Production Woodstock IS

So I have been running my I.S. with the new S.S. shielded radiator for a week or so now. Also, I am using the radiator stock rather than putting the 2" strip of steel across the inside / back of the radiator as I had on the original one. The stove runs fine but there is absolutely a very noticeable drop in stove top temp. and an increase in flue gas temps. which shows me that that baffle was very effective in keeping more heat in the house and sending less up the flue. I had already known this from when I installed it way back but this latest experience without it has reinforced the whole idea of how much of a difference it makes.

Brian

 

Got my new radiator in and ash pan door gasket installed. I think there was more air coming in the ash pan door than I previously thought. My stove is behaving more Air-control wise, and I'm getting longer burn times again. (More coaling though!)

 

Was running the pants off of my IS today, at least for me (I know some of you run these stoves much harder than I do); stove top temps. around 650, flue gas temps around 700F WHEN SUDDENLY, there was a very sharp, very loud 'snap' from the stove. Hmmmmm. Nothing changed and nothing ovbious but it sure sounded like a piece of cast iron heat- stress cracked. Now there is no cast iron in an I.S. so my next guess would be perhaps a stress broken weld. ?? Maybe just a piece of soapstone. Nothing much to be done about it now, the stove is running fine and temps. are going down to single digits so tonight is not the time to let it cool down and do an inspection. It did get my full and undecided attention when it happened though.

Brian

 

BDF, very interested in what happened.. I will be doing that sled radiator mod this summer... my STT have been 675 all day it's minus 1 now with winds 30 to 37 mph

 

My money is on a piece of steel snapping back to flush after flexing slightly. Second bet is that bolt on the manifold plate. Or a combination- like the plate was hung up on the bolt and finally let go to where it should be.

 

Running my IS pretty hard here in NJ as well. 13 degrees and high winds.

The last 3 reloads I've taken to raking the ash out a bit and then raking the coal bed flat instead of pulling it up front. It gets all the wood involved faster and the cat active quicker. I've been loading this sucker full the last few days. Some maple on the bottom north south to catch. The some big 20 inch black locust east west as my second layer. Finished off by some red oak both north south and east west up top. Burns like a dream.

Edit. I think the raking the coals flat is beneficial for cat stoves but not secondary burn only stoves. They don't want all the wood involved at once where we can close the bypass and turn the air really low.

 

What are the dimensions of the steel that you added and is it located on the back side of the radiator?

 

Good call on the bolt- that was not the problem but it certainly did sound plausible.

Took a quick look around in the stove this am before loading it and did not see anything wrong or out of place. ?? Not really worried about it as the stove works correctly and does not leak smoke or anything else so will continue to run it this winter and then go looking for what that noise may have been in the summer.

Brian

 

Currently running a new, stock radiator. No baffle installed at the rear.

I just (few weeks ago) got a new radiator from W.S. with the SS shield on the bottom and just installed it. I wanted to run it stock but also to check and make sure that the baffle mod. really did work; it does because the stove top and flue temps. changed back toward what they were with the original radiator. The baffle changes the stove top and flue temps. by about 50F, so that the stove top runs around 50F hotter than the exhaust temps. with the baffle in place. Otherwise, both temps. are very close. Oh, and the baffle has the biggest impact when running the stove low and slow- the harder the stove is pushed, the smaller the benefit from the baffle, which does make sense.

I also have a new problem this year in that most of my splits are too small for overnight. Got a new splitter and..... well..... thought everything needed more splitting I guess. Unfortunately I do not have any big wood (Easy Boys!) for these single digit nights and the fire is about done in six hours or so. Next year I will probably go the other way and not be able to light the stove 'cause of all the 10" logs in there. Another 10, 20 years at this and I may get the hang of it.... maybe.

Brian

 

It's been a couple months for me, looks like I missed out on a few newsworthy IS updates. BDF seems to be right on point with the new radiator and modified baffle on his old radiator. I'm happy he knows for sure (with the new radiator) that the baffle truly works and holds more heat.
With the warmer than average winter I'm ahead about 3/4-1 cord right now. In the warmer days I have been going back to shoulder type burns and making 12 hrs work for me.
Last weekend the IS burned the hardest it has this winter, it performed well and kept us very comfortable.

I'd like to ask some of you about catalyst performance and your thoughts on lifespan. The reason I ask is, after talking to Brian (BDF) at the open house, we kind of came to a mutual understanding that the original cats would probably not last the 5 years they were supposed to. Just running these stoves the way we do it's definitely noticed that the cat performance slowly lessens over a shorter amount of time.

I purchased a new cat at last years open house and this year I picked up the new radiator (with the SS shield). I ran the new radiator with the new cat from the end of this November to the middle of January and changed out the newer cat with the original (cleaned and ready to go) cat. When I put the old (original) cat back in it ran like the dirty (newer) cat that I just took out, like an aged cat would. I cleaned the newer cat right away and replaced the older one to get the numbers they should get again. Is anyone els showing decreased efficiency with the original production cats?

I wonder if this is a part that might make it 2 yrs or less?

 

I just caught up on this thread and realized I did not answer your question in my post- sorry.

The piece of steel is 2" high, about 3/32" thick and a little wider than the radiator; I know that sounds like a joke but it is bent into a slight arc so it bears on both sides of the radiator. The radiator is also 2" tall so the baffle sits flush with the bottom of the radiator. I originally just gently bent it into an arc, kind of wedged it in the radiator and tried it out. After it seemed to work well and cause no problems, it of course fell out so I used two pieces of S.S. wire (3/32" TIG welding rod) to hold it in place but this photo is with the baffle just wedged in place for the test.


The baffle is actually a leg of an old rafter square that was too rusty to read anymore- if you look closely, you can see the lines at 1/8" (I think) intervals.

 

I'm ending my 2nd season, and began noticing reduced cat performance a few weeks ago. It was needing higher temps to light off, and even stalled once (same, dry wood supply). I did the vinegar bath thing, (2nd time for that), and it improved somewhat, but I would be surprised to get three full seasons out of it.

 

The other day I dialed in the perfect cat burn. Black box and hot coals 15 hours later. The glass looks terrible though.

 

Yes, and if you continue to do that, the entire inside of the stove will end being a black, sticky, creosote mess that may even run down the ash pan door (literally). That is the price for a very efficient burn; the wood actually pyrolyses, like a cigarette, rather than actually burning with flame.

It just happens to work out that the I.S. in my house, under normal winter conditions, burns best in that very mode. Not Woodstock's fault (more like a chemistry problem) but it is too bad that 1) we often cannot see the stove burn at all and 2) the glass turns black in about 8 minutes. This year I have been able to burn quite a bit hotter and so much cleaner because my house is so leaky.

Brian

 

No need to worry about creosote or the catalyst today.... it has gotten all the way to 17F here but the wind is awful- must be gusting to 35- 40 MPH out there. So no slow burns for the next couple of days. Working upstairs on the second floor, we can see our breath.

My stove is still running with the new radiator and no baffle but I am tinkering around with the damper and it seems as though I can get a fair amount more heat out of the stove by partially closing the damper and opening the draft a little to compensate. Not really sure why this is so but it does seem pretty repeatable. Unfortunately I have no way of actually measuring the amount of air flowing through the stove, which means I cannot use the two controls to get the stove to the same 'setting'. The damper also is a really imprecise way to set airflow 'cause 1) it is not linear meaning 1/2 way closed is not really 1/2 way closed, and it is really tough to gauge the angle.

And to think our ancestors, short and hairy, burned whatever fuel they had, in a pile on the ground, and thought they were doing well.... I wonder if one of them was thinking: "I think we could get a better yield if we dried this wood a bit, put the fire in a box, put a couple of baffles in there, and so forth? Of course I do not know how they would have thought about things like 'baffles' with their language, which was basically grunts and the occasional scream.

Brian

 

The warmest we got today was 4f with a nasty wind. I'm locked and loaded for the night.

 

yup me too and think my cat is failing end of second season.. but STT is above 400 has been for last 36 hours and not dropping this weekend but less heat and more smoke now..

 

I'm putting this one at 15 hours of usable heat. Cat was still working at 13 hours but I needed to reload now if I'm going to have any room for firewood tonight. I opened the air at 11 hours. I would have preferred to go a while longer.

 

I gave the new(er) cat a bath today, it has been in the stove since last October. I noticed the efficiency of the new one had lessened slightly and decided to switch them out, the original cat went back in after being cleaned last fall. The original cat most definitely does not perform at the level the newer one does, can't imagine it will be around much longer for full workouts. As of now I think the original cat will just be used for temporary duty while the newer one is being cleaned.

I think I'll write WS on whether or not they consider having another open house this fall. The open house price for a cat was worth the trip IMO. If not I'll need to pick one up regardless.

 

My IS heats my home please post their response as mine is dying quick more wood less heat.. instead of 18 hour burns more like 8 hours.. if I didn't know better I would still be happy with stove. .