I called WS earlier this year and asked a list of questions. Described my house and LR to them; I have 2200sqft, 8’ ceilings, slab on grade, concrete ceiling, and cinder block and poured concrete walls. Large LR that is open to dining and kitchen. Bedrooms/bathrooms down hall. The lady said the IS would work but may over heat the house except for really cold spells. She said the AS would be a better fit. Looking at the data sheet Inoticed the IS is rated at a lower btuh range (9.5k-37.5k vs 10k-48k) than the AS. Anyone have any advise?
I cannot comment on the comparison between an Absolute Steel and an Ideal steel but I will say that the I.S. runs extremely 'low and slow' while maintaining a clean, efficient burn. I seriously doubt it will overheat an open design, 2200 sq. ft. house in any reasonable 'burning wood for heat' conditions; by that I mean 40F or lower outside temp. Probably even upwards of 45F outside temps. without overheating the house. Also the Ideal steel is a very heavy, dense stove so it will store heat for a long time making it easy to start a fairly small fire, burn it hot and fast and then just letting it go out. The stove will warm up and radiate a mild amount of heat for a long time. This is the method I use on the outer edges of shoulder season- when it is a bit too cool outside to have no heat but too warm to have a continuous fire. One small, hot fire a day works well for us. Brian
lot also depends on your location and the insulation of the home. Is there a thermal break between the slab and the ground as well as around the perimeter to out side elements and same for walls?
I may call them again and check. House currently has some insulation. 1” foam board on front. Rest of the house is about 2” foam board if it is still there. Most below grade so can’t check. Eventually I’ll redo the roof but for now single to teen R level. I have NO air infiltration so my winter humidity stays high and helps. I have a forced fresh air now so I’m curious how it will change comfort this winter.
@snaple not sure where you are located. I have no first hand knowledge on the AS, but Dennis, Backwoods Savage has one. We live in Western NY, our house is also concrete slab at grade, unlikely to have a thermal barrier as it was built in 1954 "on the cheap". Cinder block walls, uninsulated as well. 28'x30' footprint with a second story which is mostly closed up (aside from vents) in the winter. I've had to open the living room window and the upstairs a couple of times, but mostly when getting used to the stove. As BDF points out, this stove will throttle down fine, and you can adjust burn style and/or wood type to help as well. I was also informed that the IS could cook us (me) out, but it has seldom been the case. I will also say that weve not had to run it hard during the coldest temps we've had so far, which means that it is highly unlikely it won't handle the worst of winters. Either way you might go, you should have some great burn time, depending on load of course. We burn ash primarily. $.02
I am much further south. Northwest Arkansas/Southwest Missouri area. We do get cold here but nothing like the north. Our weather fluctuates a lot. One day it will be below freezing, the next day we are in the 40-50’s. I can remember a few times being comfortable outside near Christmas in short sleeves.
The IS won’t cook you out but you could operate the IS in such a way that it cooks you out. Or, you could use that little intake air control to turn down the stove or even let it go cold if you feel the inside temperature is too high.
Bentonville/Bella Vista I make it over to your area every so often for work and some family. If your over this way I’ll buy you a coffee. Wait, I just thought about what is 30 min south. Depending on what area I might be that way more often than Siloam.
I lived in morrow/Lincoln as a kid. I’m sure we know some of the same people. back on topic, I will probably give WS a call by next week. I was hoping to have the funds to order a new stove this year but it isn’t looking very strong.
We have an IS and have been running it for 4 years now. We have a daylight basement with 2 stories on a concrete slab with the basement 3 sides with cinderblock walls no insulation. The fourth wall is the daylight side to the backyard and is insulated stick built. The total house is 2300 square feet with the IS at the north end of the house, at the bottom of the stairs. It will keep the whole house in the high 70s downstairs and the back bedroom upstairs on the other side of the house high 60s. It can cook you out but is a good even heater in my opinion. I'd rather have a stove that can cruz low and heat the whole house and have the ability to crank up if needed for rare cold snaps vs a stove that might been at its limit for regular heating and not able to keep up if it gets really cold... Any Woodstock stove is great in my opinion and we love our IS.
