Another Woodstock Beta tester - Ideal Steel

Sorry for the late response here. Your IR sounds just like mine, except mine runs around 550-650 depending on the load. I can def get it up to 700 if I'm not paying attention... Even Sean 800 a few times with my old setup, but normal operation is lower. The IS sounds like a very able replacement, however the full load thing is throwing me off a bit. I have actually been enjoying tossing a few splits in during these warmer days lately and just letting it rip. No messing with the air settings or bringing in arm loads of wood. I guess to each there own but that's a bit of a turn of for me to hear that. Now maybe if burning it in full bypass is ok and won't hurt the cat at all you could get by with just a few splits? Maybe something for one of you beta guys to test?

 

In the morning we have a lot of coals so I often open up the damper all the way, open the bypass, stir the coals and throw in a couple of splits. It quickly gets up to 400 and I close the bypass and leave the damper wide open. This gives us instant heat and helps burn down the coals quicker so that I can fit more wood in when I load it to leave for work.
We often put in a smaller load in the evening when we get home late and want to be able to fill it at 11. With less wood we just open the damper more it works great.

 

I would agree with the Mrs. If my stove is pretty hot and a hot bed of coals, yes I have thrown a smaller load on that with no issues (cat engaged). If you are starting with a cold stove, without a nice hot bed of coals, you would probably have to run without the cat as that small load may not get the stove hot enough. I haven't had a lot of time to try this out yet (it's cold again today), and play with it, but that is what I have found so far. This may be typical of a large cat stove, I don't know. But even if you have to run without the cat, it slides out the way, so I can't image it would have any negative affect on the cat. This is just different than what I (and you) are used to with the IR. I still kind of think of the cat engagement as shutting our starter air, so it's seems strange to leave it open, when really they are very different, so it's probably a non issue (guessing).

 

I agree 100% with all of this. You definitly can put a small load on a hot coal bed.

Last night I tried boiling water again to see if I could. With a full pot of water it came sooooo close and finally I got too hot watching it that I had to turn the stove down. In this case the old saying is, in fact, true.

 

I would imagine if you pulled the center burner out and went right on the higher temp surface you would get there in a hurry.

 

Yes, I've boiled water with the center burner pulled out. It does not boil at normal operating temps with the center burner in place on our stove.

 

So a couple days ago I placed my stove-top thermometer on the front of the stove, just above the door (the IS came with one, so I wasn't using my old one). Just like some of the other beta testers have done. Man, I wish I did that earlier. As it is close to the cat it really seems to give me more insight to what is going on. So one above the door for the cat temp and one on top by the flue exit. I wish I did this earlier.

Based on these temps, I find it easier to understand how to use the stove (when the cat is engaged and working correctly etc.) I have been verifying these temps with going outside to look for smoke. Based on this, I think the improvement of a cat probe should be very useful to users. I find that after engaging the cat and setting the air back the front temp can easily be in the 650+ range, while the stove temp starts to settle back down, depending on the air setting (this morning it was back down to 450 before I left, while the front was 650).

So not much to report other than I think I am burning cleaner, quicker, more consistently. In addition to the new location for temp readings, I also crack the window sometimes now during startup, as typically a bath fan and a stove hood are running around the time of start up.

 

I always thought the area above the door (I have a PH so the area above the glass) is hotter because more heat comes out the glass than anywhere else on the stove.

 

Could be. I didn't find that to be the case on my IR, as it's hotter spots are on top. But this IS puts a ton of heat out of the glass/door so that could contribute to the high temps in that location. These temps are with very little flames in the fire box though, so I guess I was assuming (dangerous) that most of the heat was coming from the cat at that point.

I guess, either way, it has helped me dial in better burn settings (when to engage the cat, lower the air, etc). Just one more data point.

 

Does it put out more heat in front from the glass than the IR did? How would you say it heats overall compared to your IR at this point. Keep the house temps up higher, longer, more or less wood consumption?

 

Tax, I'm late to the party but that looks awesome!

 

Thanks Machria.

Lifter - More heat out the front. - It sure feels like it. I wonder how much has to do with the bigger load, glass, dunno, but it does project more heat out the front than the IR.

Heating the house compared to the IR - I would say the biggest difference is the burn time. Both heat the house. The IS takes more time to get there if the stove is cold and the house is cold, but the IS will last longer. I would say I am able to keep the house a little more consistent with the IS, because I can put out a little less heat when I want (I assume because of the Cat). My guess is that because the IS is bigger, if you ran it high compared to the IR on high it would make the house hotter, but I haven't needed that (BUT, I would imagine you would use more wood in the IS to get that higher temp, it just has that ability). But again, both heat my house no problem (2000 sq ft for the main house and another 1000 in addition, the addition has register heat also).

So as for more or less wood - I think I mentioned this before somewhere, but since both stoves are very efficient, I would imagine both stoves would burn a similar amount of wood for the same heat. I have only had the IS half the season, and really have no way to measure this.

Having said that. We are using the stove more because it fits our schedule better, so I am using more wood, and the house is warmer during the day. So I now start a fire in the morning and leave for work, then load it up when I get home 12ish hours later. No the stove temps are not 500 (probably 300ish) when I reload it so not a lot of heat at that point, but there are coals, and the house is plenty warm during the day with the sun, etc. (these are the 20ish degree days). Colder and my wife will toss in some wood in the afternoon, warmer and that one fire might be it for the day or I do a small load at night. But obviously this is so dependent on house, hearth, flue, fuel, etc. But I figured I would share anyway.

They are both very capable. Just a little different. The larger load of the IS, so longer burn time, and the ability to control the temp a bit more (down) are very nice features that both my wife and I like about the IS.

 

Good to know D&T, thanks for the info! I'm still entertaining the idea of a cat stove in the future for the controllability of shoulder season heating. My heating demand sounds very similar to yours as I am heating 2500 sqft plus a 1000 sq ft basement. The IR did great this winter but def had some hotter than necessary days trying to get the heat to move from the first floor up to the second floor.




If that IS fits on my hearth it could be a possibility in the future

 

Oh yea and I forgot to ask earlier, did you run your IR with a blower? I notice a HUGE diff on mine when I run the blower. It really pushes the heat upstairs better and keeps the stove temps in line.

 

No blower for me. My stove is pretty much dead center in my post and beam house, so things stay pretty even, temp wise and I am not heating the basement up. Just the first floor and second. 91...holy smokes...

 

Haha, yea def hotter than I'd like but I had to push the stove when it was bitter cold to keep the heat upstairs.

 

So now that is is warmer out, just for fun, I wanted to see how long I could run the stove and keep the house warm.
I stuffed the stove with 80lbs of the Canawick bricks (2lbs a piece). They come in 40 lbs packages, so 2 seemed like a good idea. It was mostly full. I could have fit in a few more. I did have a smaller bed of coals when I started this.

During this entire time it was 30-40 outside (night and day)

Start - outside temp 30, inside 72 - 8 am

 

A couple hours later - front stove temp 750-800 top 550-600 - inside temp 75
air is already most of the way down. 10 am - gone to work (a Saturday)
sorry for the bad pic

 

Home from work at 6pm. Inside temp 77
stove 400-450