Sure, I could have just burned the last few fires of the season in the Keystone, but I thought I might enjoy playing with the Dutchwest a bit before the season ends. >> The problem with the Keystone is a left-side vertical seam air leak which was evident from day 1, but has gotten worse. If I get a load gassing pretty good, then cut the air, you can see flame shooting from the full length of that seam, half way across the top of the glass. The inability to control the air entering the stove results in the stove going to 500 with the air cut all the way. There are probably not many stoves that leave the plant with defects; Just my luck to get one that was put together the day after the drunken picnic.... ;lol I could probably just goop the seam with some cement, but Todd told me that the folks at Woodstock supply detailed instructions for removing the front of the stove, and it's not too big a deal to do it. Luckily, I'm comfortable doing this type of thing, and I have a backup stove on hand. I didn't want to go through the hassle of shipping it back when the defect became apparent early on, and you're on your own with no dealer (who would probably do a hack-job repair anyway....) ;hm So I replaced all the gaskets on the Dutchwest, sealed a couple of seams, put in a diesel-foil Condar combustor I had here, and a new probe, and fired 'er up last night. I don't know how quick the cat will light off; I just waited until the recommended 500 on the probe (which didn't take too long,) and the cat lit instantly. The cats are supposed to light really quick when they are new, and I'll experiment to see at how low a temp I can light it. We had flurries here last night, it's going into the 20s again tonight, and Wed. night is in the 30s so I'll get to burn several loads. After that, we'll probably be about done here except for a few little chill-chaser burns. The fire box is slightly larger than the Keystone's....probably closer to the Fireview in volume. It has a convective chamber on the back and top. I have the blower but didn't put it on this time. With the little bit of air-sealing I did on the house earlier this winter, the stove easily kept the house over 70, on a night a little warmer than average for winter. The blower will really raise room temps in a hurry, and I needed it before when the stove was back in the fireplace. With the liner and tee setup I have now, the stoves sit out on the hearth and the Dutchman can radiate nicely off the sides into the room. After 11 hrs. on a load of White Ash and Black Oak, the stove was down close to 200 and the cat probe was at 550, and at 12 hrs. there were plenty of coals for an easy reload. I like this little stove a lot. Cool-looking, well-built for a cheap stove, ;lol....and it's got a grated ash-handling system. >> The air lever is hotter than a two-dollar pistol. ops: I'll have to rig something up for that....
Your having way more fun than any one man should be allowed to have Woody. Good looking little stove and sounds like she'll do the job just fine. I lit the Buck back up this morning, first fire since last Thursday I believe. It burning like a champ since the readjust we talked about.
Glad to hear it, LP. I've been firing the Buck for the last couple nights. It's gotta get pretty warm out before elderly women don't need more heat. At least she's got a furnace; I let that kick on if it's not real cold (like now) but she's like the rest of us...doesn't like to hear that gas-eater kick on. Heh-heh. I'm getting a slight smoke smell near the Dutchy, seemed to be coming from the hinge side of the door, so I'm not sure if I can get it by adjusting the latch. I just tweaked it down a bit but I had to be quick about it; Had a lot of wood in there, as I just loaded 5 hrs. ago. I think it helped but we'll see...could also be that the door is slightly warped, or possibly some hinge wear.
What you see here to the left is the glass (hazed) and glass gasket. The glass clip is bolted into the frame, and where the clip restricts the air coming in through the seam, you can see the surface of the stone has been eroded (the white area.) I saw a lot of that in my SIL's used Fireview which had been over-fired by the previous owner and had lots of air leaks.
I always liked the looks of those Dutchwests. Just about flipped a coin between one and a Fireview but the wife really liked the soapstone so we went with it.
Yeah, I like all the gold handles on that thing. The window is small, like the Fv, but the Fv is a couple levels up from the Dw in refinement (with the price reflecting that.) I'm feeling a lot more radiation off the stove with it out on the hearth; Had it back in the fireplace before, top-vented, and the external masonry chimney was probably sucking up a lot of the heat. After quite a few short fires, the diesel-foil cat easily lights at about 300 on the probe. Not sure how much lower than that I could go, just been going with 300 for now. I think I'm done burning 'til fall, after tonight. Probe tip is about 1/2" from the surface of the cat, FYI. I'll probably start next season with the Dw and leave it in a while to see how it does when it gets cold. One of my SILs has the same stove but has a bit more house, and the main room where the stove is has a vaulted ceiling (with ceiling fans.) Bedroom is in a corner, gets kinda cool for her dog in there, so I may try a fan on the floor blowing back into the main stove room. I've got the blower, and may try that at her place as well. I'll re-gasket her stove this summer; She doesn't get near the burn times that I do (she may not pack a stove like I do, either) and I think a lot of heat is probably going up the flue. She's got a bad gap under the front door of the house, and throws down a draft blocker, but that's still gotta be a big air leak. I think she probably needed a 2461...maybe the stove shop didn't account for the vaulted ceiling, I don't know. This was a freakishly cold winter, though... They say 3/8" gasket for the top, which was in the gasket kit I got, but the channel seems bigger (maybe so it's easier to put the top on) and the top almost bottoms out. I stuck in some 1/2" gasket I had. I may try 3/8, then 7/16 if that doesn't work. Woodmanspartsplus.com has a lot of bulk gasket, including some high-density door rope, but I'd like to find an ultimate bulk gasket source...
