Replacing VC Intrepid with Ideal Steel

I'll start yet another of these threads so as not to tread on Flamestead and Briank. The nice guys from Woodstock came by last week and installed my beta Ideal Steel in place of out 1982 Vermont Castings Intrepid. I'll put up a few pictures of the install. Probably not too many questions that haven't already been answered but I'll try and fill any gaps I can.

My model is top venting and didn't come with an ash pan. It does have new markings on the air controls as shown in my pictures

.
As it sits in the hearth, it's about 2 or 3x the size of the old intrepid.

I'm from Canada original eh and Lorin at Woodstock was happy to cut out my maple leaf and mountain design that. I created and submitted. They also added some andirons of their design to match my motif.

Finally the aforementioned air control markings.
We had to go out of town pretty much immediately after the install so the first fire is burning tonight. Tom's angled secondary burn plate is already a hit with my wife as she walked downstairs tonight and the first thing out of her mouth was I really like that I can see the flames in it. It probably also helps that the glass is actually clear unlike the intrepid.

ZeeB

 

Awesome, love the new air control markings! The whole stove is yet another example of nice design work and execution.

Welcome ZeeB! Looking forward to your reports.

 

Very nice! You are going to love that stove

 

That is a major jump going from an Intrepid to an Ideal Steel. Congrats and keep us posted.

 

Very nice! I like the maple leaves, and the air control markings are more elaborate than I had envisioned. Looking forward to reading your posts!

 

Ray cause I am jealous how do I get a sticker? I tried copying the HTML tag from weather underground and put in an HTML code block but that didnt work.

 

Check out this thread:
Adding weather sticker to your signature

 

Look forward to the test results. I'm jealous, wish I lived closer to Woodstock if only for the chance to Beta test the IS.
Keep us posted!, and welcome!

 

Oh cool.
Another pictorial on the IS.

I really like the Maple Leaf motif.

 

Well its been 4 hours on the first burn and with the stove running about 25% air. The stove top has been running around 425 as measured by my Harbor Freight IR. I have already managed to warm the house up by about 3 degrees more than I ever managed with the old intrepid. Color me impressed.

Also this whole angled secondary thing has me rather transfixed.

 

Have to ask, what are you burning? Wood, MC , and % of box capacity? Mo' info is betta fo me ! Thanks, JB

 

I am not positive on the variety of the wood I am currently burning as it is a load I bought when I first purchased my house. It is hardwood and I would say based on bark it is likely oak, but I am not all that up on my hardwood identification(I grew up in British Columbia, and birch or larch are the closest thing we had to hardwood). It was seasoned when I bought it already split. It has been stacked and under cover(top covered, open sides) for the 2 years I have had it so I would imagine the MC is pretty low but not a clue how I would tell. I would say tonight I probably put in 60% of the firebox capacity, I put in in 4 decent sized quarter splits N/S then stacked two half splits EW ontop of those. I didnt take much time to really pack the firebox tight there was a fair bit of air space available.

 

Holy crap, going from an Intrepid to the Steel must be a MASSIVE difference. Your could probably almost fit the Intrepid inside the firebox of the Steel. I still have an Intrepid sitting around here. You can literally pick the stove up with one hand.

Enjoy the huge upgrade.

 

I would like to know how I can become a beta tester of the Ideal. It will be a brutal sacrifice, but somebody has to do it...

 

golf66 I simply replied to a posting on their blog in the fall. http://blog.woodstove.com/ I think my proximity to their factory in NH helped out my cause.

 

Thanks for sharing. The more I hear about this stove the more I like, just not too sure on the looks. I could see it in my basement some day.

 

You got that right BBar! I actually had the same thought when the Ideal showed up, I think I would actually have to saw the legs off the Intrepid but it would fit for sure then! I am amazed at the heat I got out of a 25% air setting last night. The best part was I left it running with about 8" of coals and very little air when I went to bed and downstairs was 72 when I got up. I dont even think the oil burner had kicked on this AM at all.

 

Todd you can get as fancy as you want with the paint, I could have selected anything from the woodstock palette of colors and any combinations for the various pieces of the stove. I couldn't talk my wife into anything more than the grey/black scheme we went with. I'll agree they aren't as nice to look at as the full soapstone models, but to me its a big upgrade from my Intrepid.

 

It's nice there are so many options, I think I'd go with something similar to yours. Have any more pictures that show the whole stove from a side angle?