Production Woodstock IS

my wood averages 17 to 20% I only have fast drying woods this year, red maple cherry, ash birch.. split 14 months ago .. single row stacked.. high wind sun area off ground and top covered.. at this point I am 3.5 years ahead..

while I may have to replace cat every 2 years to me it's worth it IS averages 4.5 cord a year for 2 years..
previous stove NC 13 type averaged 12 cord a year for 5 years... next to impossible for me to get 3 years ahead burning 12 cord a year...
oh I am warmer and sleep more than 3 hours with IS also...

 

I'm not having any cat problems that I can speak of. If you count the lifespan of the cat as a problem I can certainly comment on that.

As of now my cat (#2) was just cleaned and placed back in the stove again. It's working as it should.

All my firewood is low moisture, haven't had any problems this year with any wood over 20% MC. I'm 3 years ahead after this season is over.

 

I'm considering a cat problem to be that it's struggling at 2 years. Probably even 3 years.

 

During shoulder I am finding 'tis better to have small fires going hot rather than filling up the box with a cat burn.

 

During the shoulder season-in the day-I run a smaller fire but it is only to avoid ash buildup or going on a screwy cycle where I am waking up to reload. If that wasn't a concern I would prefer to fill it everytime and just run lower, longer burns. In my expirience the IS really prefers a full load. It's hard to get to cruising temp on the smaller loads (easy boys!).

 

I'd consider a 2 yr old cat 2/3 to nearly the end of it's useful life. Depending on how it ran and the quality of the fuel it burned.

 

I burn mostly ash that was CSS fall of '13. It was standing dead and some of it under 25% at the time - I even burned that winter (before the IS went in). I am still working on that pile, maybe a half season left, and I just CSS more for next year. I also had some spruce that was CSS fall of '15 I burned in the shoulder season this year. So about a year on the spruce.

I'm going to do a soak for the cat though. The first year seemed fine throughout. I didn't even soak it going into year two but after it was acting sluggish I did do a quick spray early on. I think I'll do a proper soak and try it again next year. I might be done burning for the year not sure yet. I got about a ton of pellets left over so might switch to those for the spring shoulder season.

 

The burn season is just about over for me in SE Massachusetts. Night time lows are around 35-40 and the house seems to hold the daytime warmth to the morning.

I still have 1/4 cord on my covered porch that in the past would have been used and I would have probably gone for more. I'm happy with the burn season and the IS's
performance this year. With the stove itself, no major issues to note. The cat is another topic, and it has already been covered as we talked through the burn season.
I'm glad we have figured out the typical lifespan of a SS cat for the IS. As of now, with the newer cat that I have (1 yr old) and the original one, I can plan on 1 to 2 cat cleanings per
season and a good results. I'll look into purchasing a 3rd cat if WS has another open house this fall, if not I'll see what the less expensive options end up being.

The replacement radiator also seem to work better than the original. The one I have has only been in use for 1 season and this year there were no flakes of steel on the
cat. The warping of the radiator seemed to be lessened too.

 

We started a fire yesterday because we were freezing to death in the house. A couple of hours later, we had the doors open because it was far, far too hot in the house. And it was a small fire.

We will burn wood into May and occasionally, even into June on a chilly night. They key now is to start small fires and let them burn out.

My cat. is still acting surprisingly well after something like 1 1/2 years old. This season started late due to the lack of a stove chimney, and I am letting the fire get farther along before engaging the combustor so really no idea what had the most effect on the combustor life. Like you, I will buy another one this fall if Woodstock has an open house and hopefully, show pricing on combustors. If not, I will probably wait until this one is closer to the end- of- life before replacing it.

Brian

 

Boy, drive the temps. into the 70's and the ole' wood forum really dies down.....



We are vacillating between sweating some days and starting small fires at night.

Brian

 

Yeah, there's too little time for posts what with everything growing like crazy again and wood gathering to do.

 

I burnt a few pieces of paper in my stove the other day. Had important information on them.

 

Lol...It's 43 and climbing but I fired up the stove cause it is damp, raining and nasty...And I miss it...

 

thinking about lightin.. the black beauty. . but she and house is still warm from 36 hours ago! Darn efficiency

 

I have an appointment in VT late on Monday, I might just have leave home to stop into Woodstock and introduce myself.

 

Good things happen when you walk through the door up there. Most people walk out the back door a little while later with a stove in the back of their pickup.

 

Unfortunately I didnt have time to stop today. I'll be back up there in a month, I'll have to try harder next time!

 

Ever get to Woodstock? I'm just catching up on some old threads

 

When do they normally announce the open house date?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

Last year we didn't think they were going to have one at all and last minute they put it together.

The Woodstock website is usually where we see the announcement and then it trickles to the
forums.
They had a really low turnout last year so I'm not sure what they have going on this year.