Production Woodstock IS

That'y IS heats my home, post: 191960, member: 401"]I still don't know where the hottest spot on the stove is for "stove top temps"[/QUOTE]
That's my

+1
Does "stove temp" include the reading on the thermo you see stuck on my front above the door? 'Cause that place is generally 200-300 hotter than any top spot.

 

That's my
+1
Does "stove temp" include the reading on the thermo you see stuck on my front above the door? 'Cause that place is generally 200-300 hotter than any top spot.[/QUOTE]
Agreed, you have secondaries to consider and the catalyst temp.

 

Hi all. New to the site. I had the same questions about stove temps. I have three thermos. One on the stove pipe to know when to engage the cat. One on the stove top right next to the flue collar(top exit). The third one is on the face of the stove at the cat probe port. With the air control set at 1/4 I saw 500 on the stove top and 750 on the thermo at the cat port. Don't know how much hotter they would have gotten since I got a little nervous and dialed it down a couple tick marks below 1/4. I was worried that 750 was too hot but I have read people having higher stove top temps. Just wondering if these temps seem ok and if I'm reading stove top temps at the right spot. Thanks.

 

Those are the places I have monitored the temps since last winter and that's about where I run it. You still have a safe cushion there too.

 

Thanks. Makes me feel better.

 

400 F degree stove top temps. are not that hot with this stove. I monitor firebox, combustor, stove top (just to the left of the top flue exit seems to be the hottest point on my stove top) and the exhaust temps. and the combustor rarely goes over 1200 F, which is perfectly fine for constant use, and the inside of the stove rarely goes above 600F, which is a 'walk in the park' for a metal stove, especially an insulated firebox.

It is showing itself to be a great wood burner but the part that really amazes me is its ability to run 'low and slow' rather than put out tremendous heat. With the firebox loaded at least beyond 1/2 way full, the draft set on the second or third hash mark (I believe that is 10% or 15%) after the wood and firebox are well involved, this stove will cruise along with firebox temps. in the 400F range, combustor temps. between 750F and 900F, stove top at 350F or a bit less and exhaust temps. as low as 300F and produce not one grain of smoke that I can see or find in the stovepipe or chimney. And it will run like that for 15, 18 hours with absolutely no problem. Absolutely outstanding IMO.

I was going to upload some data charts but unfortunately the guy who manages them ran out of storage space and does not have any stable, decently long runs recorded (damm his eyes!). I just got the stove settled into a slow burn and will take a photo of the firebox and u/l a temp. graph a little later.

For those of you who are concerned with 'stalling the cat', it not only does not seem to be a problem, it does not seem possible as long as there is charred wood in the firebox and the draft is set no lower than the second hash mark. Everything is black when the stove runs like this and going by nothing beyond a magnetic, outside temperature reading it would <seem> that everything has stalled but watching the cat. input temps. vs. the output temps, it is easy to see that the cat. is indeed working and cleaning up the gasses from the pyrolysis mess of wood in the stove. By the way, the inside of the stove gets pretty sticky and black, as does the glass when the stove is used like this, and it would seem to be running incorrectly but in reality, it performs best when used like this IMO. I guess I am saying that I expect all stoves to perform reasonably well or better when they are used burning hot, hard and fast but the mark of a better stove, at least to me, is how it behaves for the low and slow use. By the way, in an 18 hour burn as described above starting last night at about 8:00, my house was 73F this morning with the outside temp. being in the mid- 20'sF. Running the stove harder simply uses more wood and overheats the house..... not what I shoot for when heating with wood.

Brian

 

Welcome to the site Intruder! Good to hear from another IS owner. We're all going to learn a lot from each other this first heating season.

 

Thanks for the welcome. Definitely a learning curve after years of burning a smoke dragon. Looking forward to saving wood.

 

Yup....in comparison to the Ideal Steel, my 2010 EPA tube stove was a smoke dragon. The Ideal is miserly with wood and puts out steady, even heat, no adjustments needed. It's a bit weird on weekends as I was used to tending the smoke dragon. Now I have to find something productive to do, like start drinking beer earlier in the day.....

 

You brought up a good subject there BDF . My question to the cat stall issue is this; I wonder if the catalyst holds it's temp well enough to combust unburned gases and fly ash despite the appearance of the firebox. Is the firebox (being black) actually considered a cold firebox?, seeing as it has soot buildup and a lot of charcoal. And lastly, what is the lowest temp the cat will combust at? In the mornings when I see the temps it will show around 350* near the cat probe portal.
Doesn't seem possible that it's running...

 

Welcome to FHC Intruder . Always nice to have another IS owner with us. Good timing too, since most of us have rec'd our production models we have been banging ideas and hiccups off each other here. As you can see this thread itself has gone 34 pages with a lot back and forth stuff between us and some others from FHC. Good stuff!

Good question on your thermo temps, I have seen mine up that high as well and got a bit nervous too. This stove is a beast. So far it's shown it's true colors and I'm definitely looking forward to the season ahead.

 

Throwing this out there to any of the IS owners. Has anyone burned the IS with secondaries only, no cat?
I was wondering if anyone tested the waters with burn times with no cat.

 

Is anybody running an overnight burn on the #3 mark for the air control? Is that too low? I was thinking about trying it tonight but don't really want to risk stalling it.

 

I set it at #3 an hour ago on a fresh load. I walked outside with a flashlight. No smoke. Temps are holding right around 400-450 hot spots. I'm going to bed!

I threw in a white oak block I had laying around should be interesting in the morning.

 

I did the same last night, notch #3 and I found after 11 hours (7am this morn) that I still has a huge pile of charcoal and a small coal bed underneath that. Since I'm laid up for the next 2 weeks at home I'm going to test this stove to find what works best for our schedule and optimum heat. So with that in mind I think I'll move the air damper to notch #4 tonight with all the other conditions remaining the same. I'd like the charcoal to be lessened with a little more heat output. This morning was 22* outside and 62 inside, I can tell I should have had more heat early this morning than what I had.

 

Ok, so at mark #3 I woke up and felt kinda cold. I had the heat pump set at 69 degrees. It did not kick on, however the temp upstairs did read 69. It was in the mid 20 ' s. I checked the stove and sure enough, most of the load was still in there. So this is a perfect shoulder season setting, but mark #5 seems to work for me and the heat I want. The good news is that I don't have to reload ! .

 

I think we both learned a little bit last night. I am thinking of doing the same with mine, notch #4 or 5. I didn't have the same log structure in the stove as you had this morning but I also ran the stove hotter (between 7-10pm) before knocking the air down last night. I'm still happy I'm running two 12 hour loads a day.

 

One of the advantages of the IS over the PH is the ability to talk about with a good amount of precision where we're setting the air intake. Just to make sure I'm understanding how we're discussing the notches, would shut down all the way be 0 or 1?

With temps getting down into the teens, I ran both stoves last night. Again the IS had more coals left on 2/3 of a load than the PH had stuffed full. Could still see the shape of a log in the IS, that hasn't been the case with the PH on overnight burns. Don't get me wrong, still love the PH, but this IS is a workhorse.

 

My problem is the bedrooms are above the garage. So it is a constant battle for warmth. I cut out a 2 ft strip of drywall in the garage ceiling and found 3" fiberglass Batts. I'm going to dense pack it full of cellulose.

 

You have the best of both WS worlds. Although never having a PH myself (and having an IS now) I don't know if I could ever go to a PH at all if I had the chance. Your right, this stove has it all...