Production Woodstock IS

I think it's still $175. If you want one you have to get on a waiting list. Any chance the new cat is of better quality?

 

Hello, new member here. My IS is still sitting on the pallet, don't have it installed yet. But after reading about how the radiator warps and is "consumed," would it be a good idea to run mine over to the local fabrication shop and have them run off a solid stainless steel copy? Has anyone done this? Would it be worth it to have it sandblasted? (would increase greatly increase surface area, maybe improve radiation levels)

 

Sandblasting won't do squat. That thing will be glowing red during normal operation. You could try the stainless steel.

 

According to website free replacement year 1 through 3 and pro rated years 4 through 6

 

Welcome Coyoterun... I would wait and see but if you decide too make sure you let us know the cost and performance...

 

I figured it would be better to copy one in new condition rather than waiting until it's warped and flaked. I would start out running the factory radiator in any case. I'll post pic's and price here if I decide to have one made.

 

A radiator made out of 303 or 304 S.S. would be a big improvement IMO. It is not necessary to manufacture an entire new radiator though, I would suggest cutting out something like a 7" X 7" square in the front / center of the existing radiator and having the same size S.S. plate welded into it. There is no need for S.S. anywhere else and it is going to be costly to fabricate and entire radiator out of S.S.

As already mentioned, sandblasting will not make any difference- it is the temperature the steel is held at that causes the problems.

Brian

 

Then it should be covered at no cost in year three, right?

No idea what the pro- rated scale looks like in years 4 thru 6 but $155 still sounds a little high even if you are in year four?

Brian

 

That's what I was thinking. He said he has burned it three seasons and the warranty is from the time it left the shipping dock, maybe it fell inbetween

 

I would agree. I think she did her math wrong. I took delivery September 2, 2014. In fact, the stove was not in production 3 years ago.

 

Yep, I think someone missed- hey, it happens.... Give them a call back and talk with them again; you will probably come to some acceptable solution. I say this based only on my own dealings with Woodstock along with their general reputation (which mirrors my experience).

Even if the stove is technically three years old, as you bought it in Sept. that means there are on season three right now.... assuming you do not burn much wood in June, July, August.....

Brian

 

Switching gears for a second .

I've heard that with having a cat stove that you can split the wood a little smaller. It has to do with being able to turn the air lower and letting the cat extend the burn versus a big split taking a long time to burn in a tube only stove.

I split on the larger side usually but if this is definitely true I'll start splitting smaller in the future since I deal with a lot of oak. Not really small mind you. Just maybe 20% smaller.

 

I've played with this theory. What I have found is that a lot of the off gassing is wasted getting the cat up to temperature. By the time you get the cat cruising a lot of those gasses are used up. If you do a hot reload it works really well

 

I usually get the stove heated up with a very small top down fire. 6 small splits log cabin style with a bunch of split up 2 by 4s for kindling. About 90 minutes later I knock it all flat and use that hot coal bed and hot stove to set off a full load.

Your post makes sense on the off gassing. I'd like to see some more opinions too. Hopefully a few people chime in.

 

I think you will find that is no longer the case with a new cat.: they almost light with newspaper.

I tried splitting wood smaller and overall, I find I get a better, longer and more consistent temp. burn using pretty big splits. Part of that is no doubt that the larger the splits, within reason, the more wood (by weight) you can get into the stove. Especially if you spend a bit of time arranging the triangular splits so they fit tightly against each other. Overall, I prefer larger splits (bigger than 5" on the smallest side) for all but shoulder season, and overall I will split larger in the future.

Brian

 

Black box. 1300 cat probe. Air control on the 1st big notch.

It seems like if you can get the air turned down at the right time you can get a hotter cat burn. I think you have to get it turned down before you get too many secondaries. But not too early where you stall the cat.

Cat slowly climbed to 1400.

 

How long are you guys typically waiting to engage the cat?

Heres my routine: (12 hr reloads)
-Wake up or get home from work, open pipe damper and air to full to burn down coals leaving cat engaged

-when ready to reload cat probe is usually in the 500-700 range, I disengage the cat, open the door and fill it full

-Leave everything open for around 5 to no more than 10 mins until I get a nice slow licking of flames usually on the right side of the box, then I engage the cat and slide air down to 3/4, Cat temp drops a touch. Let it catch back up for 3-5 mins, then down to 1/2 for 2-3, then set it at 1/4 or a tick above and close the pipe damper for the remainder of the burn.

I'm usually shut down and cruising by the time the cat is 800-1000 and it creeps up to 1200-1400 about 45 mins in and stays there for quite some time. It will start with secondaries that almost go out and then will be back to the slow rolling blow torches once the cat hits the 1200 range.

Now to the main question. I'm getting some small, thin, light brown drips from the condensation dripping off the cap, and then running down my chase top. Is that common?
I'm going to add a foot or two to get the cap up away from the top a little higher to see if that solves the problem. Or is that going to be normal with how low the flue temps are with these stoves?

 

I think it is pretty normal to get a little of that. I have and haven't had any bad build up to go with it.

 

Those of you who have had cats going out prematurely- have you checked the ash pan door gasket? I replaced mine yesterday and it seems a little more compliant. It didn't look like a normal old gasket but it was all hard toward the bottom. When I close the door with the new gasket I immediately knew it had been bad. If you're pulling not-preheated air to the firebox I hypothesize it can cool down the air to the cat.

 

Sounds like my routine.

I'll leave my cat and draft wide open until 800 on the cat probe, then shut the cat. Let it go up to 1000 deg and turn down to 1st big notch and leave it. I get 12-14 hr burn times easily. I've done this so many times, I've taught my 13 yr old son and wife to follow the same routine without fail.