Production Woodstock IS

I'm

In my experience- at zero degrees the stove tends to want more of a secondary burn. The shoulder season when it is in the high 20's or low 30's it wants to do those low cat burns. Perfect for the shoulder season, but different behavior for sure when it gets real cold.

 

Thats the weird part, nothing is out of the ordinary today than any other time so far this year. My stack always has a great draft, and if it's storming or windy is the only reason it would be stronger. The temps were in the low 50's this morning, roughly the same as my other shoulder burns. I dunno

 

So far it's been great Ray. The only issues we (IS owners) have had are small, 1st year production type things.
The IS is ALL of what the hype has brought it to be. Huge firebox, long burn times, incredible control, secondaries that produce incredible heat and low emissions, it's all there...

 

UNH, would you suggest going to secondaries vs the cat on colder days?

 

This is to the IS owners; BDF , Beet Stix , BrianK , BrucePA-CWood , Builder Bob , burndatwood , CoachSchaller , Fanatical1 , Gark , golf66 , haymaker, Hollywood , IS obsessed , JA600L , Unhdsm , whalen . I'm looking to see how you burn in the firebox. N-S or E-W? How do you start from cold? and how low do you let the coals get before restarts? Anything you have experience with would help..thanks

 

Woodstock put a lot of the research into getting the ratios right for both the cat and secondaries. I never operated the progress but from what I read, it will switch back and forth. In the IS the cat and secondaries play off each other so you really don't get to pick too much. Instead the cat heats the secondaries, which then provide more heat for the cat.

 

Well, I just got the thing up and running yesterday and am trying to figure the stove out.....load sizes, timing between reloads etc, this whole cat thing is new to me. One thing is for certain, the firebox on the Ideal is HUGE! Although it's very early in the ownership cycle (Yes, I am Captain Obvious ) one thing I noticed is that this stove produces very steady, even heat. There aren't dramatic temperature swings as were seen on a prior EPA tube stove. This stove seems to be quite content to sit there and do its thing without need for frequent adjustment of air controls.

 

A couple of nights ago I was able to really watch the stove from a cold start just to see what it does. Usually I set it up, leave and come back when the flue temp gets to 250, but this time I watched. The secondaries give an incredible show, more than I ever had in my Oslo. It was a real treat and fun to watch.

 

Your pretty much where I am golf, still new to this whole thing. Looking to other IS owners and the beta testers to show me the way, I want to beat this learning curve in the firebox to the punch.

 

I didn't notice a difference in burning e/w or n/s except that it was nice to have the option based on how the pieces best fit.
I start a cold stove with two big sticks parallel forming a little canyon, put a quarter super cedar in there, light it, and then cover the canyon with smaller splits. When that burns down enough I load the stove full on that coal bed. Generally at that point I load it full every 12 hours. Once you get in that cycle it is much simpler than any other stove I have had. Should be even easier with the ash pan, which is new to me.
Coming from a stove that was similar to the Oslo, I would say the hardest part is getting used to the low burn non-flame burn. That's going to tweak you out

 

Most of my wood is too long to burn N-S unfortunately. Only have done two burns so far in it, my PH is keeping the house warm for now. I will note that it's a lot easier to keep at whatever temp you want it at than the PH, in my limited experience. The air intake on the IS feels like you're having an impact from the lowest to the highest setting, which is also not the case with the PH from what I have seen. Just seems like a more controllable stove. Not that I don't love the PH as well as the IS, maybe even more, mainly for its appearance. Guess my avatar gives that away.

 

Its too early for me to have many answers. My situation is that I'm in early shoulder season heating a smaller place. I'm lighting it in the very early evening and letting it burn out sometime the next AM and trying to keep a very low fire during the night. I light the stove with a few small splits of Aspen since it burns like gasoline, and have a few medium splits of cherry and sycamore on top. I have been adding 3 medium splits on the larger coal bed before bed (10:00pm or so) and cut the air to 5% for the night.

I have been watching the best time, temps and air settings to engage the cat since I'm lighting a fire almost every day when using the stove since the temps are still warm where I live. 58 - 62 during the day and 42- 46 at night would be a good average for temps right now.

Even doing this the stove likes to creep up with the cat burn to 500 - 550 (stove top) for a few hours after I load the 3 splits for the night.. Inside temps have been 75 - 78 during this time. In the mornings the stove has a small bed of coals and inside temps are usually around 74. Stove top in the AM is between 150 - 250. 10 hours easily on a bed of coals and three medium to a slightly larger splits at 3 - 5% air. Pretty choked down, I know... Stove still climbs a bit with this really dry cherry and sycamore I'm using. Pretty impressive burns times with minimal wood.

I'm really interested to burn it like its intended to be burned once it's colder outside. All my wood has been N to S.

 

I am just too new to the stove- only on my 4th or 5th fire so far and no two have been the same Not sure I can give you much useful info. I am loading N/S because I find it easier to start a fire that way, leaving the ends of the splits exposed (Easy Boys!) and starting the fire in the front of the stove.

So far, my biggest problem is getting the stove to fire up and run anywhere beyond warm. It is probably due to the high outside temps. for this time of year and so less than wonderful draft from the chimney. At any rate, while others are reporting holding their stoves back, I have not yet been able to get my stove top temps above 410F no matter what I do.

As far as starting goes, there is plenty of coals (cold charcoal from the previous fire's wood) left over to make a small mound, and I put rather heavy kindling on top of that and start the whole thing off with a propane torch. Works pretty well if not terrifically fast. The only way I can speed things up is to introduce a bit of draft from under the grate and that is capable of turning the stove into Vulcan's forge so that method must be used very judiciously and only when I am in attendance (as in sitting on the floor in front of the stove).

Brian

 

Loving following along as you guys learn this stove. I'm incredibly impressed with that heater, it's going to be fun to watch you guys go through the winter with 'em.

 

Any one posted this or seen it. Nice Video.

 

Hey all, I'm still learning too. During start up on cold stove , I've been using top down method. I find that when I engage the Cat at 250-275 the stove burns with the cat. Last night I couldn't get the secondary's to light. On start up, if I let the IS alarm clock finish, engage cat, the stove pipe temp is in the 325-350 range, secondary's are almost instant. When I let stove get that hot on start up I'm usually sitting in front of stove on bean bag watching the show (which is spectacular) with the sliding glass door wide open. With shoulder season I fill stove up, light, engage Cat at 250, and cut back to 1/4 air. I still get temp spike around 3 hours, but house is comfy.
For anyone that has not been around stove with secondary burn, it is amazing. The wife and I have spent hours in front of stove in the dark watching the show. We're still enjoying show after working 2 cord of oak yesterday. Anything I can help with just give me a shout.

 

haymaker , good story on the secondaries. I have a similar one, last night watching the amazing race with my wife, I glance over and see the IS in the dining room. The secondaries had kicked in and the circular flames coming down from the top plate were amazing. The glass stays so clear that it looked like there was nothing inbetween. Even the colors are eye catching, blues and a really light yellow.

 

Another first time experience with the IS tonight. The stove was lit at around 5 tonight with a 1/3 load of uglies. At about 8:30 I could smell a light odor of wood smoke on the first floor. Of course me getting up raised caution to my wife and then she could smell it too. The IS's cat was engaged, the firebox was black and there was still some definition in the splits.
Most of the first floor had a hint of smoke. We opened windows and turned on the ceiling fans. I got up close to the stove and stovepipe and smelled nothing coming from it. I went to the second floor and could still smell it, not quite as strong as the first floor. I went outside and checked the cap with a flashlight, no smoke (or fires) coming from the flue. Went to the attic, all ok up there, no smokey smells and the same in the basement, nada. Flues were just swept 2 weeks ago and this only my 5th fire in the IS.
I have no idea where it came from. Temps were in the upper 40's no wind. Stumped...