Another Woodstock Beta tester - Ideal Steel

Then 12pm - Stove 350. Inside temp 75. Sorry no pic.

Then 10am the following day (Sunday). Stove temp 300. Inside temp 70. Left for work.

 

That last pic looks like there is more in there than there really was. That is the last row of bricks and there is not much left of them. Probably a few more hours of low heat.

So 8am Saturday to 10am Sunday - 26 hours. Plus a couple more hours, but I was gone for that.

This is as low as I could run the stove with these bricks. The air was pretty much all the way shut during 80% of this.
I did open up the air Sunday morning around 8, bringing the temp from around 250 up to 300 while it burned it's way out.

-Oh yeah, and don't try this at home.....
My IR (non cat) packed full like this with a hot bed of coals might get scary. I do 40lbs in that.

 

So, she was brought back home a couple of weeks ago. I have not had the chimney cleaned yet, coming next week, but there is very little build up in the stove pipe to the chimney. The actually chimney looks spotless.

I am sure the rest of the guys have answered all the questions, but let me know if there is something I can share.

And I also had the bowed top plate (inside the firebox) that others already noted. Other than that I didn't see anything and I spiked the temp a few times (850+). Built like a tank.

And of course, great people working there.

 

Thanks for the update D&T, I wonder if WS came up with a solution for the warped top plate? I have heard others with the same problem. I'm looking forward to visiting the shop in the not too distant future (to pick up my IS)

 

Mine sagged a bit too and I talked to
Tom at Woodstock about it when I dropped mine off several weeks ago. He said they are pinning the top plate to the structure above it in several places to prevent the sag. Of all the options they looked at he said that was the simplest and most effective.

 

Thanks Brian. Another question you may or may not know the answer to. Did any Beta tester get a corrected top plate before the season ended, and if so how well did it do?

 

Sorry, don't know the answer to that one. Ours sagged a bit, apparent to the eye, but not enough that I was concerned about it.

 

How loud is this stove when it runs? I've never used a cat stove before.

 

I caught some audio this winter but I do have to warn you, the cat burn sounds can surprise you. Click here.

 

After getting different fasteners my secondary plate was fine for the rest of the season.

 

So is this stove convective? I'm guessing some convection takes place with the legs on that stove?

 

Yes, the leg covers with the slots on top set up a nice convective current. Rumor has it someone is going to try running fans powered by TEG units on one this winter to see if it would compare to using a blower.

 

And they have to be seasoned at least three years. And top covered. Or you get a dangerous build up of catosote.

 

you made me look

 

Seriously this time ...

... this was when I first lit a nice load of locust and let it run on max air a bit, and if you turn up your speakers, you can hear it pinging a good bit as it heats up rapidly:



That's pretty much the most noise it makes at the very beginning of this clip. I had my iPhone about 3' or 4' away from the stove. The only times I ran it on max air like this was when I was starting up a load and needed heat in the house quick.

Here's another video, same distance, you can hear me adjust the air setting but there is only a very light pinging heard:

 

that made me chuckle.

As for noise, the stove makes some pinging noises warming up (not much), but I never thought anything of it. Figured it was just the metal expanding as it warmed up. After that, it's quiet.

Oslo - And the top plate. It was never anything I was concerned about. It never affected the performance and you would have to look for it to see it. It was really the only sign of wear I noticed which is why I mentioned it. I never mentioned it to WS (until they picked it up) as I noticed it later in the season, and it didn't bother me. If I was unhappy with it, I have no doubt the folks at WS would have sent a new one ASAP (even though it was just a beta and I didn't pay for it). I guess what I am trying to say is, if I were you, picking up my new stove, I wouldn't worry about it one bit. Even if it warped (sounds like they already fixed it), they will make it right.

 

I haven't checked the WS site lately, anyone heard anything new on the IS? Did they get through the gov't trials yet?
pre-production started yet? anything???

 

Yep that all took place. As per my last conversation with them they were just gearing up for production. I was told I will have mine by the end of July. This is a design they are working on for me.

 

I like the design. My wife and I have a couple ideas we are working on. That's good news on the production time line. I'm not quite in a hurry to get the IS here, maybe sometime late in the summer. The other stove is already moved out so the space is empty.