Production Woodstock IS

I use to think there was no such thing as too dry wood but my Jotul manual states not to use over dry wood thats been seasoned more than a couple years, it hurts the low end efficiency of the stove.

I've noticed burning a lot of super dry aspen that my stove can outgas very quickly all at once while heavier less dry aspen seems much more controllable and gives me a better burn.

 

I'd gladly take care of your wood thats tooooo dry
Have you ever measured M/C less than 12% ? Curious as 12.2% appears to be about as low as it can naturally get in your neck of the woods according to the charts I've referenced. Not sure if you have read this but it's interesting info. See page 8 for Wi.

Equilibrium Moisture Content of Wood in Outdoor Locations in the United States and Worldwide (esf.edu)

The lowest I can get is between 15% and 17% after 3 years of outdoor seasoning just a ways south of you.

 

I no longer have a moisture meter so I cant give you any numbers. I bet BK stoves have a little more control when it comes to dry wood than non cats. I was looking at the EPA test run for my stove and they were using 25% red Oak! That seems high to me and would probably sizzle some. Surprising they can pass the test with that wet wood.

 

Holy smoke 25%. Interesting? Huh... Gotta be a exceptional system to overcome the bubbling/hissing and exhaust cooling while testing! How do they get it started? Boy Scout Juice

 

Lamppa recommends 18-28% for the Kuuma furnace...I personally like 18% much better than 28% though. It will burn 28 just fine, but it makes less heat for sure...

 

Guess on % less heat? I won’t argue with ya Brendy just curious

 

My stuff is averaging 14.5-16 on my meter when in the house and warm. 6-7 years seasoned maple, sugar maple, elm, oak. Mine lives in a covered three sided metal wood shed.

 

It would be hard to put a number on it...I just know when I have experimented with above 20% moisture content wood, that it made a noticeable difference in the house temp...normally I can just load n go, and as long as I haven't under-loaded for the weather, that is the last that it needs to be fooled with for 8-10-12 hours...but that wet would left the house a couple degrees cooler than normal at loading time...you can see it while the furnace is operating too...when you have wet wood it doesn't dial back the air as fast, or as much...might not go to minimum air (pilot) at all...which it normally does a lot with a belly full of dry wood.

 

Well, I'm going to try and move the Ideal Steel out tomorrow... I am going to rent a 20.5" wide pallet jack, go straight under the belly of the stove and lay two 4x4s perpendicular to the Jack's forks. Lift it up with the 4x4s lifting the weight between the space between the legs on each side, and roll it out the house on 1/2" plywood sheets. Gonna get it to the driveway then hoist it onto the flatbed car hauler and onto the pallet...

My goal is to not lift the stove but use mechanical equipment to complete the whole process...

Here's the stove stripped before tomorrow...

 

Sigh, this thread being bumped reminded me that I need to make time to repair my IS. We had a runaway that damaged the stove during the only cold snap this year and took it out of comission. I've got the parts, heck I've **had** the parts for a month or two, it's just making time to do it at this point.

 

NVhunter, I assume your IS is taking the long ride back to Woodstock?

 

Yes, I've been in communication with them and they are going to take care of the crack just like they have been doing for the others. Just have to get the stove on a pallet and to the shipping terminal. Great customer service and business who stands behind their products and takes great care of their customers.

 

Something I still need to do. I am thinking about asking my newly retired folks to take a camping trip this summer and take the IS in for me....

 

Got it done. Took three hours total to strengthen an existing pallet I had, move the stove out through the daylight basement and up to the driveway. If anyone needs to move this stove and does not have the ash pan get a "narrow" pallet jack and put two 4x4s between the forks and the stove body frame between the legs.

Worked great and was a breeze to move. We put it on the pallet and flat bed trailer with a 1000 pound hitch hoist and didn't have to lift this beast ourselves at all!!!

Got it strapped down, protected and crated and dropped off at the freight terminal.

Thank you again very much to The Woodstock Stove company, as well as Lorin and Ben for letting me bug them... Great business and will have me as a customer for life!!!

Here's a few pictures of the journey today, which I was loosing sleep worrying about.

 

Funny, just in contact with Lorin myself this week. Going to get it packed up send her a picture that it's ready to take to the terminal for it's journey. I hear they repaint them so may leave it together for a free paint job. Be interesting to see what all changes they do make to it. Also need to make sure I order a new radiator for it as I am still using the original one that warped.

 

May add another strap, but what do you think?

 

Another strap for sure...maybe 2 or 3...and something under the straps where they lay on a sharp edge, even the wood...I hauled my FIL's stove 3 miles and one of the straps was cut in two just in that time...and that was with cardboard under the straps on the edges...if I did it again I'd use rubber or plastic under the straps on the edges...

 

I did four straps, two east/ west and two north/ south. I also built a 2x4 three level platform around the legs locking them together and ran the straps between them instead of the pallet to avoid forks on the lift accidentally cutting them in transit.

 

Yep, we ran the straps over some dense foam to keep the straps off the steel to avoid cutting.

 

Not Lookin to argue, brother.
I'd think same btu output but less heat due to wasted BTU's by burning/drying the moisture out of the wood?
I can't imagine steaming my cat with toxic moisture. I had one turn green many years ago presumably from some overly moist red oak.(first year blues).