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

I don't need to look at it, I know what it looks like because I own a welding shop. It just needs a little love. Smooth is always better !

 

I found out that there is a "floating separator" between the primary and secondary air intake. It is able to float 1/4 inside a vertical track so that the intake slide is able to move. You have to use a small screw driver or pick to lift it up in order to put the slide back in place if you remove it. I'm wondering if that's what causes it to bind up and so the jiggling back and forth is necessary to get it to slide. The problem is, that it's welded into the stove, and cannot be removed without significant changes to the overall structure of the stove.

 

I see you didn't spend extra for the non-reflective glass...

This stuff is as clear is if nothing were there!

(hint: really, really just like nothing is there)

 

Just checked mine. Smooth with zero scratches. Something definitely wrong with yours. It might smooth out with use. If not I'd call. In fact I'd call anyway and if it doesn't become smooth I'd call again.

 

Already done. Waiting a solution. WS has a new plate coming to my house. I'm just not sure that's going to take care of it. We'll see. Just gonna be a but of a pain to dismantle pipe and move stove to get the slide out the back.

 

It was an early beta, but we had metal filings in there. We opened the back access door and stuck a vacuum in there while working the slide back and forth multiple times.

 

I did not know there were any options on the glass in an I.S. ?? As far as I know, all Woodstock stoves have two glass plates but never heard or was aware of any different types.

The glass in the original stove door was as clear as...., well, glass when it was new and would clean up very well for the first year. The second year it started to get a white haze on it (inside glass plate only). Now that I have that door off the stove and have been working on the inside glass, I have not been successful in getting rid of that haze. Lots' o' Internet lore about how to clean it, and I will try a squirt of CLR just for kicks but I think it may be time for another glass plate.

Brian

 

I was trying too hard to be funny - there is no glass in my pic . I had taken it out to change to a different window window frame.

I really like your 2 door approach. A huge part of the beauty of these stove burning is the clear view of the fire.

 

And how easy they are to work on. Simple functional customizable heat throwers

 

I find that the Rutland glass cleaner is all I need to keep my glass clean. I find that opening the stove up wide for a bit while in the coaling stage right before a reload helps. If it's dirty I just wait until it's reload time, open the door all the way to cool the door some, do a quick wipe with a wet paper towel, then a little stove glass cleaner, then clean up with another wet paper towel and my glass is crystal clear. The stove glass cleaner is sort of like toothpaste. It's got a very fine grit in it. Works well in my opinion.

 

Chilly morning here... though I am sure you folks up further north and east are getting far worse! Furnace has been set to 60F, as you can see it hasn't run. packed the IS full last night with ash around 8pm, and still burning the coals down right now (11am). Pellet stove on 4 (of 9). However the bedroom my son is currently using, on the far corner of the old side of the house, needed an electric space heater set on low all night to maintain 67-69. That side of the house just sucks the heat right out. His bedroom is on the other side of the wall of the pellet stove, his doorway opens up to the stove room, still can't get heat in there fast enough. The ext walls and floors in there are about 56-59F average right now on the IR, and a temp sensor on interior wall about waist level is 67. But the rest of the house is heated nicely.

 

T stew, you need some moisture in that house! 18% yikes.

 

-15 last night before wind. Full load at 8pm. House at 70. Woke at 8am (day off, needed the sleep) to 65 - I'll take that anyday. Furnace didn't run since it's set at 62. I'm happy.

Update - Found a piece of weld inside the slide area of my intake. I suspect it's the culprit. I'm hoping that's all it was. WS was on it the whole way. Tally up another great customer experience!

 

Slipped by the QC team.
Glad you found the culprit.

 

So how would you compare it to your old stove? I am running my Ideal Steel and Quadra fire during thise cold spell. The main difference is the Quadra fire doesn't leave enough coals for me to restart in the morning unless I pack it. The Ideal Steel leaves tons of coals either way.

 

My experience is about the same as your Quad. I had plenty of coals this morning. I had to let them burn down BC I was working on my draft plate.

My 30 would have have needed another fill at midnight and maybe had some coals left by morning but most likely not enough to start from and the house would have been 62 only because the furnace kept it there. With the 30, I would have to prime the house to about as hot as I could before bed in order to avoid the furnace running in the morning. Sometimes that was 75, sometimes it was only 70.

 

Got plenty of it in the basement lol. Yeah it gets a bit dry... probably another side affect of a drafty house. But I am not going to mess around with trying to humidify the whole house, I doubt I could make much difference. However my son was sick recently so I have been running a humidifier in his bedroom. I could throw a kettle of water on the IS, I have a couple laying around, just never really thought much of it I guess.

As much as I am very pleased with the Ideal Steel I have come to find one predicament with its operation, especially while unattended. I find that for my regular work shift (14-15 hr reload interval) if I pack it full on a colder day and run it as hot as I dare, leaving with the cat probe close to maximum temperature, that when I get home there house temp has dropped a bit but there is lots of coals and unburnt fuel in there still. I suppose this is where the BK thermostat helps, and this problem is probably common of any other stove out thee without such air control. Not a big deal if you have someone around to open it up a bit the last half, but for me I got to turn the air down so thing doesn't get too hot but not there to turn it back up later. Sometimes I have so much left in the box still I stir it, open the air up, and go to bed and don't reload till I get back up, for almost a 24hr burn when I really would have rather had 12! I just find with a full load the thing runs hot... got to get the air down in the first 3 notches to keep the cat 1400 or less. But at that low air setting once it is done off gassing it drops quite a bit. JA600L how has your bimetallic air control been working, still running it? Reliable?

 

Same here Pappy, mine sticks occasionally as well. if you try to just nudge it a bit, like to go 1/2 or 1 notch, it won't move. But if you push it a bit harder it frees up just fine, so I don't really worry about it.
But my paint is still normal, no scratches like yours freeburn. Hopefully that weld burr was it.

 

The bimetal control works good for warmer weather. I took it off for this cold spell.
I would recommend opening the air up more for this colder weather and letting it burn a bit hotter. That way it burns the coals down on its own.

Chances are with your drafty house you would be running the Blaze king much hotter as well and be in the same boat. Unless you put the King in. Open the air up a bit and let that hybrid system impress you .

 

Or go the BDF route and drill a small hole in the ash pan door ...