Production Woodstock IS

Haha! Longer burn times? Sounds great!

 

Hi guys,
I've been gone for a while. I wanted to check in and show something that I discovered one day by accident.

For some people who don't have a perfect chimney system the start -up on this stove is very slow. I know you can crack the door, but I hate walking away from a stove full of wood and an abundant air supply. It's asking for an over fire.

Anyway , one day I accidently whacked my draft control with a wood split. If you look at my photo you will see that the control now has more range in the fully open position.

When I crawled under and looked at the mechanism (2nd picture) I realized that it had bent the full open stop. This in turn opened the air path on the bottom further allowing more air to enter the stove. It has made the stove come up to temperature better and I feel safer doing this then cracking the door.

I'm not saying everybody go do this and I'm sure Woodstock wouldn't recommend it. Obviously, you have to bring the control further to closed as the stove temperature increases to prevent any over fire from occurring.

Just wanted to share my accidental discovery.

 

Mark that position Boost Mode.

Or Beast Mode if you prefer.

 

Thought this might be a worthy addition the the thread..

Did my first cat cleaning today, after going pretty much 24/7 since mid September when we installed the stove. I noticed decreased performance of the cat over the last several weeks, both in light-off time/temp and visible smoke from the chimney. I brushed the cat clean probably half a dozen times since first lighting it, and noticed some deposits starting to form on the stove side maybe two weeks back. I have burned a fair bit of questionable wood, and tried hard to engage the cat at the right time, but admittedly had a couple circumstances where the fire took too long to roll or we misjudged and dropped it early having to leave for work, causing the dreaded smoldering fire with a n inactive cat. Take it easy on me, it's our first year after switching from an owb.

I used a 50/50 distilled water and distilled white vinegar solution, 8oz of liquid in a spray bottle. I let the stove go cold over night, last load was 10am, pulled cat at 6am. Warm to the touch, but didn't need gloves to handle. Placed in sink and sprayed all 8oz to saturate the honeycomb from all angles. As the house was a chilly 62 and the girls were due to wake up any time, I immediately rinsed with straight distilled water after rinsing the bottle and spray head/tube thoroughly under the tap. I used 8oz sprayed, then poured a half gallon or so through the honeycomb until all vinegar smell was gone.

I gave the cat a good shaking (no banging!) and put it back in the stove. Filled the stove, and intentionally lit it slowly by using a small piece of "fatwood" pine that I let burn for a while before shuffling it over to the splits so they could catch. I thought drying the cat slowly with some gentle heat might be wise. Engaged as normal and got the "hot rod" new cat performance I was hoping for. That was 13hrs ago, and she's about tailed off now.

Next year I guess I'll try and do this around halfway through the season. Though my wood supply should be more favorable, so maybe it won't be needed.

Just posted to maybe encourage some newer users like me to go ahead and clean the thing if it's needed. The performance of the stove is amazing with a "fresh" cat, and running with one that's due for a cleaning can cause some recency bias to set in where the sluggish operation is just the new normal, not the level of performance the stove is really capable of.

 

Simply awesome......
"Why don't you just make 10 the loudest and have it go to 10?"
"This one goes to 11"

 

That's way I do it BigPapi bought a second cat so that if does it sooner in cold temps next year. House does not get cold.. Pull cat 1 drop in cat 2.. Clean when convenient..

 

This Is Spinal Tap!

 

A very worthy addition to the conversation. Amazing performance increase recently in my case. Just from doing a thorough vacuuming. Night and day. Mine was on a BK cat. Easy to get complacent on cat maintenance.
Good write up BigPapi.

 

Thanks!

I've read that the BK needs a new gasket if you remove the cat. Are you able to brush or vacuum it without removing? A Princess was on our short list when we decided to switch to an indoor stove. Would consider it again if we moved and left the stove behind - never heard anything but good about their customer support. (Like Woodstock!)

 

Yes, you can brush and vacuum the princess cat while it is installed. I would prefer gasket free removal but no big deal.

 

New to this site but not new to wood burning here with some questions...my son and I are both considering a IS...I am currently running a BK Princess and have been for 3 years...when I was looking for a cat stove the BK and IS became the only logical choices for me...not knowing the nature of cat stoves at the time and finding far more info on the BKs I went with the BK...although I really like the BK there are a couple things I dont like...like the fact that I have to disassemble the stove pipe when it is time to clean the pipe...yes I use telescoping double wall pipe but there is nothing easy sliding about it..correct me if I am wrong but if you choose the top down pipe cleaning method with the IS there is no need to disconnect pipe correct? The other thing is the removal of the cat requiring a gasket...IS makes this task so much simpler to maintain...now on to my questions...is the soapstone liner standard or a option? Are andirons necessary? I am a huge N/S loading fan...how deep is the belly of the IS? Has the cold start bell sound been addressed? Thanks for your time...

 

Welcome aboard Black Creek

Cannot help with this question, but I'm sure one of the others can.

Quite certain it is standard.

I load E/W so our andirons remain installed, but they are very easily removed for N/S loading.

18" at the bottom, but you should be advised that the top of the burn chamber slopes downward, and at the rear it's about 12" (correction) above the floor.

Once again, others can better advise on N/S loading.

I would have to say yes, as I've never had any issues like that with ours.

Once again, welcome aboard, I'm sure you'll find this a great place.

 

this sounds off, Chaz. typo?

 

You are correct sir, I didn't have my flashlight, I measured to the top of the steel holding the soapstone.

It's 12" top to bottom.

Thx.

 

Soapstone was an option, NOT standard when I ordered mine three years ago.

 

Thx for that clarification.


I knew I wanted the soapstone, so I guess I never considered it as an 'option'.

 

Still is.
a friend of ours just got one.
he mentioned the optional soapstone lining.

 

Welcome Black Creek
Yes IS can be cleaned top down, lift lid and vacuum out.

By the belly I'm assuming you mean from the bottom of the door opening to the bottom of the Firebox, 4.5 inches with soapstone. If Ash gets deeper than that it will fall out the front.

I think andirons are an option also. But they do come right out mine doesn't have them installed..

Yes the clicking of the biometallic things has been fixed as well as radiator warping with stainless steel protector.