Blaze King Princess startup glowing stovepipe!?!

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greythorn3

Minister of Fire
Oct 8, 2007
1,002
Alaska
wheelordie.com
This is the 3rd time its happened to me, the dang stove pipe from the stove top to the class a will glow red, my ir meter cant read it because it only goes to 999F.


heres what im doing (wrong probably)

open temp to high

open cat bypass

open loading door.

load as many pallet pieces as i can get into the princess stove

once i get a fire established, i close the loading door.

go ahead and go to another room, waiting for the cat temp to come up.

well next thing you know i smell hot metal. go back in the room, the dang stove pipe glowing reddish, so i shut the bypass for the cat, and close the temp controll to as low as it goes.

the temp of the stove top was only 300F or so, the temp of the sovepipe was 999f+ if my HF IR meter is good, and i think it is. anyhow after i close it down, its withing a minute i got 400F or so stovepipe.

is the problem here that im loading too many pallets into the stove? or is it something else?

do i need to baby sit it at all times unless the cat is enguaged?

never had these problems with the king non cat. never seen a pipe glow. had some hot tho. funny thing is its the same pipe.
 
I think you need to stay in the room with the stove after loading. It doesn't sound like a long time for the stove to reach the temp where the bypass needs to be engaged. Or, get a timer and carry it with you when you leave the stove room.
 
BeGreen said:
I think you need to stay in the room with the stove after loading. It doesn't sound like a long time for the stove to reach the temp where the bypass needs to be engaged. Or, get a timer and carry it with you when you leave the stove room.


what i cant figure out, is why there is such high pipe temps without the cat enguaged, why is a non cat stove safe and a catstove isnt safe without the cat enguaged?
 
Man..you need to engage way sooner then you are.
You don't have to rip the fire like a blast furnace.
 
greythorn3 said:
BeGreen said:
I think you need to stay in the room with the stove after loading. It doesn't sound like a long time for the stove to reach the temp where the bypass needs to be engaged. Or, get a timer and carry it with you when you leave the stove room.


what i cant figure out, is why there is such high pipe temps without the cat enguaged, why is a non cat stove safe and a catstove isnt safe without the cat enguaged?

You have a stove with a hotter, better insulated firebox, capable of producing higher flue temps due to reburn?
 
i dont engage the cat unless its at least in the engage zone. like i said the stove pipe was 999f+ and the stovetop was only 300F or so
 
HotCoals said:
Man..you need to engage way sooner then you are.
You don't have to rip the fire like a blast furnace.


im afraid to clog the cat up if i engage it before its in the engage zone on the cat probe
 
Yeah..wait till above active zone ..but you don't have to rage the fire up the flue to get there.
If you're in a big hurry to get the load ready just put some small pieces in to get the stove temps up..then load for the night.
There is no way you were getting over 900f surface temp on the pipe ..that would be crazy..like 1800 in the pipe!
 
My manual says there is a 4-8 minute lag time with the cat probe. A lot can happen in 4-8 minutes when you are burning pallets. Close the bypass sooner. If you have a good fire established, it will be fine.
 
i think it was hot if its glowing red, i think it has to be 800F to glow red. my hf ir meter was beeping 999F
 
greythorn3 said:
i think it was hot if its glowing red, i think it has to be 800F to glow red. my hf ir meter was beeping 999F
Well maybe you had it that hot then..I have no clue as to why you would let that happen.
Remember it is a straight shot up the flue with the by-pass open..at least it is with my king.
Take it easy my friend...the house you save maybe your own.
 
greythorn3 said:
i think it was hot if its glowing red, i think it has to be 800F to glow red. my hf ir meter was beeping 999F

Glowing red is over 900F.
 
I'm guessing that you're putting new wood on a hot coal-bed. Really dry "soft-wood"? Pallet wood is just as good for this scenario.
-rake the coals, and load the stove as full as you wish.
-Open T-stat, 3+, (if wood is dry)- close bypass lever when it gets to 400+ (the time lag on the thermometer sucks)
-when the guage reads 1100, turn it down to 2.5 or less, depends on your fan speed. (fans help keep the CAT temp. appear cooler)
-IMPORTANT- once you have the stove loaded, and a bit of flame working the new wood,...... shut the fricking door!
use the T-stat- it's kinda there for a reason. Give it 10 minutes or so, it will work.
I'm adamant about this, 'cause the wife just let the flue pipe go red-hot, by keeping the door open and not adjusting the T-stat. Flue hit 1400 before I could bring it back down.
 
I don't burn pallets, so I don't have any personal experience with this, but I have read on here that pallets burn hotter, so they may require a little more attention.

I would say, don't leave the door open quite so long...after the first sign of flame, on a new load of pallets, close and latch the door tight.
Stay around and keep an eye on the progress of the fire.
If the fire starts raging too much, before the cat temp has had a chance to rise, turn the T'stat back some.
You can find a setting on the T'stat that will keep the fire going without it being an inferno.
Wait for the cat temp to become active, and then engage the cat as you normally would.
 
A full load of pallet pieces=hot fire in a hurry=flue temps through the roof way before the stove gets hot, dont have a cat stove but I think you should be able to give it less air to begin with.
 
It's the pallet wood your using along with having it in the bypass mode with full air which gives the flames a straight shot up the pipe. Stay in the room and once it gets going shut the door and turn down the air so more heat stays in your stove which will give you a quicker light off temp for the cat.
 
Pallets is the problem, don't load a stove full of pallets. Hopefully you have wood. Mix wood with pallets if need be. If you have to burn pallets.open the bypass but keep the air low. Increase the air when its starts smoking like crazy little by little till you get a flame. Remember that mark and from now on when you load never go past that point
 
ya it must be the pallets.

just for the record, the loading door was not left open, it was closed at first sight of flame.
 
I burnt a 1/2 load of some really old pine boards once.
Man..it was either a raging inferno or nothing but a glow with the air all the way down.
I choose the latter...but the cat loved it...it was active for hours..really active..past the limit.
 
Just set the stat to 2.5 or 3 on my stove, that's just 1 or 2 marks below the max open position before you leave it.
Still getting lots of air but you have some stat action on a cool, warm, or fairly hot stove.
The max open position is "max open" with no or very little stat reaction. Some stoves it locks the stat full open with no stat control.
I put a note on my instruction sheet to never leave the stove on max high, Turn to 3 before leaving the stove. :)
At least yo cleaned your pipes :)
Your memory will get better with age, you'll forget every time LOL

I engage the cat after 5 to 10 min of a good flame. As soon as it's in the active zone, I adj the stat to the setting I want , adj the blower setting & leave.
From start of the new load to stat set & Cat active & I'm comfortable with it; 10 to 15 min
Cat temp is 5 to 10 minutes behind what's going on inside the cat chamber, so after a while you can tell the stove is hot enough to engage the cat before it reads a specific temp on the cat temp probe.
 
greythorn3 said:
ya it must be the pallets.

just for the record, the loading door was not left open, it was closed at first sight of flame.

Pallets are not the problem. Close your bypass sooner. If your stove was already hot from the last load above 250F then let the flames erupt so they are constant AND CLOSE THE BYPASS!
Lesson learned! :coolsmile:
 
The exact same thing has happened to me although no glowing stovepipe. I have an internal temp prob that has wthin seconds went from around 500 to 1000 this is with the bypass open waiting to get into the active zone. I have since closed the bypass earlier at around 400 and just wait for the cat to become active. Should I be controlling the thermostat with the bypass open in order to raise the cat temp into the active zone before closing it. Still learning this stove.
 
Todd said:
It's the pallet wood your using along with having it in the bypass mode with full air which gives the flames a straight shot up the pipe. Stay in the room and once it gets going shut the door and turn down the air so more heat stays in your stove which will give you a quicker light off temp for the cat.

x2, I find once the fire is going I can turn the air down some and the flames stay in the stove. If I don't turn it down I have flames going crazy rather quickly shooting right up the bypass. I burn mine on "2 1/2" until the temps are up then close the bypass.
 
i dont know anything about catalytic stoves but ive had an englander and a hearthstone and it sounds to me like you are putting wayyyyy to many pallet pieces in just for startup. have u ever thrown a couple pallets on a bon fire? it will have 15 ft jet flames and burn hotter than i can stand to be within 50ft of. i havent had to cold start my furnace since november but with my other wood stoves couple pallet pieces is all i put it let her burn then add my hardwood that usually work very well. i dont think youi need to get your stove so hot so fast take her slow for a couple tries see what happens.
 
Beetle-Kill said:
I'm guessing that you're putting new wood on a hot coal-bed. Really dry "soft-wood"? Pallet wood is just as good for this scenario.
-rake the coals, and load the stove as full as you wish.
-Open T-stat, 3+, (if wood is dry)- close bypass lever when it gets to 400+ (the time lag on the thermometer sucks)
-when the guage reads 1100, turn it down to 2.5 or less, depends on your fan speed. (fans help keep the CAT temp. appear cooler)
-IMPORTANT- once you have the stove loaded, and a bit of flame working the new wood,...... shut the fricking door!
use the T-stat- it's kinda there for a reason. Give it 10 minutes or so, it will work.
I'm adamant about this, 'cause the wife just let the flue pipe go red-hot, by keeping the door open and not adjusting the T-stat. Flue hit 1400 before I could bring it back down.

Its not the wood but its the "fricking door" that is not shut.
I don't have a Blaze King but I do have a Woodstock Fireview that is also a cat door.
When reloading you open the bypass, open the air supply wide open, open the door and load wood, CLOSE THE DOOR AND CUT THE AIR SUPPLY DOWN. Do not leave the airsupply wide open with the bypass on, and if you do, stay in the room because soon the flames will be getting sucked into the stove pipe and it will glow red.

You are letting to much air into a hot stove with fresh dry wood. Slow the air down and that wood will still start burning fast.
 
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