking Quad 3100 step top (that looks quite like the Ashley), but it's only a 2 cu. ft. box.
You have to remember, the stove I have is actually pretty large (I've done the comparison to the NC30), and at times it still isn't enough. Some of the time, it's because it can't hold temp.
Overnight fires are easily done, with the stove at 3-400° after 8-9 hours. It's the 750-800° for the first hour or so, and the fact that the house will be 60 when I get up in these temps., that's the killer.

All in, I need a new stove which will give me 8-12 burns that are controllable, and that will burn less wood than I am right now.
I can only imagine the struggles BBar is having with all this. Mine pale in comparison.

 

MOHMH, one concern is also the sloping ceiling of the firebox. How usable is it? Are there any Beta testers filling that portion, and how are they doing it to keep wood from falling against the door?

Firebox size......the NC30 is not a usable 3.5 cu. ft. stove.
There, I said it.
I've taped it...it just isn't.
There have to be others with what I consider overstated firebox size claims, but that's one that I actually measured....more than once.
No offense to any manufacturer, but I can't use the space taken up by bricks or soapstone, or in little nooks and crannies inside the box.
If the slope in the IS can't be loaded, the firebox size drops to about 2.74 or so (feel free to recalculate or correct). These numbers are based on what testers have reported as the firebox size.
It's a peeve of mine.

Oldspark, man I really wish you could get that Summit working well. For some reason, it just doesn't like you and your setup.
Curious about the new test.

 

I was talking to Tom, apparently the heat shield design isnt really meant for my beta version, however they are going to figure out how to put one on mine. Should have it Friday, will get some pictures for y'all this weekend.

 

You guys will be the first to hear the results.

 

Oh, hell, I could have told you that without measuring it. It is a big firebox, though. Just not 3.5 cu ft of usable space.

 

I measured my Nashua and useable space was 4.25, now that's a firebox!

 

When we load the IS EW its easy to fill up the sloping top. I just add more to the top as I go forward. If I load NS I fill the sloping top by adding logs EW when I can't fit any more NS.

When I burned the oak blocks I was using the vast majority of usable space, right to the top front of the firebox.

 

Yeah, BBar. I knew the first time I opened the door on one at HD.

 

Brian, yep, I seem to remember that load.
I'm curious if you do that with regular splits, and if they have any tendency to roll or cascade down once the bottom pieces burn?

 

Yes, we do that with regular splits - with care. Now that we have the shorter andirons we leave them in all the time and we don't drop them forward to load. They are easy to work around. I just pay close attention to shape and how well the top front splits stay in place when I load them.

Occasionally I'm lazy and I know one will tip forward after it burns down a bit but the smaller andirons catch 90% of them and I don't worry about it even if they do occasionally come to rest against the glass. By the time the load burns down its no longer an issue.

We rarely burn small loads in this stove. We usually load it 75% or more then control the burn with the air settings. If the first floor needs more heat I turn on the ceiling fan in the stove room and that pulls the heat down off the ceiling. If it gets warm I turn off the ceiling fan and let the heat go upstairs. If its mild out we load it full and shut the air down to about 15% and leave the ceiling fan off. Two or three times this burning season we've overshot our heating needs and had to open the front door and let some heat out. But I'm not concerned about shoulder season at all. We'll just load it up and shut down the air.

 

Still, it is a lot bigger than the claimed 3.2 cu ft firebox of the Mansfield.

 

Ha, that's a question I was going to pose. Not to sound accusatory, but stove manufacturers are often, shall we say, "generous" with their representations of firebox size. My current stove is rated at 2.4 cubic feet and when you factor in the tubes and an ash/coal bed, it's a lot less than that. The Ideal supposedly has 3.2 cubic feet which is actually 33% more than my current stove. Is it truly 33% more? My goals with this stove would be longer burn times and more controlability (is that even a word?) If a funky-shaped firebox winds up negating the amount of usable space, that could be a deal breaker.

 

Prices are up on the blog. Full stove is $2200

 

I have filled mine up pretty full a few times, I generally don't just because I don't need that much heat of out of the stove. But anyways when I do fill it up for a cold start it looks like this:
quarter superceder in the middle front with some smallish kindling or little splits around it. Then I use a hybrid loading technique, 2 rows of N/S splits edge to edge, then I stack ontop of that E/W to fill out the angle. Depending on what I have available in my woodpile at this point it is sometimes a smaller piece at the back and one more big split up front, or 2-3 smaller splits stacked up.

I have almost zero round wood in my stacks and havent had any of the splits roll forward, if anything I find the wood seems to burn away from the door and I end up pulling some of the burned down coals towards the front before reloading. I think this is because the airwash is constantly feeding the air across the door and thus the burn rate is higher there.

It's supposed to get down to 1 tonight so I will be a popular guy if I stuff the stove tonight. So in order to help answer the fire box question I will layout my load before I pack it, take pictures of the wood with some measuring reference and it loaded into the firebox. I'll then take some pictures of the way it burns down.

I'll write a new thread for this, and I promise to take alot of pictures. Get your popcorn out.

 

Base price ain't bad at all.

Beta-testing and Pre-Production Prices for the IDEAL STEEL Hybrid

These are PRE-PRODUCTION PRICES for the IDEAL STEEL Hybrid:
Basic IDEAL STEEL Hybrid.............................. $1795.00*
(Firebrick liner, top or rear vent, adjustable legs w/ solid side supports;
No andirons, cooktop, or side designs)
Add Ash Pan and Grate ....................................... $195.00*
Add Soapstone Liner ........................................... $125.00*
Add Soapstone Side Panels.................................. $95.00*
Add Custom Sides/Andirons/Burner.................... $125.00*
Pre-Production price for "the works"............ $2,335.00
..................................................................... $2,200.00*
(*Save $135.00 off pre-production prices if you order “the works”!)​

 

Time to start putting your order together BK!

 

This is my practice too. It seems strange but the last piece on top doesn't roll into the window. Maybe once?