Woodstock Ideal Stove

[Woody Stover]

Hi does this stove leave a lot of dust in the room where it is placed? I have a non-cat and it's really dusty.

I assume the dust is from shoveling out ash. The IS has an ash grate so you won't dust the house.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

They told us at the factory that the epa doesn't allow them to shut the airflow totally off.

The dampers that are built now don't close completely like the older ones. Typically they have 2 or 3 holes in the center of the plate and a decent sized gap between the plate and the pipe. I have one installed with the Ideal Steel and use it all the time. I get the stove going and cat lit and close the PIPE damper almost all the way closed. Thus leaving the PRIMARY on the stove open further and find the coals burn down alot better without any adjustments needed into or after the long burn because more air is being introduced to the bottom and front of the load. There shouldn't be any smoke to worry about causing creosote if the cat is properly engaged and doing its job. Just make sure to maintain enough draft as to not stall the cat and you will be fine. Mind you this is my experince with a basment, through wall install and a chased in(also insulated) 22' chimney.

I assume the dust is from shoveling out ash. The IS has an ash grate so you won't dust the house.

You will still get a little ash dust but far less than shoveling out ash. Its all in how carefull you rake the coals back and forth to get the ash threw the grate, and also how well your draft is when you are raking. The ash/dust that floats will get sucked up the flue if you have decent draft.

 

[Newburnerwisconsin]

Thank you to both of you. My non-cat is just getting to be too much work. I have to refill every 4 to 5 hours, my wood consumption is 6 to 7 cords and the room is dusty. So for next year, there will be a Ideal Steel or Blazekking.

 

[begreen]

It wouldn't be the first time the Heritage has sent someone looking for a cat replacement.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Thank you to both of you. My non-cat is just getting to be too much work. I have to refill every 4 to 5 hours, my wood consumption is 6 to 7 cords and the room is dusty. So for next year, there will be a Ideal Steel or Blazekking.

For reference I'm heating a just over 3100 sq ft rambler (new constuction) from an unfinished lookout basement, 2 walls-half burried, and 2 walls fully burried, all with 2x6 wall w/r-19 insulation to code, no sheetrock yet and ceiling unfinished also (just floor trusses and ductwork/wiring showing). All r-21 upstairs to code, ceiling I thinks is r-38. No troubles keeping upstairs at 72-74, bedrooms at 70ish burning 3 yr dried red oak in the Ideal Steel at quarter throttle with fans moving air. With Outside daytime temps in the teens and low 20s overnight lows in the upper singles and lower teens. I think the hybrid tech is allowing a little more heat than the straight cat mode. Being able to burn cat only was also great for the early season burning. And if you go woodstock I believe they have a 6 month no questions asked return policy! Can't go wrong with that!

 

[Woody Stover]

You will still get a little ash dust but far less than shoveling out ash. Its all in how carefull you rake the coals back and forth to get the ash threw the grate, and also how well your draft is when you are raking. The ash/dust that floats will get sucked up the flue if you have decent draft.

If it's not too cold out and I don't have real strong draft, I'll have the door open a little less. I can still get the poker in there run it through the ash and drop it into the pan, and with the smaller door opening, dust doesn't escape.

 

[Piston]

Hi,
I am hoping you could post a couple photos of your stove? I am most likely going to order an Ideal Steel soon as well, and I'm interested in the black on black look. I don't see many photos of this color combo online. I really don't personally like the looks of the excessive artwork and unique colors so I'm hoping to see a few pics of a plain ole black stove.

Thank you.

 

[begreen]

Hi,
I am hoping you could post a couple photos of your stove? I am most likely going to order an Ideal Steel soon as well, and I'm interested in the black on black look. I don't see many photos of this color combo online. I really don't personally like the looks of the excessive artwork and unique colors so I'm hoping to see a few pics of a plain ole black stove.

Thank you.

I prefer the plain version too, not sold on the gearworks look. Here is one in black with side artwork,
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/the-new-ideal-steel-showed-up-today.130402/
I was told, that they can do a very plain version too, sans gears and artwork. Here is a CAD view of what that would look like.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/the-ideal-steel-in-black.118098/

 

[saranaclaker]

Hi,
I am hoping you could post a couple photos of your stove? I am most likely going to order an Ideal Steel soon as well, and I'm interested in the black on black look. I don't see many photos of this color combo online. I really don't personally like the looks of the excessive artwork and unique colors so I'm hoping to see a few pics of a plain ole black stove.

Thank you.

The pictures aren't the best and the stove is a little dirty but here it is. When I placed the phone order they seemed a little disappointed that I just wanted a plain stove. Less is more in my opinion as well. I did add the ash pan, the outside air kit and they recommended andirons, which I'm glad I did. If I do it again I would possibly add a center cooking lid for the occasional teapot. Yes it still looks like a steel stove but after one winter we are still in awe of its performance. No regrets. Like much of the northeast we had a long cold winter. We dipped down beyond thirty below a few times. It's hard to say how much wood we consumed because of our haphazard storage but it was probably around 12 face cords comprised of maple, birch and cherry. By the way the creosote on the firebrick is only there because the last few fires of the season were cool. Normal fires keep the firebrick and the glass amazingly clean. It is a joy to burn seasoned, preheated wood. I don't stoke it heavy before bedtime like most people do but regardless there were always plenty of coals to rekindle it in the morning.
I was going to post pictures of before and after cleaning but I never uploaded them. It produced very little creosote in the 8" tile flue and not much in the pipe or stove. I did clean it two or three times through the winter and yes there was creosote but significantly less than our old jotul 8 in our old house. Each time there was primarily fly ash on the catalytic converted that we removed with a paint brush and a vacuum.
We plan on ordering a smaller Woodstock stove for our basement. Not even sure which one yet...the survival stove may almost do the volume. Currently there is an old defiant down there for emergency use only. I plan to scrap it rather than sell it because it is so dirty to burn in comparison.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the update. Pass on the old Defiant to folks in need of a parts stove. It is dirty in comparison, but still a noble stove and a pioneer in its day.

 

[Piston]

Thanks for the updated info and especially the photos.

I will be moving my Fireview to the basement to replace the old smoke dragon I just dragged out of there last week (pic below for fun). The Ideal Steel will become the new primary heater for our 1,800 square foot log home through the winter. We burn 24/7 and the Fireview was just too small for us to keep the house at the temps we like. We were constantly loading it with more wood. I’m hoping the ideal steel will make a considerable difference in heating, as well as last a little longer for long overnight burns.

 

[Twigster]

We are really loving it so far. I was going to wait until it got -20 or -30f to update everyone. That said (as you know) we've had the last few night's below zero and yesterday's high was 5. It does great. We haven't even stoked it heavy at night and during a good portion of the day we just let it burn down the coal bed. We have found that it likes 3 to 5 smaller splits (or small rounds) at once. Less than that and it seems to consume more wood as compared to the BTU output. Once it is up to temp we typically run it between quarter and half damper. We will be adding a stovepipe damper when we have to clean it the first time. We had a strong constant wind a few days ago and the stove ran much of the day with the damper fully closed. They told us at the factory that the epa doesn't allow them to shut the airflow totally off.

What are your burn times on low?