The Ideal Steel in black
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I don't care how good it runs.. it can't do enough better than the Manny for me to put it front and center in HER living room. If it was 125% efficient, she still wouldn't have it. and I am OK with that.
alforit
Feeling the Heat
Oh no.......That color just makes a bad thing even worse......It looks like an incinerator in a morgue or something dark, coal like...........Ugghhhh !!
I think it only works with light 2 tone colors.............and will only work in homes like bag of hammers said , that are downtown modern, urban converted lofts with brick and pipes exposed...............I am surprised by this design and how limited it is in its placement with any home décor........seriously the Blaze kings look nice compared to this and fit in many more home settings also..............oh well........maybe it will grow on us..........heh.
I fear, despite all the great tech that went in there, that stove will have very disappointing sales. At the end, most people will want to have a nice looking stove sitting in their living room. I guess only engineers will like the ideal steel. It is too bad since Woodstock is such a great company.
At $1500 and a big honking steel stove, I think this will show up in more than living rooms.
I like it. The location I would install it, I'd probably have a bench vise bolted to it in 6 months and it would look fine.
I'm still not finding the specs. on this thing, my Google-Fu is weak tonight. Anyone have any insight?
I'm still not finding the specs. on this thing, my Google-Fu is weak tonight. Anyone have any insight?
I am wondering whether it is "neither fish nor flesh". The customers who are tight in money will gravitate towards the cheaper NC-30 or an US stove etc. while the ones who can afford something better will be looking for something nicer looking. Looking at the general consensus here I am not too positive that particular design will be a good seller. Also, don't forget that people have to decide from pictures alone (unless they take a trip to NH); another disadvantage IMHO for this stove.
Grisu, you left out the budget minded people who appreciate the benefits of a catalytic stove. At $1500, this will have a following.
As a hybrid, this stove is in another class than the tube stoves. It is more efficient and should do a better shoulder season burn. Of course this is all hypothetical at this point. We need a hearth.com member to sign up as a beta test site for this stove. I would do it gladly but alas, the stove is a focal point in our living room.
How many of these budget-minded people will come here to hearth.com and learn about the benefits of ordering a catalytic stove online versus walking into HD or Lowes and buying a stove fore less than 1 grand?
Don't get me wrong, I don't wish that the ideal steel becomes a flop for Woodstock; actually the exact opposite is true. Thus, I would like them to have maybe someone from outside take a look at the design and make some improvements. That stove could be a real breakthrough for them but only if its design matches its great performance.
I have no idea. Depends on their requirements I would guess. Now for me, I'm fairly budget minded, so if I can find a stove like this "Ideal Steel" for $1500, vs. 2K+ for a Blaze King I want, yeah, I'm going to consider it. Especially with the customer support I've seen reported from Woodstock.
Looking at the stove in all black is a good exercise I think. It allows one to study the core design.
If I had a big space and the time to play, I'd be throwing my name in the hat. But not meant to be....
Brick (ware)House
Member
I held off on my purchase of a Progress Hybrid to see what would develop with this stove. Finally decided to go with the Progress for my loft on the second floor of my building because of the dramatic difference in "looks". I'll continue to watch this stove mature and most likely will install one in my 1st floor where the industrial look will fit right in and where I will need all the firepower I can get to heat a 3800 sq. ft. room with 14' ceilings.
I inquired about beta testing but they understandably wanted to have the beta stoves closer to home.
alforit
Feeling the Heat
That's perplexing...........I would think sending a beta tester stove to different parts of the country to get the full picture of how this stove burns in different climates and conditions would be a smart move........That would help enormously with the refining process and troubleshooting to get the overall picture of the stoves abilities and limitations to help perfect the stove.
On a lighter note- (and this could be the beer talking)- I've always been a Star Wars fan...
The BK has been referred to as " Jabba the Hot"-
This stove looks like "R2-D2", they could compliment each other.
The BK has been referred to as " Jabba the Hot"-
This stove looks like "R2-D2", they could compliment each other.
Brick (ware)House
Member
Your exact points were made by one person I spoke to at Woodstock who encouraged me to ask about being a beta. My offer to test was a little late in the game and my guess is that they were focused on preparing for DC at the time. Probably for the best as I think I will be very happy with the PH that is set to arrive next week. I wasn't really looking forward to spending the money and effort to drop 40+ feet of chimney liner either!
If the overall looks don't pan out I'm sure they can tweak it back to a traditional square box stove. They have the fire box, just need to find the right look that sells.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Vt does seem to have tradition of unusual looking woodstoves
http://www.vermontironstove.com/
http://www.vermontironstove.com/
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