Production Woodstock IS

I finally experienced the bell ringing this morning. This was a cold startup, top-down lighting. Sound only lasted for 30-45 seconds. My 6 year old son was standing near the stove at the time and asked, "Daddy, why does the stove sound like a clock?"

 

Golf66,

Give WS a call and tell them
it did it and thy will get an updated valve out to you asap. im sure of it.

 

I know Hollywood answered your post but I'm a little surprised that they didn't already send the new replacement to you. Give them a call for sure

 

If I remember right, I believe Lorin said they were sending them out to anyone who requested them (again, not speaking for Lorin). Which I took to mean they were sending them out to those who asked about them, at least at first. W.S. must be up to their figurative eyeballs with woodstove makin' about now so I would think it would be a matter of priority.

I finally got my 'bell' to sound a little louder now that it has gotten colder out; I still find it more amusing than anything else. Certainly it could be annoying to some folks and perhaps disturb small kids that are sleeping, etc. But as we know what it is now and absolutely nothing to worry about, and I am at least 1/2 deaf, it isn't much of a concern at my house. Eventually I would replace the flapper valve but I am content to let W.S. direct as many man- hours to customers waiting for stoves right now.

Brian

 

This thing is awesome. We had it pegged between 550-500 for about 6.5 hours today. Stove was still at 350 15 hours into a burn. It was 19 this Morning and the high was 32 today. My wife was amazed at how it just sat at 550 all day.

We are still working at finding the best way to move heat throughout the house. We have a few fans going and are testing a few setups. Overall though, this stove is the real deal. I have yet to have a moment where it didn't do what I expected it to do.

 

It's fun watching what the IS does with the air set right at 1/4 open. Sometimes the flames just all go out and the cat heats the top real good. Sometimes it goes back and forth between the secondary light show for 10-15 minutes then cat only burn for awhile. Then it does flames again and back to dark, etc. I trust it to decide how to burn at 1/4.
Where do others like to routinely set the air control, after it has settled in, and just leave the IS alone for the rest of the burn?

 

I'm still trying to figure this thing out. For the overnight load, I let the fire re-kindle with the bypass open, letting flue temps reach 400 degrees as measured by a Condar double-wall flu thermometer. Engage the cat, ensure it has lit off and close the air down to 1/3. At that setting, however, the past few nights I've woken up to a blisteringly hot house, found the firebox lit up like the 4th of July and the stove reeking of curing paint (weird, it's still curing?). Going to try a setting between 1/4 and fully closed to see if that makes a difference. My wood is white oak that measures less than 15% interior on the moisture meter. Once this thing is dialed in, however, it is quite content to just sit there and produce steady, enjoyable heat. It's amazing how there are no wild temperature swings as with my old EPA tube stove. The ash pan is fantastic for keeping mess contained. My one gripe so far is smoke spillage when reloading as the flapper thingamajig doesn't really help.

 

Curious where on the stove you are measuring the temp.
At this point I feel a little behind on the learning curve. The production model definitely behaves different than my beta did so I am unlearning at the same time. I suspect much more fresh air goes to the cat on this one and it tips the balance toward those cat only burns. On the beta I would close it up 95 percent and still maintain good flames for at least an hour. This one, even left at 25 percent open will lose all flame after a minute or two. Sometimes they will flare up a bit after 30 minutes or so and then it goes totally dark. The cat is active the entire time and I am getting longer burns for sure, I'm just not sure where the secondaries went. I think they will come on and clean up anything when they need to but for some reason the cat is now taking charge and doing nearly all the work. No real major changes to my setup a and the wood should be about the same.

 

First off I'm still learning also and really am impressed with the stove. Most of my burns are shoulder season with really dry Cherry and Sycamore (less than 15% MC) with half loads and I'm usually trying to keep the stovetop temps at 350 - 450 which is pretty low. With that said, my stove is behaving similar to Unhdsm. At about 25% air, I'm on the edge of having light secondaries or a black box with a cat only burn. The tricky thing for me to learn is the cat with its own air supply seems to receive more air as the stove gets hotter (from the bi-metalic coil). Ay least this is my assumption.

This additional air supply is making me cautious to leave my primary air setting open too far, so as the new splits begin to catch and produce more fuel for the cat, the stovetop does not climb too high since I'm still in shoulder season and don't need that much heat just yet.

With my overnight load, I have been cutting the air down between 3% - 10% and have a cat only burn with a stove top around 400 - 450. I have not experimented with a full load of oak and needing a stovetop closer to 500 degrees or more yet. I'm looking forward to playing with the stove once it's colder, since all my testing so far has been with half loads, softer dry wood and attempting to keep the stove at lower stovetop settings for the most part.

Where is everyone setting their air for an overnight burn with a full load and what has been your average stovetop temps as measured closer to the chimney for that given air setting?

 

The beta tertiary air opening was a mabe the width if the new ones bimetalic strip. the production seems to have doubled the amount of supply to the cat. more turbulance = higher probable cat efficency. so said W.S.

 

I KNEW it!

 

Funny you should mention that Beet Stix , about moving the warm air around the house. I'm not sure what it is in my home but the difference between the former Olso and the IS is 180*. The IS is centralized on the first floor but the Oslo had trouble with long burn times and therefore some of the colder spots in the house would suffer. The overnight burns with the IS have been much better with keeping the colder spots at bay. Also, the heat that the IS produces doesn't seem to be a 'sharp' as the heat from the Oslo. I'm not sure that makes any sense but the heat seems softer.

 

Good question Gark . I have found my controls to be similar to where yours are, around 1/4 (+/- a notch). This setting is for daytime burns for right now. Since we still aren't quite into the 24/7 colder temps just yet I'm sure we will adjust even more to find the sweet spots.

 

Secret beta talk

 

Since I don't have any experience with the betas like you guys do all I can do is agree with what I know about the air damper. It is incredible how well it reacts to a minor adjustment, something you can physically see as your doing it.

 

it does react well bit not as drastic an effect with my beta. i got mine late in the season and we had very cold temps all the time wich may or may not have an effect. we will see if it comes back around to what i know in the cold temps. if it does you aint seen nothing yet.

 

anyone actually done a timed cold start or small coal bed to 250? also are you running a top or rear flue?

 

Stove top temps have hovered at 350-375 for me on the overnights that I have had overnight burns. Whatever the third notch in is, is where Ive been setting it. I get up at 5:30 am so I'm not putting in a full load for the overnights either.

 

We measure it many spots. Should we buy stock in thermometer companies? Really though, the black+red thermo on the covered top flue exit is where Woodstock suggests to read as "stove temp.".

 

I still don't know where the hottest spot on the stove is for "stove top temps"