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

I did not find my previous, bottom (under the grate) stoves to be inefficient.

I also think that they key with adding a bit of air under the grate is the bit part- I am drafting 90% stock as Woodstock built the stove and only adding a smidgen of air into the bottom. Again, no more than a 1/4" or at absolutely most, a 5 /16" hole would add. Not enough to actually fire the stove; if there was no other air beyond what I am adding under the grate, the fire would stall and smoulder, perhaps even 'go out' leaving actual wood in the stove. So what I am doing is merely a little 'tweak' to the original design rather than using it in some totally different way. And it does really help with the stove filling up with coals when it is really cold outside, so I think it is an improvement without any downside that I can see.

Brian

 

Brian, if you get a chance can you take another pic of your ash pan door with the modification you did. I might take a gander. Thanks

 

You can get the same results with the ash door latch. just barely let it catch & it will add alot of air, then the more you turn it you can adjust the air under the fire to help burn down coals or get it going quick. I always make sure it's closed tight once it's up & running.

 

I do this from time to time also. It does add the necessary air from underneath everyone is talking about. i usually crack it open just enough that the ashes don't stir too much and fly around inside.

 

Found them:








Works extremely well for me. Again, the key is just a little bit and this sliding vent makes controlling it all the way down to closed is easy.

Brian

 

First decent burn of the season: two year old oak, stove loaded pretty well but with significant airspace on both sides (loaded E/W but with 17" splits). Fire well engaged and lots of coals when being reloaded last night; the stove was ran with draft wide open and the bypass was closed and after about 5 minutes, the air shut down to.... wait for it.... closed. The stove was running on a very small [under grate] draft and whatever was leaking past the door gasket, which needs replacing as it does not apply any pressure to the stove at all, and what the secondary draft and the combustor air supply allowed into the firebox.

The house was 72F this morning in the hallway, fairly far away from the stove.



Brian

 

The combuster temp is obviously going to spike when you engage it but you gotta love the almost flat line for heat output overall.

 

What really helps that is the bottom draft so that the coals burn down with the wood. Otherwise, a great amount of heat is given off when the wood gasses (the combustor active phase), then there is a fairly short period of reasonable heat put out by the last of the actual wood burning but once nothing but coals are left, heat output drops off dramatically unless lots of additional air is introduced to the stove. Coals require a lot more bottom air then wood does.

Brian

 

That is amazing data. Had you adjusted the air at all during that burn? That's exactly where I want to be with burn time.

 

No, it was an un- attended burn.

There were a fair amount of coals left in the stove but really, most of the fuel had been consumed. My ultimate goal is to take that 1,400F combustor and especially that 800F degree firebox temperature section down quite a bit but then run the stove a bit harder, later in the burn, after the gasses are driven off and the combustor is not providing much heat. But all of that will take a little bit more time than I can devote to the stove right this minute.

Brian

 

Well the IS is finally sitting on my hearth. Installed today, from garage into house onto hearth myself. Back is going to be sore tonight. I took a bunch of pics of the move but too tired to go through and prep em so here is just one teaser pic for now. Still got to hook up the venting, and do some final work to the hearth.



Only one issue I ran into while assembling it... it seems the locknut for the door handle suppose to fit into a matching recess to prevent it from spinning but its to large and the nut spins freely within it. Only way I can think to tighten is perhaps holding it with vice grip or pliers but will probably be real hard to take off later if needed. Is this normal?

 

All I know is my door handle is always coming loose. The nut fits in the cutout but I'm always having to fiddle with it. The paint is coming off the handle as well.

Also, I love that color. I almost went with that color on my stove but thought it might clash with the brick hearth I have. The paint scheme in my den wouldn't match it either. Looks awesome though.

I got my stove a little over a month ago. Its a heating beast! It's also very easy to run. You can't get a probe thermometer in the pipe since you probably have a liner but grab a cat probe. Then it's as easy as get it to temperature, engage cat, lower air, and walk away.

 

They seemed to have a hard time with that latch assembly. On mine they didn't have the hole lined up with the recess. I ground the nut until it fit. No big deal but a slight annoyance. Send them pictures. They will make it right.

 

Maybe you could do your own "race to zero." Next up is a 5 gas analyzer and a particulate filter.

Seriously though, I think you are on to something. This stove runs great with the air closed until it runs out of gasses to burn. I've come back many hours later, opened the air up, and the flame kicked in again. Obviously, it needs a light "tweak" to get it to automatically burn the remaining fuel too.

 

Yes but really, the air direction should change too- more air at the bottom later in the burn.

I really think it is time (about 20 years ago, really) for stoves to step into the modern world. Automatic control that responds to inside temp. at least, and maybe outside temps. too. Not all that tough to do these days. Most of us are pressed for time, especially in the morning, so loading the stove, 'hot firing' it for, say, 45 minutes, then going through a couple of steps to shut it down for the long burn are just not practical. And the hot firing time really needs a lot of attention or the stack temps will go far to high, at least in my opinion. But damp the stove down too fast and it will smolder for hours.

As I said, I am working on it.... but a minor house disaster got in the way and I just do not have the time and cannot spare the attention right now.

Brian

 

Thanks bud, and yeah already have the Condar cat probe just didn't put it in yet. Yeah straight out the back into the tee that goes up through 22' chimney, with 0" clearance insulated duraliner. So no thermo in the pipe unless it can go on the short bit of horizontal.

I think a black stove goes with just about anything. When it comes to a nice majolica porcelain finish or something like that I love some of the color options. But if its just paint for some reason I just don't like a lot of color and prefer black. However after seeing the fella with the rooster stove and a little bit of copper trim, I really liked that. Just a tiny bit of copper trim color. The sides/medallions are all black. My two side burners - loons - are black too. If it were something else I may have went copper there, but loons are suppose to be black, not copper. I have been toying with the idea of inserting a piece of copper sheet metal underneath them to make a copper background within the loon burners though.

I'll contact Woodstock about the door handle issue, the problem I have is the nut fits in the recessed area too loosely. It can spin within it and the recess prevents the use of a socket or wrench. I could probably clamp down on it with pliers but worried about being able to undo it later if needed - always harder to get back off after things have sat around and oxidized together. However in the case, I suppose it tends to loosen itself over time by it's own.

 

Just be careful taking out the cat probe plug. I started to loosen mine and it sheared off. OK no problem, I'll just drill it and use an easy out. Snapped off the easy out. I ended up grinding off the plug from the inside of the stove with my dremel and then drilling through plug from the front until the plug crumbled apart and came out. Probably just my bad luck. I haven't heard of anyone else having an issue.

 

I think they should come with a cat probe & the plug extra, so if you think ya don't need it. Sorta like buying a car with no gauges. My cat plug came out real easy, & I could see going thru what you did. no fun. Hope it's working good for ya now. Cheers!

 

Was this on a new stove or after several fires? Mine all but walked out but I had ran the stove for a year before messing with it. That expanding and contracting loosened it right up.

 

I'd like to get a cat probe. What's everyone using?