ThermoWorks Timer with Fireview

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4wheelcycle

New Member
Feb 5, 2012
25
NH
My only complaint about my new Fireview last year was that I had to "babysit" the stove for the first twenty minutes until it got hot enough to engage the combustor.

First I had to wait ten minutes or so until the flue got up to 375 - 400 F (I measure it with an IR gun 18" above the stove), then I had to adjust the damper to keep in that range for another ten minutes until the combustor probe hit 675 - 700 F, at which point I could engage the combustor and adjust the damper for the proper low burn flame. After that, I could pretty much leave the stove untended until it burned down to nothing or I added more wood.

I was always afraid to walk away from the stove to get the paper or make coffee for fear I might forget about the stove and let it overheat after the first ten minutes, or forget to engage the combustor and turn down the damper after the second ten minutes.

At some point this fall I realized I could use the nifty ThermoWorks timer I use with my excercise machine to time the two ten minute intervals when I start up my Fireview. Now I just set the timer for ten minutes and the go off to get the paper, make coffee, and check the bird feeders until the timer goes off. Then I can start eating breakfast and reading the paper until the timer goes off again.

Now that I'm using the timer I really have no other complaints about my Fireview - except of course that I constantly obsess about whether my steel cat is working properly!
 
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So, 20 minutes is normal time for the firebox to heat up to catalytic temp? It takes me this long and I was wondering if I was doing something wrong. It seems like a lot of wood burns up and a lot of heat goes up the chimney is those 20 minutes.
 
We use the kitchen stove timer for the same purpose. It is loud and does not stop unless you turn it off. If I leave the draft on 4 after reload, it heats up the stove pipe way too fast, before all the wood is charred. So I start the fire on 4, back off to two after a couple minutes to let the load char. It rarely gets the stove pipe too hot that way. We set the timer for 8 to 10 minutes if loading on hot coals, 12 to 15 minutes if building a fire from scratch.

I made the mistake of walking away from my Fireview this morning after reloading and failed to set the timer. I bypassed the cat, put the draft on two, and figured it would be safe until I got dressed for work. Wrong! Stove pipe temp got way too high, around 650-700. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I would have chewed out my kids for doing that.<>
 
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So, 20 minutes is normal time for the firebox to heat up to catalytic temp? It takes me this long and I was wondering if I was doing something wrong. It seems like a lot of wood burns up and a lot of heat goes up the chimney is those 20 minutes.

True, unless someone else says they can engage their Fireview cat in less that twenty minutes on a cold start. However, the smoke coming out of my chimney goes to zero at the twenty minute mark when I engage the combustor, and that is a big plus compared to my previous non-cat wood stoves.

Actually, many serious Fireview owners will say they burn their stoves 24/7, so they rarely have cold starts!
 
First year with my Fireview. I really can't complain about the start up time. I let the stove top get between 200-250 , by then my flue gases might be 400-600 and I never have a problem closing things down and engaging the cat. Cat so far works fine. On a reload I'll bet it's about 3 minutes with the draft on 2, by pass open and then I shut the by pass and set the stove on 1. Away she goes. You should have ran my Quad 5700, that was nothing but playing with the controls. The Fireview is a joy to run, no complaining here. If you forgot the Quad was wide open , you'd see 1200 degree chimney temps in a heart beat. I just seem to not get involved with anything else for the short time I need to be responsible for my stove, why take a chance and over fire such a beautiful stove?
 
True, unless someone else says they can engage their Fireview cat in less that twenty minutes on a cold start. However, the smoke coming out of my chimney goes to zero at the twenty minute mark when I engage the combustor, and that is a big plus compared to my previous non-cat wood stoves.

Actually, many serious Fireview owners will say they burn their stoves 24/7, so they rarely have cold starts!


I was wondering if you were talking about cold starts and yes, it is good that it takes that long on a cold start. On reloads it is a totally different story. I've engaged on reloads anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes; just depends on how hot the stove is or how many coals are left when we reload. Most times in winter we will engage the cat in 5 minutes or less but please remember that we are burning very dry wood. On questionable wood there is no way I would engage that soon.
 
Thanks 4wheel. Ya, it is sort of a habit. Perhaps it is time to slow down?
 
I was wondering if you were talking about cold starts and yes, it is good that it takes that long on a cold start. On reloads it is a totally different story. I've engaged on reloads anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes; just depends on how hot the stove is or how many coals are left when we reload. Most times in winter we will engage the cat in 5 minutes or less but please remember that we are burning very dry wood. On questionable wood there is no way I would engage that soon.
Hey Dennis,
I may be wasting some of my btu's on reloads...I thought I needed to let a reload go for about 15 minutes no matter what (yes I do end up turning the air steadily down as the fire spreads through the wood). Do you let all of the reload catch fire before bypassing or how do you determine when?
 
Hey Dennis,
I may be wasting some of my btu's on reloads...I thought I needed to let a reload go for about 15 minutes no matter what (yes I do end up turning the air steadily down as the fire spreads through the wood). Do you let all of the reload catch fire before bypassing or how do you determine when?
I just starting burning a Fireview this year. As far as my own experience on a reload,,,, I find as long as the stove is over 250 and my flue gas temp is 350-400 ,,, from just burning down a coal bed , I basically load in more wood, give it 2-3 minutes to burn off any kind of moisture and then just close the by-pass and set the stove draft to .75. Seems to work fine for me. I do keep about 1/3 of a cord of wood inside in a back room just off of the stove room , with the rack divided in two, so one side is always drying while the other is in use, plus it's already seasoned. So my wood is room temp and dry when it goes in the stove. I like your Avatar, I'm a believer as well.
 
Well, over 50 years heating with wood - I don't know??? I'm 64, like the Beatles song, and I can only claim 35 years heating with wood.

Put us together and we'll really sound old....
 
Hey Dennis,
I may be wasting some of my btu's on reloads...I thought I needed to let a reload go for about 15 minutes no matter what (yes I do end up turning the air steadily down as the fire spreads through the wood). Do you let all of the reload catch fire before bypassing or how do you determine when?

Hi Kenny. Good to see you posting again.

Please realize that our wood is very dry so we are ideal. We look at the wood and if it is charred we engage. But we also look at both the stove and flue temperatures too. In mid winter when we are burning hard there is usually a pretty good sized coal bed too which will ignite the wood super fast so it doesn't take long.

So look at the wood, the fire and the temperatures to determine when to engage. When all else fails, follow the 15 minute rule. However, on that 15 minute rule, we have occasionally put some wood in that did not take off right away and I recall one time we went over 20 minutes before engaging the cat (this is on reload, not cold start).
 
I just starting burning a Fireview this year. As far as my own experience on a reload,,,, I find as long as the stove is over 250 and my flue gas temp is 350-400 ,,,I basically load in more wood, give it 2-3 minutes to burn off any kind of moisture and the just close the by-pass and set the stove draft to .75. Seems to work fine for me. I do keep about 1/3 of a cord of wood inside in a back room just off of the stove room , with the rack divided in two, so one side is always drying while the other is in use, plus it's already seasoned. So my wood is room temp and dry when it goes in the stove. I like your Avatar, I'm a believer as well.

Charly, that does not sound right. Why would you load more wood when the temperatures are up and ready to engage? Why not put all the wood in right away and not have to open that firebox door again? Opening that door again can really cool things fast. Also, it depends on the moisture content of that wood if you need 2-3 minutes or longer. Usually it is longer. I'm thinking of the long range duties of that catalyst.
 
Charly, that does not sound right. Why would you load more wood when the temperatures are up and ready to engage? Why not put all the wood in right away and not have to open that firebox door again? Opening that door again can really cool things fast. Also, it depends on the moisture content of that wood if you need 2-3 minutes or longer. Usually it is longer. I'm thinking of the long range duties of that catalyst.
If I'm burning a coal bed down everything will be up to temperature by the time I want to add more wood for an overnight burn. So the new load seems to take off pretty fast, being everything is warmed up I shut things down and away she goes. My wood is very dry. Plus a 1/3 of a cord is sitting in the back inside porch as well, drying further.
 
So what would happen if you just load it, start the fire, wait 3 or 4 minutes to get a good flame going, and engage the combuster and shut down damper, even though the temp has not got up yet??
 
So what would happen if you just load it, start the fire, wait 3 or 4 minutes to get a good flame going, and engage the combuster and shut down damper, even though the temp has not got up yet??
I'm assuming you'll plug the cat that it won't be hot enough to burn the smoke. Not good.<>
 
So what would happen if you just load it, start the fire, wait 3 or 4 minutes to get a good flame going, and engage the combuster and shut down damper, even though the temp has not got up yet??

I go with what Charly said up above - when you add new wood wait until a good flame has been established for a few minutes, then if your stove top is still above 250 and your flue temp is up to 350 or more go ahead and re-engage the combustor.

If the previous wood load has burned down so much that the stove top is below 250 I'd follow the temperature guidelines I noted in my original post at the start of this thread, although it might take a lot less than twenty minutes to get there.
 
So what would happen if you just load it, start the fire, wait 3 or 4 minutes to get a good flame going, and engage the combuster and shut down damper, even though the temp has not got up yet??

The first thing that happens when you add wood is the moisture evaporates. This is what we don't want to push through the cat as moisture is its biggest enemy. This is also why Woodstock recommends waiting 10-15 minutes before engaging the cat.
 
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