Hot Reload w/Cat?

[leeave96]

Any of you cat stove owners reloading a hot stove - 400 to 500 stove top temp or higher?

Sometimes, I've got a hot stove top, but I'm down to hot coals - yet the stove is still showing 400 to 500ish stove top temperatures. I know the temps are going to fall, but to keep momentum, I'm thinking - now is the time to reload. This is for daytime burns, not overhight ones and the goal is to keep pumping heat out of the stove and keep those 500 degrees stove top temps going. Note that in my case, the continued high stove top temps are in part driven not by sustained heat in the firebox, but by heat stored in my soapstones so on other non-soapstone stoves, where I am seeing hot coals, they may be also seeing lower stove top temps. I'd be courious as to what cast iron and steel stove top temps are with respect to the above.

Also, when you load hot and your wood IS dry and the stove top temp is 400ish to 500 degrees, any reason not to go ahead and engage the cat vs waiting 15 or so minutes? It would seem to me that if your wood is dry, why not go ahead and engage the cat and recover some of the smoke heat and further help keep the chimney clean. I don't know that I would engage right away, but perhaps after a few minutes that would allow the surfaces of the wood to become at least charred.

Lastly, I have read that some of the non cat stoves with secondary tubes can have their stove tops run super hot - in an out of control way with a hot reload. I have reloaded my Keystone cat stove at 300 degrees, but found it very easy to control the fire and haven't found myself anywhere close to a that uncontrolled situation. Anyone had their cat stove go out of control after a hot reload?

Thanks!
Bill

 

[katwillny]

Leeave, I have cat stove and I throw in a split once I see that there previous logs are down to coals. I do bypass the cat everytime i reload the stove. I wait until that split is nice and flaming then I re engage the cat.

 

[Lanningjw]

I think its better to talk about Cat temps rather than stove top temps. I try and reload when when the cat is about at 800 degrees. I have better results with the wood taking off faster. I also leave the by-pass open for a short time while the new wood is firing up. Sometimes I just load it up and close the by-pass.

 

[Todd]

Can't say I've ever tried that. When in the 24/7 burning mode I always reload full loads at 200-300 degrees and when it gets colder out I burn a little hotter with more air and reload at those same temps more often. This works out fine for my Fireview because I can dial her down to either a 2 load per day 12 hour burn or 3 load per day 8 hour burns. I think if I kept my stove in the 400-500 range continously my house temps would get too hot, I need to let it cool off a bit before reloading.

 

[NH_Wood]

I know with my non-cat Mansfield, if I reloaded (with a good sized, normal load) on hot coals (they would be BIG coals) at 400 or 500 degrees temp on the stones, I'd get my stove top well above 600. That is considered too high for my stove. Are you trying to heat a big place with a relatively small stove? If you sized the stove correctly to the size of the living space you hope to heat, you should be able to take advantage of the heat cycle of the stove. If you let the stove top get to 250 or so before a reload, does your house cool off a great deal? If so, perhaps you need a bigger stove which can pump more BTU's into your space. It seems to me you are not taking advantage of the major benefit of soapstone - i.e. the longer time that the stones emit usable heat once the fire dies to coals. Cheers!

 

[leeave96]

I know with my non-cat Mansfield, if I reloaded (with a good sized, normal load) on hot coals (they would be BIG coals) at 400 or 500 degrees temp on the stones, I'd get my stove top well above 600. That is considered too high for my stove. Are you trying to heat a big place with a relatively small stove? If you sized the stove correctly to the size of the living space you hope to heat, you should be able to take advantage of the heat cycle of the stove. If you let the stove top get to 250 or so before a reload, does your house cool off a great deal? If so, perhaps you need a bigger stove which can pump more BTU's into your space. It seems to me you are not taking advantage of the major benefit of soapstone - i.e. the longer time that the stones emit usable heat once the fire dies to coals. Cheers!

I'm just exploring my stove. I've got a small stove in a small, but drafty house. I really haven't had the stove top up to and over 500 degrees until this weekend as I have made a few adjustments to the stove and my burning technique to get some hotter burns. What I am thinking is momentum with regards to reloading at higher temperatures. Why let the stones cool (unless you are using the cycling) if you don't have to. I am trying to get a feel for the limits of my stove for when the temperatures really plunge. So far, everyone in the house is enjoying the mid seventies in the living room

Thanks,
Bill

 

[HotCoals]

I have put wood in when there is still some wood in there with no problems.
I just open the by pass for maybe 20 seconds ,put the wood in..close the door and then the by pass.
I don't mess with the intake doing it.
Maybe that's just me though.