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

I have posted a few times this season about the lack of performance of the cat in my IS going into year 2. I let the stove go cold (60F on xmas?!?!?) and cleaned the cat. I liberally sprayed it down with 50/50 water/vinegar and let it down out both directions for 15-20 min. Then rinsed it with distilled water. Gave the chimney a sweep and have had really good performance since. Something to keep in mind mid-winter or this coming spring.

 

I did the same thing. I thought my cat died. After a good cleaning and a round of colder weather everything was fine. This warm weather plays games with my draft.

 

I remember the same thing happening last year to me, similar to what you both are saying. We also had some buildup on the bottom side of the cat in the corners which required some brushing. But the big game changer to performance was the bath.

 

If you take the thermostat and pit on your single wall pipe 8 to 10 inches above the collar and engage your cat at when thermometer reaches 300 I think you will be ok. I think you are getting bad readings if I see your picture correctly because you have the thermometer right over the screw for the cat probe which should be hottest point as it is just screw in hole. Am I only one seeing this?

 

if you have it where I think you do.. I just put my thermostat there and it jumped to 650 on a half a load of ash. I personally don't think 9 month seasoned sugar maple will be too dry..

 

I see this as lot. The cat probe goes up to 1500f and the infrared reads 6-700f.

 

I took this picture right after.

 

What were you running in the stove and how full was it?

 

Just noticed these questions.... sorry.

First question: I modified my stove to use a cat. thermocouple and a firebox thermocouple. My stove is a Woodstock Ideal Steel, and it has a cat. probe hole in front that is threaded 1/4-20, while my probes are larger (Easy Boys!) at 8mm. So I drilled the 1/4" hole larger and tapped it to 8mm thread. The probe just barely fits between the top of the firebox and the operating rod for the carriage, and even then I had to 'warm' it with a torch and bend it a little to actually fit. Then I drilled and tapped another 8 mm hole in the left hand side of the stove, under the leg covers, and put a probe through there into the firebox. I measure stove top temp with a thermocouple sitting under a magnet on the top of the stove, and the flue gas with again an 8mm threaded shoulder probe screwed into the flue (stove pipe) just before it enters the thimble, about 2 1/2 feet away from the stove and after the 90 degree elbow in the stove pipe.

Second question: Not sure of the model but I use the genuine Chinese (no cheap copies for me!) 'no name' brand found on Ebay. About $125 and a few more bucks for the AC 'wall wart' so I do not have to use batteries. Not sure I can insert a link here but if it works, this is what I use: K TYPE THERMOCOUPLE 4 Channel -328~2498°F °C Temp 2GB SD Card Logger Thermometer This device not only shows a real time readout (you can watch a change you make to the stove in literally 2, 3 seconds on the temp. readings) but it will also store data for you on an SD card. Then you can review for example an overnight burn and see how the stove behaved while you could not note the temperatures. I grab the data in Excel and plot it in a graph, which I think is both the easiest way to use the data as well as the most useful way to interpret what is going on. I will post a photo of the temp. chart data as soon as I can figure out why Windoze 10 is getting in my way. :-(



Brian

 

JA600L that second picture looks scarily familiar! I guess I really didn't have anything to worry about!

I am happy to report that the stove has been running really well the past few days. It has been cold here(single digits),I have been feeding it steady diets of 12 hour burns. I have been seeing a lot more flame in the box, but the temps have been super steady in the 400-600 area, for many hours on end. It's also amazing how much heat the stove is still throwing when the stove top is only like 300 at the end of the burn. The heat just stays around for hours.
Thanks to the help of you guys I am starting to feel like I am getting this figured out. Thank you!

 

This was maybe half full of smaller splits of mulberry and ash.

 

1) does your cat probe actually touch the cat when it's in place or does it leave a slight air gap?
2) does your firefox probe actually go through the stone lining into the firebox, or are you just up against the outside of the stone or....?
3) How loud is the over-limit beeper? Is it just enough to hear if you're in the same room, or is it going to get your attention if you're in the next room or sleeping?

 

1) No, the probe never touches the cat.. It is just above the cat. and underneath the radiator.
2) firebox probe is near the top of the firebox, above all the stone that lines the firebox. It protrudes 4" into the top of the firebox proper and reads the actual temp. of what the cat. is being fed.
3) You would have to be in the same room with it. It is absolutely NOT any type of emergency alarm that would get your attention a room or two away and nothing that would wake most people. Then again, I do not leave my stove in any state (draft open past, say, 1/2 way, door cracked, any vent under the grate) that could cause an over- fired condition. It is perfect to alert me while I am sitting in the same room which works out well for me as my stove is in the living room anyway. The device also logs the alarm so that you can tell an alarm has occurred, and on which channel, even if you were not there when it happened.

Brian

 

I've noticed a lot of creosote build up in the ash pan drawer. Even on the ash pan itself. It's coating everything. I'll get some pics tomorrow.

 

Do you run the stove hot before shutting it down? Is your glass dirty?

This seems to happen to some people but never me.

I use 3 year seasoned wood and start every burn cycle with a hot burn.

 

First real burn tonight after the break in fires!!!

All I can say is WOW!!! This is one great heater and light show!!!! Man I'm sittin here watching the hybrid burn in full swing!!!

Cat is firing off and I've got the whole top going with dancing secondaries!!!! This thing is beautiful!

 

Same here. I was just thinking about posting something regarding this the other day to see if others are getting a lot of build-up in the ash pan and the ash pan door. Should there be concern about it lighting off? I am using under 20% mc firewood, and don't mind cleaning it, just thought maybe it would be a once a year thing?

 

I got that too and some IS users have seen the same. Mine was so bad that the pan door gasket stuck to the stove. I found that my OCD habit of raking ALL of the ash through the grate left the grate holes open. Now I be sure to leave about 2" + of ash/small coals piled on the grate always - doing this closes the firebox smoke path to the ash pan area.

 

Good lookin' stove NVhunter! That charcoal & black color combo was a good choice. When we burn our IS and outdoor Temps are in the thirties, we end up cracking windows or doors and the IS sits in our basement. It does make a lot of heat.....
Doesn't bother me in the least when the wife unit is home wearing only her undies...LOL.

 

I do the same when it comes to cleaning. I make it look like new. I suppose when I'm trying to burn 24 7 it will be different.

I do usually run the fire hot for a bit in the beginning. I've only had this happen when in running one click under the first larger notch in the air control.