Ideal Steel Season #2 Tips, Tricks, and Improvements.

I haven't had to load it that full yet. It's been kicking azz with 2/3 of a load max so far. I've seen the jets of flame coming out pretty hard so my guess is that it will bore holes in the splits.

 

Yep, bore holes is right and it is downright impressive to watch how cratered the wood near the top plate, under the holes actually becomes. I would not have believed it would be so concentrated but they really are little craters of intense burning....

Brian

 

It's like little oxy acetylene torches.

 

The manual says to leave 2 inches of space between the plate and the wood. Does everyone follow that?

It seems like it's too easy to get the wood close to the plate in the back since its sloped.

 

I don't think about it. I just load it however the wood fits. Then again, I try to persuade it into a cat burn anyway.

 

Er....., uhm......, ah,..... yeah! Always! 2" clearance..... always.

OK, truth be told, I sometimes violate that rule a little bit but I swear, I always stop loading the stove as soon as I cannot stomp one more piece of wood in the firebox.

Seriously, there is usually a gap between the top of the splits and the top baffle plate but not every single time. Someone from Woodstock would have to answer with any certainty but I think that instruction is basically so there is some room at the top of the firebox for the secondary burn, which always seems to happen in my stove no matter which way or how full it is loaded as long as it is more than, say, 1/2 full. My experience with this particular stove suggests it does not really thrive on less than a half- full firebox and very small fires are tough to start, tough to maintain and very tough to make burn clean.

Brian

 

I don't have any problems with smaller loads. 3 year seasoned wood and a decent draft does just fine for me. It sure does make more total heat with a full load though.

 

Agreed...I'm still running shoulder loads between 1/2 and 3/4 full and there is a definite difference between the two.

 

I hit it with a little locust earlier. Plenty of heat from that!

 

I haven't loaded the stove with anything more than maple and only did a full load once out of curiosity. It really hasn't gotten that cold yet but it's low 30s overnight and the house is at 75 degrees. My stove is in the den which is a converted garage. It's also a cathedral ceiling in there. I'm hoping it will still keep the furnace off when we start hitting the teens and 20s

 

I wouldn't worry too much. As long as you have good dry seasoned wood your in for a warm winter. When you need extra heat, it delivers. I usually run the stove hot for an hour before going to bed. It raises the temperature of the rooms and gets the stove good and hot before I close it down for the night.

 

3/4 maple load at 1am. Had to go into work at 2am this morning. usually it's 430am. Thermostat is about 60 feet and 2 doorways away. The stove is set at about 20% air.

 

Last night's temps must have really kicked the draft up. Hardly any smoke spillage. And the door would suck shut when I opened it to get the draft "started"

 

It's in the zone now. Since I added extra chimney height mine is much more responsive. No more babysitting it to get it going. I wish I would have done it last year. We had a couple days in the negatives last year. The Ideal Steel did extremely well then too.

 

Tonight will be my first typical winters type burn for me. They are calling for lows in the 20's for the next two nights with daytimes in the low 40's. I'm going to run her with full loads and do the same as Jeff was doing. Once the house is warm before bed, I shut it down for the overnight. I'm up at 5 am, so I'll do the same then for the daytime. Looking forward to seeing how things work out with my new schedule, this will be my first test.

 

Yeah, same temps. here but then again, I think we are only 30 miles apart.

I have a new, insulated and longer chimney that definitely pulls better than the masonry one it replaced. And this year I am actually burning, for I think the first time, two year old oak and there is absolutely no doubt that it burns better, lights easier and produces more heat than the same wood did last year. On top of all of that, the second floor is closed off at the staircase, effectively making this a one- story house for heating purposes. Put all of that together and I think it is going to be like a brand new setup and learning curve.... again.

Brian

 

Nice to hear you have made some improvements at home with your flue and area to be heated. As you said it should be a new learning curve working well in your favor. The seasoned oak will be a treat knowing the kind of heat and burn times it will give you. BUT...as you already know from last years heating season, the coaling oak leaves us can be a test in itself.
I know you had toyed around with getting some air down low under the coals to get the coals to burn down quicker, what do you thuink you will do this year?

 

Well, I modified the stove last year to add an additional draft below the grate so that really beat the 'stove full of coals that is not putting out enough heat and cannot be filled with fresh wood' problem down. I posted photos somewhere on this forum but basically it is a rotating, spring loaded disc that rotates over a triangular shaped hole cut through the ash pan door. I typically run the stove with what I would guess would be a 1/4" to 5/16" round hole equivalent area open and that REALLY helps burn the coals down as the wood is burned. Of course I have to turn the primary draft control down accordingly, and lately I have been running the stove between two lines open and fully closed, and it still keeps the combustor engaged. In fact, I may have to put a draft damper in the stovepipe because once it is really cold outside, I may not be able to throttle this thing sufficiently with the new chimney and drier wood.

Brian

 

My previous stove had the air coming from below. It was a coal and wood stove. You want the air coming from underneath for coal. However with wood it made for a very inefficient stove.

Just something to do think about before you start adding air below the firebox

 

Mine really lights the coals up better with the draft improvement. I'm not sure we need to modify anything. It may have just been an issue with poor draft. BDF and I have some new chimney configurations to play with. No doubt the best investment I've done yet.