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

The door: well, the gasket on my current door could use a bit of sealant behind it to snug it up but the door must be cool for this to happen. I use the stove 24 / 7 so that is a problem. The other thing is that the glass has a pretty heavy build- up of white stuff that is almost impossible to remove when the glass is warm. So a second door solves all those problems.

Brian

 

Yep, it often does help. But I have done it three times now and the combustor is still sluggish at best. I think how long a combustor lasts is a lot like how long a stove burns; sure, you may get a stove to keep coals hot and ready for 72 hours after loading it but it will not have been putting out much heat for 60 of those hours to heat the house. This is what I find happens to combustors; they do not stop working altogether but they get so sluggish and performance is poor enough that it really needs replacing IMO. That was a big consideration when buying this last stove- the cost of an Ideal Steel combustor was quoted to me at $125 so it is a lot more readily replaceable than, say, a Blaze King King, which takes a combustor that costs between $300 and $400 depending on the vendor, sales, etc.

Brian

 

Princess CAT is 252, Models Princess PE 1006 & PI 1010A I'm on my 5th season heating in Michigan from the end of Sept-end of April/early May most years. My cat still lights off easy and stays active for the full burn. I'm starting to see some smoke at times and it's building as much heat causing the t-stat to open more. I will probably be ordering a replacement soon. I was expecting a 3 year replacement interval when I bought the stove so I'm ok with what I've got from it.

 

Lookey what I dragged in last night. Couldn't have been easier back up to door, pull off trailer with pallet jack, set in place, pull pallet off and walk off the back of the pallet onto pieces of pallet stacked 3 high, then tip backward, pull out pallet and set front legs down, tip forward nd pull out pallet pieces. Done.

Can't do first burn until tonight...if I get home in time. Any tips for first burn?

 

Nice. Camo floor?
Look in the manual....maybe there's info on the burn-in procedure, but usually you start with a small kindling fire to a couple hundred degrees...let it cool, then do a couple more with higher temps each time.

 

freeburn, the manual says start several small to medium fire to cure soapstone letting stove cool each fire.. but what is a small fire.

what I did I had some small pine splits. kindling and three small splits pine size of 2 by 4 ....6 to 8 inches long was fire one
next was 4 splits same size then 6

I never engaged cat during curing fires... stove top was about 150 on first 225 second and 300 third IIRC

then did small load 25 to 30 % full of popular. just trying to dry natural moisture out of soapstone

 

Not supposed to be camo, but now that you mention it. It kind of does look like it. Stained concrete tried to make it look kind of like stone...or camo.

 

I almost couldn't see it......being camo and all.

 

Lookin' good! Tell your boss you need to go home and cure your stove. They'll understand.

 

I had better luck curing the paint doing several fires of increasing intensity.

 

I did a few curing fires... first one just kindling with a few bigger pieces of kindling. The second was a few small splits, and the third had a couple of medium sized splits too. The manual isn't very descriptive, and the stove ships with a tag that specifies a curing fire but contradicts the manual, mentioning I think one long burn.

I think the important thing is don't go from cold to normal operating temps right away the first time you fire it up. And it is going to smell, so hope for a warm day you can have a window open.

 

Oh I completely understand why you did it, just thought it was funny but cool at the same time you'd buy a second door, and not just use a furnace or kerosene heater or something just to do your work. But it is great we can get just about anything we need from Woodstock, and fairly inexpensive to so why not just get a second part I guess.

 

I ran the stove with the firebrick lining this year. I'm going to buy the soapstone and an extra ash pan over the summer. Maybe even the ash grate with the larger slots too.

I'd like to compare the soapstone to the firebrick. I'm not sure it that big a difference but we'll see.

 

Loving this stove so far. I haven't engaged cat yet. I'm on the 2nd breakin fire and I can already tell its gonna work well. I've never had a stove that has this kind of control over the burn. My 30nc it was burn the wall down hot or still hot, if you can keep it going low, after it got up to 600-700 degrees. This one is a world apart. Well done Woodstock!

 

It's really weird the first few times when you engage the cat and lower the air. The fire goes away yet the stove keeps getting hotter.

 

Where does it get hotter and where should I put the magnetic T-stat to see the temp? I put one on the back of the stove, and I've also tried the pipe. I've also seen the front right above the door.

Can you see the cat glowing if you look up inside the front door?

 

The area around the cat gets hot. Right where the hex bolt that's in the stove where the cat probe goes. Also the middle burner gets very hot.

 

I have 3 on mine cat probe pipe and back right hand side

 

Sometimes I can see it glowing, sometimes not. It's not related to whether the cat is working or not.

 

Right now, she is cruisin at 500 on the magnetic thermometer (1000 cat temp right?) from Woodstock on the front by the hex bolt. I tried putting the stat over the hex bolt right in the center, but the bolt was raised up enough that it stopped the bimetallic coil on the stat.

Eventually, I'll get a prob thermometer. Mike from Woodstock said the IS should have a 6" probe. Currently their manufacturer only has 3" & 8". They are working on getting some of those in stock.