New Woodstock Ideal Steel Owner Experience
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JA600L
Minister of Fire
Here is 12 1/2 hours in. Lots of big charcoal bodies and flames. 38 outside 73 inside. The cat read 400 and the stove top reads 200. I probably had it set a bit too low but it provided me the heat I need. I'm going to bring it back up to temperature then shut it back down. Keep in mind I am deliberately burning as low as I can to prolong the burn. If I had turned the air up more I would have more temperature.
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Our Vigilant from the 80's had one too if I remember properly, but I don't recall it actually working that well. Since BKs actually works well I guess I assumed it was of a different design but really have no idea.
You mentioned 500ºF stovetop earlier, I wouldn't call that low and slow... that is about the max I have ever run mine at so far!
I've been wanting to do a test with a full load of ecobricks to see how long the stove will run, but I need more time to get used to them first. I have next week off so maybe towards the end of the week I'll try such a test if I get some burns with them early on to get a better feel for them. I've adding them in a few burns so far, but not even near 1/2 load yet. They do tend to burn hotter once they get going so getting used to how fast they take and and shutting the air down quicker, etc.
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JA600L
Minister of Fire
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What would you like to see? It doesn't seem the IS is far off from what I've read. It's bigger than a Princess/Ashford 30.x so it's gotta be close!
What type of wood are you burning?
I can only get 6-8 hours out of a full stove of Elm set at the 4th small cut on the air setting.
I know Elms not the best
Cat at 400 would mean it stalled, right? One nice thing about the BK stoves, I've never stalled the cat. Tall chimney helps that!
Copy.
House is 2350 sq ft and the stove pretty much heats the whole thing. Guess that's what matters.
JA600L
Minister of Fire
Well this is the 26 hour mark. There isn't much usable heat coming off the stove, but it kept my house between 71-75 degrees inside temp the whole burn. 38 degrees outside 71 now on 2nd floor thermostat. You can use your imagination it would obviously keep going to some degree if I let it go, but I'm going to reload on the nice coal bed.
It was a little windy today and my house isn't air tight. It's true a Blaze King would do all of the adjustments for you. I gave it small adjustments every 4 hours or so. All things considered I would call it a successful low burn. The wood was 2 year seasoned white ash.
It was a little windy today and my house isn't air tight. It's true a Blaze King would do all of the adjustments for you. I gave it small adjustments every 4 hours or so. All things considered I would call it a successful low burn. The wood was 2 year seasoned white ash.
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JA600L
Minister of Fire
The cat was going fine for hours. I think it burnt up most of the usable smoke and the temperature dropped. This is because I had the air control set completely closed and the firebox temp dropped off.
JA600L
Minister of Fire
I did not have my infrared handy so I'm going off of the stove top and what the cat probe says. At the first 3 hours I saw 500 stove top and 1200 cat then I went to bed. When I woke up it was down to 200 top 400 cat. Opening the air brought it back up above 300 top 600 cat. Then I shut the air off again. Every 4 hours or so I repeated this process.
Wow even I would have doubted the stove would have had good coals left still at that mark. I'd really like to try and see what kind of long burn I can get but looking at the forecast next week (I have it off) looks like I won't get a chance. I'm going to need more heat. Maybe towards next weekend, but hard to say. I'm even a bit nervous today how warm the house will be when I get home around 7pm since my pellet burner is getting clogged and starting to burn dirty I have it on the lowest setting just limping today. Loaded the stove up at 4:30 but still using the short pieces (13") I have indoors, stacked 4 ecobricks across the front to fill in the extra space from the short pieces. Suppose to be close to zero tonight with negative teens wind chill so I need to bring in and start using some of the bigger pieces...
JA600L
Minister of Fire
This was more for experimenting purposes. It did heat my house very well, but my heat pump would have been a better choice for the outside conditions. Running slow like this risks chimney buildup and makes a mess of the firebox. I would much rather operate the stove with clean glass, clean flue, and bone warming heat coming off it.
You don't have to tell me, even the shorter long burns I do sometimes leave the firebox pretty sooty. A couple of days it got real bad, and I'm not used to having to deal with sooty stove glass. I only had to wipe some loose ash of my tube stoves every month or so and it comes off easy. That black creosote looking stuff had me wondering what I needed to do. But quite amazed how well it cleaned up by itself after a couple good high burns. Almost spotless except for the bottom corners, and even then its really only the bottom left corner that has much. So I have yet to clean my glass once.
I would hope the chimney would stay clean though if the cat was working properly.
I too was only implying the test for experimentation purposes. As I have said in other threads it really makes little difference to me if a stove can idle down to >24 hour burns and throw out as much heat as a few candles. The BK guys seem to be all about that though, so I was just curious. The stove will last just fine with my long 14hr days at work, so anything more than that is just a bonus but not needed.
I would hope the chimney would stay clean though if the cat was working properly.
I too was only implying the test for experimentation purposes. As I have said in other threads it really makes little difference to me if a stove can idle down to >24 hour burns and throw out as much heat as a few candles. The BK guys seem to be all about that though, so I was just curious. The stove will last just fine with my long 14hr days at work, so anything more than that is just a bonus but not needed.
I have been burning dry Elm and Cottonwood (I know not the best wood) and I'll let the box get going really good and hot then shut it down in stages.
I usually step the air down every large notch about 5 minutes apart till I get to the last notch then put it at my final setting of 4th small notch for my night burn.
Last night I did this at 9 pm with a full box of elm and cottonwood and the cat Prob was at 1400 and stove top at 525 once my air was set for over night.
Woke up at 530 this morning and the upstairs was 73 and down stairs 78 with a lot of large coals still glowing. Cat was at 800 stove top at 350.
I think if you can get the fire box temp up at the beginning you can shut it down and still have a relatively clean burn and box.
My fire box and glass only get dirty at a cold startup, then once the stove cruising it cleans it self with the heat.
I usually step the air down every large notch about 5 minutes apart till I get to the last notch then put it at my final setting of 4th small notch for my night burn.
Last night I did this at 9 pm with a full box of elm and cottonwood and the cat Prob was at 1400 and stove top at 525 once my air was set for over night.
Woke up at 530 this morning and the upstairs was 73 and down stairs 78 with a lot of large coals still glowing. Cat was at 800 stove top at 350.
I think if you can get the fire box temp up at the beginning you can shut it down and still have a relatively clean burn and box.
My fire box and glass only get dirty at a cold startup, then once the stove cruising it cleans it self with the heat.
Some on here will never agree that the Woodstock stoves are equal to their chosen brand.
They view the discussion of the two brands as a competition and seem to want to “win” instead of having a discussion:
“Yep, I agreed, you save a little bit on cats. Move on. Got anything else?”
Other posted opinions masquerading as fact:
“I would not want a hybrid stove when a real cat stove is available.”
Hmmmmmm . . . .Popular Mechanics has a totally opposite opinion of the Woodstock hybrids.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/…/woodstock-soapstone-capt…/
“They are the worst of both worlds and Woodstock blew their opportunity to make an oversized fireview that had competitive burn times.”
That is just an another UNSUPPORTED opinion.
“With the hybrid you get short burn times, only half as long as the bk as well as a cat converter that comes with extra costs, maintenance, and complication over a noncat.”
Calling a 14 hour burn time “short” is ridiculous.
And there is nothing complicated about servicing or changing the CAT in a Woodstock stove,
“Let's put it this way, what can your Woodstock do that the bk can't do better?”
Wouldn't matter to a hard core bk fanboi like some who post here.
“Don't forget you need to pay for shipping on that Woodstock.”
I didn't pay anything for shipping.
Folks who keep dissing the Woodstock stoves remind me of people who put down hybrid cars.
They view the discussion of the two brands as a competition and seem to want to “win” instead of having a discussion:
“Yep, I agreed, you save a little bit on cats. Move on. Got anything else?”
Other posted opinions masquerading as fact:
“I would not want a hybrid stove when a real cat stove is available.”
Hmmmmmm . . . .Popular Mechanics has a totally opposite opinion of the Woodstock hybrids.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/…/woodstock-soapstone-capt…/
“They are the worst of both worlds and Woodstock blew their opportunity to make an oversized fireview that had competitive burn times.”
That is just an another UNSUPPORTED opinion.
“With the hybrid you get short burn times, only half as long as the bk as well as a cat converter that comes with extra costs, maintenance, and complication over a noncat.”
Calling a 14 hour burn time “short” is ridiculous.
And there is nothing complicated about servicing or changing the CAT in a Woodstock stove,
“Let's put it this way, what can your Woodstock do that the bk can't do better?”
Wouldn't matter to a hard core bk fanboi like some who post here.
“Don't forget you need to pay for shipping on that Woodstock.”
I didn't pay anything for shipping.
Folks who keep dissing the Woodstock stoves remind me of people who put down hybrid cars.
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JA600L
Minister of Fire
It really doesn't matter much. My house is warm and I am not going through any serious amount of firewood. What more is there to care about?
That is an excellent point.
I knew these newer stoves were easy on the wood but I remain amazed at how little I am burning with the Ideal Steel.
Like tonight: currently 19 degrees @10:45pm and I'll soon be loading for the overnight after adding 3 splits at 4pm.
Inside temps varied from 81 to current 75 degrees.
So cold I'm defrosting the freezer while stashing the frozen goods in my SUV.
Pretty full load last night, engaged CAT, set draft to just barely open.
Stirred the large coal chunks this morning at 6am and ran wide open before adding 3 splits.
Came back @ 2pm, cleaned out some ash, added a couple of splits and set CAT.
Added wood @ 7:30pm and “topped off” at 9. Doing that again at 11 and we will be set for the night.
Mostly dry, dry locust and one big hickory chunk tonight.
Your loading schedule sounds almost identical to mine. I load up the stove at 5-530 in the morning and then a few splits at 530 when I get home from work.
The set it up for night time at 9 or 10 just before bed. This stove is great even with the average wood I've been burning (Elm and cottonwood seasoned for two years).
Less wood in the IS again in late January?
Even as the first major SE – NE winter storm approaches the Weather Channel jocks have swerved their long term forecast for the rest of Jan. for the Eastern US and now its trending to warmer than normal.
Here's an interesting side story about one of the original Weather Channel personalities, Jim Cantore
From The Outer Banks Voice in summer 2011:
Social media buzz is building about Irene on the Outer Banks.
Visitors evacuating Ocracoke this morning have been posting on Twitter and Facebook lamenting leaving the island.
Members of the national news media are also making known their plans for covering the storm.
Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel is still considering exactly where he will be stationed.
Cantore mentioning he may come to the OBX immediately brings out negative comments on social media.
Cantore has an uncanny record of showing up precisely where a storm makes landfall.
He was criticized for his scolding tone about Hatteras Islanders not evacuating for a storm last year.
They began referring to him as “Jim Cant-tell-a-story.”
I met Cantore @ Snowshoe Ski Resort just after I began working in their marketing department.
Really short guy.
Even as the first major SE – NE winter storm approaches the Weather Channel jocks have swerved their long term forecast for the rest of Jan. for the Eastern US and now its trending to warmer than normal.
Here's an interesting side story about one of the original Weather Channel personalities, Jim Cantore
From The Outer Banks Voice in summer 2011:
Social media buzz is building about Irene on the Outer Banks.
Visitors evacuating Ocracoke this morning have been posting on Twitter and Facebook lamenting leaving the island.
Members of the national news media are also making known their plans for covering the storm.
Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel is still considering exactly where he will be stationed.
Cantore mentioning he may come to the OBX immediately brings out negative comments on social media.
Cantore has an uncanny record of showing up precisely where a storm makes landfall.
He was criticized for his scolding tone about Hatteras Islanders not evacuating for a storm last year.
They began referring to him as “Jim Cant-tell-a-story.”
I met Cantore @ Snowshoe Ski Resort just after I began working in their marketing department.
Really short guy.
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