Smart Stove

[Steve NW WI]

so i wonder if this was something sbi is looking into or if it was just abandoned.

This I don't know. It's the same situation as Yukon since CrappieKieth left. Poor Garrett doesn't have anyone left to debate here...

If I were either mfg. and paying money to be here, I'd be darn sure to have a rep on here to answer questions and promote my brand, but that's just me.

 

[Holtby]

Electronics are Great until the power goes out, or a surge, static shock, over heat, fries the circuits.
I prefer the KISS principal, although a simple timer that trips a one shot power burst to a solenoid to kick open the damper say after 6 hours on my stove would be useful. Solenoid must not stay energized though. Musing on this, says this can be accomplished in a purely mechanical fashion no electrical power needed. Another to do list item.
Rube Goldberg is my mentor!

I'm a firm believer in the KISS mantra too!!! Usually the fewer moving parts the better??? " BULLET"-proof is the Gold standard

 

[blades]

Got to watch out for those new smart 50 cal & 20mm rounds. They can really ruin a person's bullet proof Gold Standard.

I believe Inven is a separate company, I didn't see any indication that it is aligned with SBI.

 

[flotek]

It looks like a really small outfit sold by its inventor I'd be skeptical on that until it was more popular and ran by members on here I'm sure it's neat and has cool features but I don't want to be a guinea pig and if something happens how's it warrantied and hoe long 300 is a good investment to take the risk mailing a check out to the inventor seems a bit bizarre in 2014 . My tundra does a great job just being ran by the thermostat settings as it requires ..and way better than manual control low tech units with the spin draft nonsense

 

[Mlaw22]

I talked to the owner/inventor today. Long stoty short. He started heating his house with wood and thought of way that he could throw wood in and not have to babysit. Spend 5 years of his life developing the unit and finished in 2010. Then he tried to get any stove company to bite and get it into development but couldn't. Drove coast to coast. He was very frustrated. So he has some units out and people like them but he can't make it into production. So he just makes them on his own time. He basically makes the the whole unit and hands it you to do the retro fit. He's a nice enough guy that has passion in his product but knows there's a lot of variables that manufactures don't even want to deal with ( power outage, etc...). He said if you are persistant and send him a check he'll make one for you. It was interesting but..... Just give the number a call on his sight or email him. He'll chat for sure.

 

[flotek]

Seems the guy oughta sell them on eBay as a kit. If nobody knows about your product then no one will buy it

 

[GVS]

I talked to the owner/inventor today. Long stoty short. He started heating his house with wood and thought of way that he could throw wood in and not have to babysit. Spend 5 years of his life developing the unit and finished in 2010. Then he tried to get any stove company to bite and get it into development but couldn't. Drove coast to coast. He was very frustrated. So he has some units out and people like them but he can't make it into production. So he just makes them on his own time. He basically makes the the whole unit and hands it you to do the retro fit. He's a nice enough guy that has passion in his product but knows there's a lot of variables that manufactures don't even want to deal with ( power outage, etc...). He said if you are persistant and send him a check he'll make one for you. It was interesting but..... Just give the number a call on his sight or email him. He'll chat for sure.

I hope to hell he has patents!

 

[laynes69]

I've spoke with him also. There's many safety features built into the controller, if an outage did occur, it can close the damper completely. If the stove or furnace gets too hot, an alarm will sound, and if the unit needs reloaded, it will also tell you when to add wood. There's 5 modes of heat, and it will either monitor the fire and keep a set temp till out, or close at a certain point to preserve the coalbed. Like you say, it's not a DIY kit, it requires some fabrication. Not only does it make things load and go, but it monitors from start to finish. I'm considering it, but at 300.00 it's a gamble. Our furnace controls things in the home well enough, that I'm not sure if the controller could do better or not.

 

[blades]

Patents - A long and expensive process, if granted enforcement is up to you. A lot of patents are just tweeks to another previous patent, the system is just plain choked. There a couple flaws in the system which leave you very vulnerable, similar to claim jumping of the gold rush days.

 

[ControlFreak]

Hello Arborist people,
I was looking at the Inven Inc site statistics and noticed a lot of page views coming from this thread, so I figured I'd log in here and say hi.

I am the developer of the SmartStove (TM) control system for wood stoves. I can affirm most of what Laynes and Mlaw stated. The bottom line is it's a system that is at pre-production maturity - that is, it works and is reliable, it's just not mass-produced. I developed this first because I wanted it myself for my own stoves (I have 3) and secondly as a potential business. Goal 1 was achieved, goal 2 is pending. I don't go out of my way to advertise or sell systems since walking individuals through the retrofit process is time-consuming and it was never part of the original plan. However, I do enjoy helping people, so when a few people want it bad enough, then I do what's needed to make sure they're successful.

Wood stoves are like the Rodney Dangerfield of the hearth industry, so the manufacturers spend their engineering resources on gas, pellet, or even electric stoves. The wood stoves always get the back burner. They won't do anything like this until they hear their customer base asking for it.

Controls on wood stoves are however gaining some ground. HWAM makes a small stove that has a full combustion control system. It's a very nice stove, but this product is not yet available in the USA, it's VERY expensive and has short burn times. That's what is typical in Europe.
http://www.hwam.com/hwam+advantages/autopilot-c3-+2+versions/autopilot+ihs

I would be interested to talk with any business-types out there that would be interested in helping to get this off the ground.
Blessings,
Dan

 

[Steve NW WI]

Welcome Dan, I'm one of the moderators here. Just so we get off to a good start, if you're interested in selling your products on this site, please contact the owners about becoming a site sponsor. They frown on non-sponsor selling/advertising here.

With that said, you're more than welcome to post here without becoming a sponsor, as long as you're not selling here. I hope you stick around a long while. I'm guessing you've got some pretty significant knowledge that would be welcomed here. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions. Just click on my name, then "Start Conversation."

It would be cool to see one of your units in operation, I'm kinda interested myself.

 

[flotek]

I'm glad you signed up and posted that information . You are correct about wood burning being the Rodney danger field of heating industry - they get no respect !who better to ask than the inventor himself

 

[Dragfluid]

http://inveninc.com/faq/