Production Woodstock IS

White Ash firewood has done better for me in this stove then White Oak 3 years seasoned. The oak leaves more coals but the ash gives more heat in cat mode.

 

I talked to Woodstock this afternoon but the timing for the promotion's pick up date wouldnt work for me. My house is on the market so the IS would be for the new house (which hopefully happens sooner than later) but the pick up date of early June was just too soon. The last thing I want to do is have to move a stove with all of the other stuff that's going lol. So I'll be ordering at a later time.

It's going to suck to have to start all over again with the wood supply. I'll have to buy winter's wood as soon as I know when we are moving and have it delivered to the new place.

 

Ouch, that sucks.

 

We had our first fire 2 nights ago & I will say the IS worked great. beyond my expectations. Great stove. I know it will keep us warm. Had to burn a mixture of hedge & ash 4 yrs seasoned. Very nice addition to our home.

 

+1

 

Congratulations, glad to have you on board as an IS owner

 

During the shoulder seasons, we have experimented with burning Eco Bricks and Hot Bricks in our Ideal Steel. The bricks burn thoroughly, put out a lot of warmth and have a reasonably long burn. If kept dry, they can be stored much longer than seasoned firewood. We think the compressed bricks can be an excellent back-up. We occasionally burn the bricks as a firewood alternative when the outdoor temperatures are greater than 50 degrees and our chimney draft is poor.

 

Good news for anyone interested in a "backup" plan if needed. What amount do you think should be on hand for a typical year? I have burned a few just to see what they would be like in my IS last November, worked out well but I'm not sure what I purchased was a quality brick.

 

We are considering a pallet. That is 990 bricks and is 1/2 the cost if purchasing by the 15 count packet.

 

I never filled the IS with bricks, is it safe to fill it? I had a gut feeling the heat from the brick may be too much so I only put in half. How many will fill it?

 

+2 to MY IS's question. I hope that I'll always have enough wood that I don't have to run 100% bricks but my Jotul has handled a load of 42# of bricks just fine and it idles WAY higher than an IS would (draft fuully closed still typically runs up to 700+ stovetop). It seems to me the IS can idle way low so I was hoping a large amount of bricks are not a problem but nice to hear from someone who has actually tried. For me in my Jotul they probably produce similar heat compared to the ash I'd been burning though without the control they produce more the first few hours as they offgass and then very little later one, but they still maintain a slow burn for a couple hours later than the ash would. Ash was 8-9 hrs on a full load to coals, 42# load of bricks (12 Ecobricks) was 10-12hrs. I think one reason was that I could put more of them in there though... they are 2x the density of most hardwood and square, so can be packed in with minimal gaps. So it might not be that they burn longer other than I can simply put more fuel in with less wasted space compared to cordwood.

I did put my deposit in on the IS though I am still considering seeing if they will let me switch to PH. I'm still torn. But think I'll still be very happy with IS - depends on the side designs too if I can get my idea on paper. So far, I am not the artist I thought I might be!

 

Just a thought but have you compared the price of those processed wood bricks with the price of whatever your boiler / furnace eats? With the price of #2 fuel oil (very common fuel here in the northeast US) down in the $2 range, I wonder how the bricks compare?

I expect to always burn wood as long as I am able to do so but I have to say that when it costs more to heat with a woodstove than it does with a boiler, the fires in my woodstove will get quite a lot less frequent.

Brian

 

Brian, around here the bricks are almost as cheap as cord wood. If you consider how much less of a hassle they are, and dirt free and require 0 seasoning, one could say they are the same or even cheaper. I burn pellets too, same thing (compressed sawdust) and the bricks are a little cheaper than most pellets ($210/ton for bricks, $250/ton for pellets). They (1 ton of bricks) are supposed to be the equivelant of 1 cord hardwood, but I'm sure that's a stretch. However if you pay $150 or so for a cord of hardwood, and only actually get 2/3rds of a cord... and half the pieces are twigs and bark... and a mess... heck I know plenty of folks that pay over $200/cord anyhow.

Edit> though at menards/lowes/tsc etc the EXACT SAME bricks go for like $320 or something like that a ton, so it pays to shop around. Thats 50% higher!!! Crazy!

 

The great thing about your predicament is that either way you'll be getting a great stove. We're running both our PH and IS today and I love them both.

We ran into the same thing with our design, I was thinking of a classic New England village scene but we just couldn't come up with something that worked. I wonder if you let them know what you want, if the design artist Woodstock is contracting with would draw it up for you. Just a thought.

 

Some sad news on my IS.....

It went cold yesterday.
The night before I put on 4 medium sized rounds and then let it go out. It has been in the 60s this weekend.

One match started the initial fire on January 1st. I was always able to re-light from coals.
So, from January 1st to April 11th on one match.... That is a wonderful stove!!!!!

I will start another fire tonight. The Mrs. is cold

 

We try to live by the one match rule, too, but its hard. Its fun to try.

 

Yeah, there does come that point when it is just impossible to maintain a fire and yet it is too early in the year to abandon wood burning entirely.

That said, I have heard 'real men' just cut down the biggest, rotten tree they can find, set the crown on fire and move in. By the time you make it to the roots, it should be spring....

Brian

 

I put a deposit on an I.S. back in May '14 I think but always had the thought of jumping ship and grabbing a P.H. when the fall arrived. There are things about each stove that I like, and I struggled with the decision until Sept. when Jamie told me they were all out of P.H and did not expect any anytime soon. Well, that kind of made my decision for me and I have an I.S.. All of that said, I think the IS is the better stove but the P.H. is the better looking stove and perhaps somewhat easier to actually use (end door loading, a full grate and large ash pan compared to the I.S.). Funny thing but my wife did not care for the P.H. saying it was too ornate (??). Go figure. Anyway, we are happy I.S. using campers and with a very few changes this summer, along with a new chimney liner, I believe the stove will be even better next year.

Brian

 

I loaded mine last night at 9:30 pm and got the stove up to around 500 degrees (temp gauge right above the door). Set it at notch 2 before going to bed, and still had a recognizable chunk of wood by the door and plenty of other coals on reload tonight at 8:00 pm with the temp at 225. It took off right away when reloaded. Almost a 24 hour burn with a lot of heat at the beginning of the cycle. Awesome performance. Love this stove.

 

What did you load it with and how much?