Comparing the Ideal Steel to Progress Hybrid

I like that it has andirons in the front, so many times I have splits roll off the top of the pile into the glass. They may even help the stack be tighter than without.

 

So, how does the burn and heat compare?

 

It is a different burn, but then we are in our first extended cold of the year. I think I have too much air on the low end of the damper. With the PH I could load, get it started with a lot of air, let it almost go ballistic, and then close down to strong rolling secondaries on the top, with black glass on the lower half. I could bring it up to a temp (say 550) and then hold it there, rock steady for a couple of hours before it would slowly head back down. With this stove I can easily keep a small load in a low and slow burn (350-400), but with more wood in the box I'm not getting it to slow down as I cut the air back; it seems to peak/plateau more as a function of the size of load than as a function of me adjusting the damper.

It throws a lot of heat on the higher end. I think it warms up the room faster than the PH, but I think the PH has a longer plateau (at the higher temps). We've been up to 650 stovetop once, and 500-550 several times.

 

You've got double the flue height of my install, in an inside lined chimney, as opposed to my external Class A. I think you are pulling a tremendous amount of draft and that's overcoming the lower air settings. I can get mine to go black as soon as I shut it down to zero air.

What are the shapes of the air inlets on the secondary air plates on the bottom left of your stove compared to these on mine? Similar?

 

Funny, I was under there earlier today checking things out, and am pretty sure I have the same design.

 

Do you hear the air whistling in when at half an inch open?

We opened the ash door with a full bed of coals in the firebox - I'll have to catch that in video - an upward spray of sparks and coals becoming very hot. Certainly glad for a firm, secure latch!

 

Flame is at 32' for chimney height. Brian, what is your chimney height?

 

At 650 how does it compare to the PH when you were running the Ph at 550+ degrees?

Is there a big difference as to how much heat the two stove give off?

 

Like "Tweaking the carburetor"
Change the fuel, air need tweaked.

Learning curve should be fun.
Betting this cold snap, thru the weekend, will help you dial it in pretty quick.

Do they make a blower kit for it or the PH ?

 

Similar, but different. I think more heat off the front of the PH (not to say there isn't a lot off the front of the Ideal Steel). Definitely more heat off the top of the Ideal Steel.

 

No blower kit for either.

We were at -3 when I signed off last night, and back up to zero this morning, and 6" to 10" of white stuff coming tonight. I've had the kitchen ceiling up to 96 degrees with the new stove, but no one has been opening windows yet!

 

I was wondering the same thing, how the strong draft would affect the way he controls his burn.
Brian, did you have to make any adjustments for draft?

 

You would think there would be a blower option for the steel stove, but I have my doubts it will be offered as Woodstock has never offered a blower

 

I did that years ago, installed the Oslo's rear heat shield in thoughts of installing a blower on the bottom portion
of the HS. Never put the blower in.

 

You would think it would be easy to do. Just a rear heat shield curved at the top like the 30 has.

 

My outside flue is 18'. I have 3' of double wall stove pipe comine out of my top vent. With two 90 degree elbows a total of about 22' adding the stove pipe and the Class A flue.

Not that I can tell. The one time I tried to burn on a really low setting, about 5%, I got a smoke smell in my house. I don't think FlameStead is going to have that problem. I do know Woodstock was contemplating eliminating the lowest settings on the air control but given Flamestead's experience so far with his 32' of chimney, they might need to think over the minimum air control setting. Since each stove is going to be custom designed, maybe they could maintain the lowest settings for really strong anticipated draft installations?

 

No, definitely not.

If you are still drawing too much air at the zero air setting, in your situation I would be very tempted to play with one of those business card sized refrigerator magnets and block off that last rectangular air feed that stays open on the bottom rear air control plate on the lowest setting, and see what happens.