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

Just a rough calculation of BTUs produced by the load - if the EPA stove numbers are anything like the vehicle mileage numbers, who knows what we should expect in real operating conditions. I guess my point was that it would be hard to load that many BTU in a stove without using the CWF. Would like to see the test results from running a load of only splits - they would need to be rectangular and packed really tight to get close to the BTUs you have in your current load.

 

I may get a hold of an engine hoist and rig it up that way. Raise it enough to pull out the crate. Easier is always better. We are supposed to get hit with a snow storm on Tues so I may be plowing out the yard to get to my basement first!

 

I think there were some tests in the past with oak blocks or something like that, unless it was the PH. I know I've seen em. But I don't have anything else to test other than ash I split about a year ago. Definitely get longer burn with the bricks, besides they are compressed, they also pack in tight with no wasted spaces and less surface area to burn. When i load in ash splits it seems like Tetris, and I was never good at that game! The pieces never fit right and lots of gaps and wasted space. I do want to do a fully packed test with my ash at some point, but I just couldn't wait to see what these bricks would do.

But unfortunately my test may be interrupted. I got a stove down! Of course it is the pellet stove. It's time for a deep clean. It gets clogged very fast - it goes from burning fine one day to coating everything in black soot the next. I just had to shut it down it was so bad I could smell the awful smell on my front porch even on the windward side of my house. What a mess. I should clean it out tonight and fire it back up since it's already down to 24F and that side of the house is the drafty and poorly insulated side. No matter what method of using fans I can't get enough heat into that side of the house from the side with the IS.

 

I remember reading that thread. I think it was BrianK during beta testing of his IS.

I feel your pain on that one; I do a lot of 3 and 4 piece loads due to curves, knots, Y's and odd shaped blocks.

 

I just knocked the wood away so there was no crate left. Easy to get it off after that. Then I made up a custom bottom for my dolly and strapped it on. Custom meaning the bottom of the stove isn't flat, there's a lot going on under there and you don't want to mash anything. Just used a bunch of lumber scraps 2x4s mostly to build up the bottom of the dolly to avoid the important stuff on the bottom.

 

Did you move yours alone too? I know what you mean about "not flat". Ash pan stocks put bottom and legs are there a bit too. Will git er done someway.

 

For the most part I moved it alone. Had help with final positioning and getting it down from my trailer.

 

That is why I tipped mine over on it's back side onto a cart - the back is pretty flat with nothing going on. Of course this stove is big and heavy enough that just tipping it over did take a bit of effort but nothing this lightweight guy couldn't handle.

I had an engine hoist but that didn't help me up on the back of the truck. Believe me I was thinking about how I could get it high enough. I ended up building a 'dock' the same height as my tailgate out of pallets and walking the stove onto that. Kind of hazardous though, I can't recommend anyone else that method lol.

Well my house temps dropped a bit overnight after I shut down the pellet stove. That and the IS did settle into a pretty low burn, cat at 550 when I got up, center burner 300, and back corner of stovetop at 225. I had put at fan in the doorway to the other side of the house, hoping to keep some heat in there, but it more or less just blew cold air into the great room with the IS. Bedroom stayed fine down to 67 when I got up, but the downstairs was 63, and other side of the house with the pellet stove in upper 50's. Flannel shirt time, no biggie. At 16 1/2 hours in when I got up a bit ago, the firebox was still full... The charred load inside was about the same size and look as when I put it in. So I'm turning it up a notch or two, will be needing some of those btu's now so will shorten my potential burn time test.

 

Well I got the pellet stove cleaned out - what a pain - and filthy, but since this morning I turned up the IS up to notch 3 and picked up an extra 250F on the cat and 100F on the stovetop. Since the room cooled down overnight I'm just going to leave it around there and see what happens. Still plenty of fuel now at the 21hr mark... the front just collapsed, with chunks about up to the middle still, but the back section (3 rows of 5 bricks each) still looks whole. The stack in the back only shrunk about 1" in height (probably the coals underneath it turned to ash), but it is barely an inch from the baffle in the back still (was just about touching when I loaded).

I'd take a photo but the stove door is almost all covered black! That is the downside to these full cat burns. I'd open the door for a shot but don't want to mess with the burn.

 

For anyone in the future...I found a video that shows how to install the soapstone and firebrick in the correct order in the IS.

 

Here is a sneak peak at the stove at 28hrs:



First time I opened the door since the loading.
Temps around 500 cat, 260 on the center burner, 225 back corner. I'm thinking about stirring it up, and maybe the temps will pick up some, appears to be some fuel in there still. The front bricks and wood are pretty much used up but the back rows are still looking good. Over on the right side the load is still 2-3" from the baffle, only having lost 1-2" of height.

 

Those with a corner install, the IS clearances are 6" to a combustible wall. Anyone do a corner install with just drywall? Does it get the wall(s) super hot or not? I've attached the pic of my location. Floor is stained concrete. The walls are just touched up painted drywall.

 

The walls will probably get a little toasty but if you are 6 inches from them you will be fine.

 

I've never looked at corner install specs but a quick peek at the manual seems to be 19" clearance to unprotected walls from the side? Is the 6" you guys are talking about with heat shields?

Ecobrick test #3 is still going... and I am going to bed. So It will likely be out at some point in the night but I guess that is the problem with these crazy long burns, hard to figure out exactly when your going to have to reload. Luckily it is pretty warm, and with the pellet burner set to 1 and the IS idling is probably too much heat, so if it goes out in the middle of the night might work out to be perfect. Suppose to be low 50's tomorrow. Maybe I'll let it shut down entirely and I can clean the glass for the first time!

Anyhow, currently on the clock at 29 hours 50 minutes. I stirred it up around 28 hours. I thought it would all collapse into ash when I touched it, but surprisingly the pieces were solid still! I raced some of the ash in the front down the grate and then toppled the pile over into randomness, and opened the air up to notch 7. Had flames, cat picked up almost 300F, etc, so backed it back to notch 5 and going to let it cruise the rest of the night like that. Currently at 750F on the cat, and 345 on the center burner.

 

It's 6" with or without in a corner install.

 

Ah yes I see that listed on page 10 now, what I was referring to was on page 7 :
WALL PROTECTION
The Model 210 Ideal Steel Hybrid stove has been tested to UL standards for clearances to combustible walls. The mini-
mum clearances to unprotected walls are as follows:
Minimum clearances with no heat shields to unprotected combustible walls:
From the back------------------ 14”
From the sides-------------------19”

Seems kind of contradictory but hey as long as it say 6" on the other page I think your good. At that close range I would expect the walls to get warm for sure. I suppose I could put up a piece of something 6" from the corner and see how hot it gets? Might be a few days though the temps are 50+ today.

 

Ok so what is the record for long burn with this stove lol? Here are the results of my 3+ day long burn!

The load:

Note: I used 1 less brick than in the picture. I used 19 total plus 1 med/large and one med/small ash split.


You can't see it but across the back of the stove is 3 rows high of 5 bricks, then 4 on the bottom in front, with 2 ash splits on top of them. Mostly full but still a little space.

Initial conditions... 29F and breezy so I also had my pellet burner on minimum (1). Night time low 23F winds increasing to 10-15mph. Next day 47F high.
I loaded it at 3:35PM 1/29 from a mostly ash load from 4PM the day before (I had a few 24 hr burns with past week!). Before opening door to rake and load cat was at 400, center burner 270, stovetop back corner 200.
After raking and loading of course these dropped considerably.

I closed the bypass as soon as it hit 500 and throttled down to 50% at 20 minutes. My prior loads tended to take off, and this load had quite a bit of fuel in it, so one trick I was prepared for I had not tried earlier was to partly block the opening to the secondary air that always remains open when the throttle was shut all the way down (notch 1). If you haven't looked, it is about the size of a dime that remains open. And I did use it, as soon as I was throttled down to minimum, and the temp hit 1,000F and still climbing, I blocked the whole as much as I could with the round magnet (rectangular hole so the corners were still open). This proved pretty effective, the temps dropped pretty good. I took it back off after it got back to 750F, then the temps rose back just as quickly. I put the magnet back on half way and it slowly decreased. I think for my draft, covering the hole a little less than half might have been about right. That night the temps slacked off a bit too much, especially since my pellet burner went out and it was low 20's. In the morning I kicked the air back up to notch 2, then 3 to get the temps up some. Rode on 3 all day until I finally opened the door that night. I stirred the load and opened the air up to 5 and let it coast on 5 until it was pretty much out.

28 hours in:

It is the first time I opened the door. The back rows are still relatively complete and solid! I racked the ash in the front, then toppled the stack and bumped up the air.

Another hour (29 hours) after I stirred it up and opened the air some:


And at the 37 hour mark:

Even after 37 hours notice the cat temp still hanging in just a smidgen over 500!

Ok, this thing is still going! Stirred up amd raked the coals at 41 hours. Would have reloaded then, nice hot coals still, but I am letting the stove go out today.


And my temperature graph (all manually recorded fwiw):


I am a happy Ideal Steel owner to say the least!

 

Very nice results.

 

By the powers vested in me by me I hereby certify T-Stew IS Long Burn !

 

Well, that is OK I guess but I have heard of other stoves (I will not mention the name but the initials are Blaze King) that you can put three kitchen matches in at the end of summer and it will run all winter long. Not only that but they produce enough heat to heat the neighbor's houses too..... one on each side. [disclaimer: this is a joke folks, not a jab. I eyeballed a BKK pretty hard before purchasing an Ideal Steel, and I know where there is a new one at a pretty attractive price right now..... ]

Interesting post, thanks for plotting all that out, taking photos and posting it!

One thing I am curious about on the I.S. has always been that secondary air feed; of course as you noted, we cannot shut it down but also, it seems to open much further, much faster than the primary draft when changing the draft settings. It is tough for me to tinker with that intake though as I have an outside air kit on my stove and that prevents access to the draft plates directly. But I wonder what effect closing or reducing that secondary air has on the stove's firebox temps? If there is no change or not much change, then closing the secondary will really only cause smoke to go through the combustor and up the chimney. Then again, I have noticed that when the stove is really full, the secondaries really feed the firebox fire, effectively making what looks to be a 'top- down' fire, even with the draft fully closed.

Brian