I’ve had my Buck 80 since January of this year and it has been both a blessing and a curse. When it’s right it’s great; plenty of heat and 12+ hour burn times. Maybe I’m just still in the new dumb operator mode, but I seem to have problems keeping the cat temps down to what I think is a safe level.
This is what I do: When starting a fire from a cold stove, which does not happen this time of year very often, I begin with a few small pieces and a quarter of a Super Cedar and let things get going fairly well. Then I add enough splits to fill the box and leave the air controls wide open until things get rolling at a good pace. Once the cat probe reads about 600, I set the timer for 20 min, and sometimes, slightly close the air controls. Once the cat has stayed 600 for 20 min I close the bypass and the air controls. It will hang at anywhere between 1200 and 1400 for long enough for me to be lulled into a false sense of security and leave the house to walk my property for 15 or 20 minutes. Upon my return I find the cat temps approaching critical mass and it’s “Quick, pull the bypass!” Once the temps fall to 1200 to 1300 I close the bypass again. Within a few minutes the temps are at 1500 at which point I pull the bypass again, even though it’s technically not too hot. I may do this 3 or 4 times before it settles into about 1400.
To reload a hot stove I usually wait until there is nothing left but a nice bed of coals and a cat temp of between 800 and 1100, then I fill the fire box as full as I can, after raking the coals forward, and close the bypass. At this point I’ve tried leaving the air closed, a quarter and one half open with seeming no different results, except at one half or more open it just gets hotter faster
.
I have my burns timed so that I reload about an hour before bed. It’s the same ritual as above with the same results; open, close,open, close. God only knows where the temps go after I hit the rack! It actually seems worse this burning season than last season.
Here is what I’ve done, besides read, to try to correct the problem: Replaced the cat probe….three times! I figured common things are common, maybe the probe is off. The second probe from Condar had one burn and stuck at 800! They promptly replaced it with the third probe, so really I have no idea how accurate either the first or third probes are. Believe it or not, I replaced the cat and gaskets and still nothing better. Most likely a foolish expense but what the hey, I’ve got an extra cat for when I need it. Someone said when it gets hot, don’t open the bypass but open all the air controls wide open, tried that and that’ a no, no, unless you want to smelt iron!
So what goes on here; what am I doing wrong! Too much wood? Why have a 2.5 Cubic foot fire box if you can’t fill it? Besides I can get almost the same results with 3 splits and some coals as I can with 8 splits and coals.
BTW: burning ash split and stacked, single row for 2+ years.
This is what I do: When starting a fire from a cold stove, which does not happen this time of year very often, I begin with a few small pieces and a quarter of a Super Cedar and let things get going fairly well. Then I add enough splits to fill the box and leave the air controls wide open until things get rolling at a good pace. Once the cat probe reads about 600, I set the timer for 20 min, and sometimes, slightly close the air controls. Once the cat has stayed 600 for 20 min I close the bypass and the air controls. It will hang at anywhere between 1200 and 1400 for long enough for me to be lulled into a false sense of security and leave the house to walk my property for 15 or 20 minutes. Upon my return I find the cat temps approaching critical mass and it’s “Quick, pull the bypass!” Once the temps fall to 1200 to 1300 I close the bypass again. Within a few minutes the temps are at 1500 at which point I pull the bypass again, even though it’s technically not too hot. I may do this 3 or 4 times before it settles into about 1400.
To reload a hot stove I usually wait until there is nothing left but a nice bed of coals and a cat temp of between 800 and 1100, then I fill the fire box as full as I can, after raking the coals forward, and close the bypass. At this point I’ve tried leaving the air closed, a quarter and one half open with seeming no different results, except at one half or more open it just gets hotter faster
.
I have my burns timed so that I reload about an hour before bed. It’s the same ritual as above with the same results; open, close,open, close. God only knows where the temps go after I hit the rack! It actually seems worse this burning season than last season.
Here is what I’ve done, besides read, to try to correct the problem: Replaced the cat probe….three times! I figured common things are common, maybe the probe is off. The second probe from Condar had one burn and stuck at 800! They promptly replaced it with the third probe, so really I have no idea how accurate either the first or third probes are. Believe it or not, I replaced the cat and gaskets and still nothing better. Most likely a foolish expense but what the hey, I’ve got an extra cat for when I need it. Someone said when it gets hot, don’t open the bypass but open all the air controls wide open, tried that and that’ a no, no, unless you want to smelt iron!
So what goes on here; what am I doing wrong! Too much wood? Why have a 2.5 Cubic foot fire box if you can’t fill it? Besides I can get almost the same results with 3 splits and some coals as I can with 8 splits and coals.
BTW: burning ash split and stacked, single row for 2+ years.
thermocouple from Auberins.com, that would be around $80.
