Strongly Considering the Ideal Steel - Input Appreciated!

This is super helpful to know Canadian border VT! Thanks! Stove room at 80 doesn't scare me! Also while your stove room is a bit bigger, your ceilings are lower, so this all sounds like not so different from what I might experience and is easing my concern of overheating. What do yo mean by: I have wood trim around the windows just outside of the clearances of the burning and never had a problem." Do you mean you have wood near the clearances of the stove? Can you specify a bit more? I'm curious as my clearances will be close (I certainly won't go less than approved, but might be right at them or just outside). Thanks!

 

Thanks Unhdsm! This is very helpful info! Right now I feel like the only time I feel the warmth from my little Jotul F100 (which in fairness is way undersized) is when it's burning hot at around 600F, and I feel like it looses a lot of heat up the flue. It definitely gets the temp up even when lower than this, but it just doesn't feel like makes us feel warm and cozy unless it's going hard. I know you said "aesthetics aside," but what are your thoughts on the aesthetics. I hear the stove looks even better in person. Personally, I like it, and I also like the look of more traditional cast or soapstone stoves. It will be a contrast to the built-in features in my home, but I think that could be cool, as long as the stove itself is a looker, which I think most IS owners feel it is!

 

I meant the aesthetics of the size and clearances vs. your particular setup.

 

You could put a container of gasoline just outside the approved clearances and be okay. (In theory, obviously).
Wood molding should be fine as long as it isn’t freshly stained or offgassing linseed oil. Even then...

 

Except for those vapors from the gas. Lol

 

Welcome Beantown, I'm from the north shore of Ma. Lots of good advice here.

I'm with Chaz on this from a preservationist standpoint. I have a Jotul Castine in a fireplace. I had the F-100, F-3 and moved up to the Castine. These stoves are radiant especially through the glass door. The Jotul's have the timeless beauty with arch windows that can fit in classic decor. We have struck a balance with a stove that matches the home and gives good heat without cooking us out. If we moved up to a Oslo, that is a big step up and would be too much for the room.

I'm curious what the weight is on the IS. Will you need to support the floor, extend the hearth, cut into original flooring that may affect the look and value of your home down the road. Just a few things to consisder. I can't offer much on the IS, but I can on older homes and Jotuls.

I'll break out the popcorn on this thread.

 

Also with a 30 foot liner, you may want to consider an in line damper plate. Very cold or wind days will get most stoves choochin' to the point it could pull heat up the flue quickly.

 

650

 

Thanks fishingpol! I too have my popcorn out and am sitting at the edge of my seat! The Ideal Steel is listed on Woodstock's site as 620 pounds, but I see the works, which includes the soapstone liner and panels listed at 740 TurboDiesel, does that sound right to you? Do you think that I'll need extra floor support? As mentioned, my home was built in the 1890s, and they built things well back then - the beams in my basement seem pretty strong, but I would not want to push it and have a problem. Is 740, plus a bit more for a hearth extension, plus 60 more pounds with a full load of wood too much weight for a floor? It seems like that could be five fairly big people, and we've had some big parties with way more people than that, but not concentrated in one area, and not permanently! I'd love thoughts on this.

I would definitely need to extend the hearth as my existing fireplace hearth only extends 18.5 inches in front of the firebox opening. I talked with Woodstock about putting a hearth extension in front of the existing hearth, and they said that was fine. I think my existing hearth probably has the R value, needed but I'm not totally sure (it's 1 inch of marble on top of brick). I then saw a modular hearth extension and thought I could put this on top of the current hearth (it's only half an inch thick) and extend it under and in front of the stove. As it's three pieces that connect, I could remove the final piece, which would all be in front of the stove, during the warm months when the stove is not in use, giving me back some wood floor space. It's not the most beautiful thing, but I don't think a basic black is bad, and it's inexpensive, the right size, gives me R value I'd need (doubles it), and I like the idea of being able to remove the end piece. I am fairly handy at building things, and have a wet saw and have cut tile and brick before, but things are pretty busy right now, I'd like to keep cost down if possible, and I don't have much space for the hearth pad to come up much more than half an inch (I could do an inch or even 1.5, if only in front of the existing hearth). Here's a link to the modular hearth pad I'm talking about:

Thoughts?

 

When I was shopping for my stove, I also was concerned that the IS would roast me out and I'm slightly smaller square footage than you. I found over the last 3 years with the stove that it definately is not too much stove for my needs and I'm really happy I went with this size stove and not something smaller.

The IS is a very controllable stove both in its ability to cut back the air effectively as well as not needing to fill the firebox to capacity unless needed. I don't think this is too much stove for your situation as you described.

The stove has the ability to produce heat for a long period of time, meaning less BTU's per hour.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

Don't know if it's been suggested but The Absolute wouldn't cut it?

 

The Absolute would only cut it if I could cut it! The legs are a little too long, and put the flue on the rear exit too high for my opening...

 

No.
Would be no different than a room full of people.
Take a quick look in the basement to make sure things are sound, but as long as you are putting it near an outside wall or near a beam you can figure a lot of the weight will be transferred to the foundation wall.
Also, being 3' wide, you are spanning at least 2-3 floor joists.
Your brick flue may have a shelf to carry floor joists
Let us know what you find.

 

Thanks! I also just called Woodstock, and it turns out that it's about 640 or so with the soapstone. The 740 number was the shipping weight. I think my basement is sound and I even think the beams they used in the 1890s were heavier than the ones they use nowadays (now they sand them down to be less than 2" think but my are un-sanded and a full 2". I also think my brick flue has a shelf to carry floor joists, but I'll have to double check.

 

I mentioned floor support as I have seen many older houses with cut floor joists in front of fireplaces. Then boxed in with smaller dimensional lumber to pour a mortar base below floor level and set stone or tiles in it.

 

BeantownBurner, yes I mean raw wood trim and wooden wainscoating around stove beyond clearances to combustible. Sorry no pics phone. Inspected and insurance was ok. I often check it with IR gun. Never over 110 f

 

Wow, fishingpol , I'm glad you pointed this out. I just went and looked, and seems like what you said. My basement has 2x9s throughout, with some 3x9s as well. These are at least every 16 inches (about 14 inches between each joist) but they're not all totally even and some are even a bit closer together. By the foundation of the fireplace, under the hearth, it is squared out (or actually more like triangled out) with the 2x9s ending a bit before they reach the wall, and smaller pieces of wood (perhaps this is the dimensional wood you are referring to), under t. Above that wood (dimensional wood?) is the brick foundation of the chimney underneath the length of the marble hearth, about 18 to 20 inches out from the wall (it curves so a bit hard to measure), and 56 inches wide at the wides part. The brick foundation also looks like it could use a bit of repointing, but I don't know if you repoint this area. The squared off area looks pretty well built, and again, the 2x9s and 3x9s throughout the basement are massive, a full 2 and 3 inches by a full 9 inches, as opposed to nowadays when the 2 inch piece is really 1.5. I'm attaching some pics here, though they may be a little dark - let me know if you need better or different photos. The pink stuff is insulation, but I removed that from the area in question to see what was going on. Is this something I should be concerned with? If so, is there anything I can do about it? TurboDiesel, I'd also love your thoughts on this.

 

It looks like its built pretty well, but hard to tell from the pics