New Woodstock Blog info Ideal Steel

Oslo,
A few things brought us to the IS.
1) I went to a few dealers after spending some time on here and Hearth.com and had bad experiences. It was a huge turn off and I felt like I was getting forced into whatever stove they wanted to sell (Quad 4300).
2) Knew I needed 3+ cu. ft. for our house
3) I am an engineer and love efficiency so I knew a cat was in store
4) Needed rear vent for our masonry fireplace
5)I thought we were going to go with a PH but when my wife saw a picture of BrianK's IS, it was a done deal.

The Beta testing has been fun to follow and I really respect Woodstock's approach to business.

 

Do people think the IS is a big enough upgrade from a Quad 3100 steptop? I know it gains 1.2 cubic feet fire box but BTU ratings between them are very close. Love our Quad, just feel a bigger fire box would work better for our 3,000 SF raised ranch house, stove in the basement. The Quad does a great job until around 20* f at keeping the furnace to a minimum. Or do you think I should go for the PH, even though it has a smaller fire box? Let me know if I should start a new thread about this.
I loved following the beta testers and appreciate all the great information.

 

I'm glad someone liked it.

 

Beet Stix, we are looking forward to pics! What color did you order? Any options?Pretty exciting. You will love the wood heat!! F the evil oil man!!

 

Is it a finished basement? Just wondering as 3K sq/ft is a LOT to ask of any stove and if it's not a finished basement it's even worse as the floor and the foundation will suck up an additional 30% of the heat.

But all things being equal the PH will give you slightly more top end, and it's a lot prettier, but if looks aren't an issue the IS is still an excellent choice.

 

Finished basement, stove at bottom of stairs. In alot of ways, I should just keep the Quad. Easy to remove the baffle so I can clean the chimney top down without removing the pipe off of the stove and easy to run (AKA used to it and easy to get overnight burns with more than enough coals for restarting. Biggest problem is we need to run it hard so coal buildup is a big problem. Not sure a bigger stove will save much more on NG due to house design.
What to do what to do..................................

 

And again, Brian is selling another stove. I told him if the day job doesn't work out.....

Seriously, Brian K has been incredible throughout this IS beta process. He knows what he's doing
and he enjoys what he's doing. Kudos to Brian!

 

to Brian.

 

X2
Thanks Brian

 

I was just referring to the fact that the women in my household are still complaining about me selling their "pretty" Fireview to my little brother. They don't care about details, stats, features, BTUs, burn times etc. They just miss their pretty stove.

 

Ever investigated using floor registers so the heat goes up more directly to rooms above? Could make a big difference in heating the distant/problem rooms in such a large place.

 

Thanks. But for full disclosure, this is just my third year in my adult life heating with a wood stove and only my second stove (though we did heat my parents' home with a Buderus wood furnace when I was a teen).

I don't claim to be any kind of "expert" in wood heating. I'm just a careful observer and I'm also a writer so I sorta know how to document our experiences. Everything else I'm just learning as I go, and trying to have fun doing it.

 

I've been meaning to spend more time expirimenting with this. I was able to get water ALMOST boiling without really trying. I think that could be accomplished easy enough with a little timing.
I don't think it would be a problem at all to slow cook something all day. I think I threw some potatoes in and baked them once.

 

As a person that heats exclusively with a 1.4 cuft stove, I think a 1.2 cuft upgrade is very substantial. BTU ratings aside, 1/3 more cuft = 1/3 more heat.

 

I don't know if I'd go by the companies btu's ratings, they're not very accurate. I'm heating close to what you are (actually about 400sf less) and if the PH is any indication the IS should throw some serious heat if needed. I'm pretty sure it will be an upgrade to top end wise over my Princess. Can't speak to yours because I've never seen one burn but are you getting enough heat but just not able to distribute it?
I have an open stairway and put in a grill with a fire damper on the other end of the house to get a loop going, made a huge difference, the cold air comes rushing down my stairway and gets pushed up the hole I cut and warmed up that whole end of the house, the ceiling fans then circulate it, took a lot of trial and error to get it figured out, now I just need more btu's to spread.

 

Are the soapstone slabs that are optional in the IS the same size as standard firebrick? I like the idea of lining my NC-30 with soapstone instead of regular firebrick.

 

Woodstock makes soapstone sinks and countertops. I am sure if you called they would price out some soapstone blocks for your needs.

 

They are bigger.

 

More new blog info on changes.

http://blog.woodstove.com/2014/03/ideal-steel-improvements.html

Tom was telling me about the latch changes when he was down last week. The new latch should clean things up from the looks department.