More Improvements: IDEAL STEEL Hybrid

Here are a few other improvements we have made recently to the Ideal Steel Hybrid:

We cut a damper adjustment scale in the ash lip.  Lots of people operate their stoves in a narrow range for long periods of time, and this makes it easier to remember your best operating settings.

The andirons have been tricky.  Before we settled on andirons that folded forward, we prototyped andirons that folded over on their sides, moved laterally to both sides of the load door opening, folded in the middle, and/or were removable.  We still like our current version best, in part because it is simple, and in part because one can move the andirons with a poker, or the toe of a boot.  The andiron plate also acts as an air deflector that helps eliminate smoke spillage in installations with marginal draft.

To lessen ash spillage onto the ash lip, we have added a slot between the front of the andiron and the body of the stove so that fly ash on the andiron plate will slide back into the stove instead of onto the ash lip.  We have also shortened the andirons from 7” to 5” so that it’s easy to load over them most of the time.  We’re also working on a little tool to brush ash off the andiron plate before folding it forward.

New Andirons, like the dragon pictured above, are 5" tall, 

rather than 7". This makes it easy to load over the andirons

if you wish. A slot in the front of the andirons allows fly ash

 to fall back inside the stove.

The damper adjustment scale is cut into the edge of the ash lip.