Progress Hybrid tips, tricks, and expectations?

Oldman47 said:

At 120ºF the surface will feel hot enough to burn exposed skin. If you touch something that hot you will pull back your hand in under 2 seconds. At 180ºF you are way outside anyone's comfort zone. If anything near a stove got that hot I would definitely be looking for what the cause was.

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My hearth has got around 180º with my pellet stove, and it has lower R value requirements than the woodstove it replaced which barely made the hearth warm at all.

120º is nothing... I can go barefoot on surfaces into the 130's but I have pretty tough feet from being mostly barefoot the last few years. Those who wear socks and shoes all the time will not have as tough of feet.

My manual tells me to open the air fully for a couple of minutes before I open the door and leave it open until the new load gets going good. It sounds to me like you are shocking your fire with lots of excess air without giving it much chance to adjust first.

Opening the dampers is expected to give you some big combustion but if you do it all in stages it should really help with control compared to wild swings.

Have you checked for a blockage in the air flow distribution of the stove?

Air_cooled_driver said:

I have a warping cat in the PH. Is this something to worry about?

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I would think as long as there is no gap between the rear of the cat and the gasket it should be OK. But I would send those pictures to Woodstock and get their opinion.

Air_cooled_driver said:

I have a warping cat in the PH. Is this something to worry about?

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I've had some slight warping (less than what you show). I have extra small gasket material that I tuck in around the cat once I get it set in place. How was the backside of your cat (clean or clogged)?

With regards to your initial issue about the fire dying down and then raging with air, have you stepped outside to look for smoke from the chimney when it is beginning to die down? It sounds like your cat is stalling. When brand new these PH cats light off at the drop of a hat, but as you burn more it takes a bit more heat/time to get it to light.

{edit: If you continue to have trouble, document a burn for us: starting conditions, load characteristics, and then record time and temp of stovetop and of flue as the burn progresses and as you make changes like closing the bypass, plus look for smoke.)

I'm pretty sure at cat should be replaced. Woodstock changed the design to have more supports in an effort to stop the cats from warping.

Definitely shoot them a picture and give them a call. I suspect they'll be interested to see that warping in that cat.
I'd guess shocking the fire and having those wild temps swings did it. How hot does the flue get when you shock the fire? Do you engage the cat again right away after shocking the fire?

I have not had any problem with cat warping since I got the cat with more than one central support.

OK. Just used your term, shocking the fire. Thought you were.

Point is, the cat should not be warped. I'd let Woodstock know, send them a photo too.

Possible reasons: Cat Clogged (already gone into)

Wood not dry enough

Fire not burned for long enough before being shut down

Air shut down further than your chimney set up permits

Air_cooled_driver said:

I wanted to get input of the community's collective wisdom on my new stove install. Overall I am delighted with the stove and am familiar enough with it after a few weeks of use to want to fine-tune things. I have it running through an interior brick chimney with a 6" uninsulated ss liner about 23' long. Block off plate installed in flue. Rear exit.

I am burnng mostly oak at about 19% moisture content. The stove wants to settle around 450* as measured with the thermometer sitting on the top exit blockoff plate. It will stay there for three to five hours or so and then gradually drop to about 300* as it burns down. Takes about 10 hours for the stove to start to get "cold," dropping under 200*.

The house is an OLD colonial farmhouse with several different wings and we are primarily using the central air fan to move heat around. The stove is as centrally located as it can be. Insulation and drafty old windows are issues. I acknowledge this aspect of things as a huge challenge.

In the morning I have started taking the coals into a pile at the front and can get the temps up a bit longer as those burn down with a bit more open damper.

What should I be thinking about/changing/doing to get more out of the stove, or is this about what to expect? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

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Air_Cooled_Driver, I hope you are enjoying you Progress Hybrid. I'm finishing my second session with the Progress Hybrid. What you are describing above is about normal for me. I sometimes push the temperature higher by adding wood and air when needed but normally I"ll get the stove up to around 450 and then it will cool down eventually to around 300 before reloading My main issue with the PH is keeping it clean. The cleaner the stove the better it will operate! There is a screen in the front upper part of the firebox, this needs to be cleaned regularly (every 3 or 4 weeks for me). If the screen gets clogged, it will hamper air flow up the chimney and it makes the PH difficult to get up to temp. I normally pull the screen out (remove 3 clips) and blow it out with an air hose. I also pull the catalytic combustor once each month a blow it out with a can of air (computer type). Don't use a higher PSI because it will blow off the special coating on the combustor. Normally, I will also clean the glass at the same time I am doing this maintenance.

The PH really is an incredible stove. Keeping it clean makes all the difference in how it functions.

I have the same issue with my cat warping. It's almost identical to air cooled drivers and is only been in use for just 4 weeks so far.

toddnic said:

Air_Cooled_Driver, I hope you are enjoying you Progress Hybrid. I'm finishing my second session with the Progress Hybrid. What you are describing above is about normal for me. I sometimes push the temperature higher by adding wood and air when needed but normally I"ll get the stove up to around 450 and then it will cool down eventually to around 300 before reloading My main issue with the PH is keeping it clean. The cleaner the stove the better it will operate! There is a screen in the front upper part of the firebox, this needs to be cleaned regularly (every 3 or 4 weeks for me). If the screen gets clogged, it will hamper air flow up the chimney and it makes the PH difficult to get up to temp. I normally pull the screen out (remove 3 clips) and blow it out with an air hose. I also pull the catalytic combustor once each month a blow it out with a can of air (computer type). Don't use a higher PSI because it will blow off the special coating on the combustor. Normally, I will also clean the glass at the same time I am doing this maintenance.

The PH really is an incredible stove. Keeping it clean makes all the difference in how it functions.

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Just an FYI to all. I recieved and installed my PH about a week and a half ago. My stove came with a note saying the iconel screen has been discontinued and that my model does not have one. To short hand the note it basically says that "the screen was not performing per design well enough and was causing more issues that operating without it". So basically that means that the screen in theory/design is a potentially great thing to have, but real world application has shown it is more of a hinderance than a help and as such they have discontinued its use.

TheRambler said:

Just an FYI to all. I recieved and installed my PH about a week and a half ago. My stove came with a note saying the iconel screen has been discontinued and that my model does not have one. To short hand the note it basically says that "the screen was not performing per design well enough and was causing more issues that operating without it". So basically that means that the screen in theory/design is a potentially great thing to have, but real world application has shown it is more of a hinderance than a help and as such they have discontinued its use.

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Mine didn't come with one either. They stopped installing all the screens in stoves that were built after mid November 2014. I guess they had too many complaints about it.

Josh,

what is the highest temperature you have gotten the firebox? The flue?

I'm just curious if the cat is warping after being exposed to a certain temp, or if after prolonged burning above certain temp, or with high air flow above a given temp, or for some other reason. If we pool experience maybe we can determine the answer.

Plus one for the warped CAT. My money is on thermal shock. I caught my wife opening the door to load more wood in before opening bypass. A hot stove then a rush of cold air could cause the warp.

rideau said:

Josh,

what is the highest temperature you have gotten the firebox? The flue?

I'm just curious if the cat is warping after being exposed to a certain temp, or if after prolonged burning above certain temp, or with high air flow above a given temp, or for some other reason. If we pool experience maybe we can determine the answer.

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I haven't overfired the stove yet. The highest I have gotten it was 630 for about a half hour to an hour. I burn in the 500 to 600 range when it's cold and windy out as my house isn't insulated and I need the extra heat. Typically it burns 300 to 450 most the time. I try to never open the door with the bypass closed however I have done it a couple times on accident. I vacuum out the cat with a dyson vacuum with the brush attachment. I have cleaned the cat a few times as I don't have the iconel screen to prevent ash from getting up to the cat. I have cleaned it a few times now. The wood I'm burning produces a lot of ash. I empty the ash pan about once a week.
The PH I own was shipped to me with something that the manufacturers haven't ever seen before. The secondary air baffle would rattle almost constantly for the first couple weeks I burned the stove. I called woodstock to get some answers but no one had ever experienced what I was experiencing with the stove. So after I reload and wait until the temperature rose to 250-300 to close the bypass I would hear periodically the firebox steel expanding or contacting. I close the bypass and wait a minute to close down the air. When the secondaries fire I would hear a extremely rapid metallic noise coming from the secondary intake. I pulled the cook top and tightened every bolt I could get to which didn't help. I called woodstock and Ron didn't really understand what I was talking about so he said take a screwdriver and tap on different surfaces to narrow down where the noise was coming from. I stuck a long screw driver in the secondary intake and lightly struck the secondary air baffle and the metallic noise stopped for 2 or 3 seconds. I let woodstock know and sent them a video of the noise and they couldn't give me an answer. Ron said he showed the R&D guys and they all stood around scratching their heads. The noise only happened while the secondaries began to fire or immediately following when they go out and would last one minute to several minutes. That was for the first couple weeks I owned the PH. I thought about returning it for a new one since it's still under warranty but decided to wait until at least the heating season is over to decide. The noise now has slowed way down and all but stopped a couple weeks later. I got in touch with Ron again and he still didn't have an answer for me. I guess the secondary air baffle floats in the stove and isn't bolted down to anything to compensate for expansion and contraction of the steel. I guess my stoves air baffle was rattling on something. At the end of the season I'm going to try to figure out what it was. I just don't want to take it apart now during the 20 degree weather. The noise has all but stopped now. Now after my stove cools down some I'm going to get to the cat warping issue. I'll try to get a photo.

toddnic said:

Air_Cooled_Driver, I hope you are enjoying you Progress Hybrid. I'm finishing my second session with the Progress Hybrid. What you are describing above is about normal for me. I sometimes push the temperature higher by adding wood and air when needed but normally I"ll get the stove up to around 450 and then it will cool down eventually to around 300 before reloading My main issue with the PH is keeping it clean. The cleaner the stove the better it will operate! There is a screen in the front upper part of the firebox, this needs to be cleaned regularly (every 3 or 4 weeks for me). If the screen gets clogged, it will hamper air flow up the chimney and it makes the PH difficult to get up to temp. I normally pull the screen out (remove 3 clips) and blow it out with an air hose. I also pull the catalytic combustor once each month a blow it out with a can of air (computer type). Don't use a higher PSI because it will blow off the special coating on the combustor. Normally, I will also clean the glass at the same time I am doing this maintenance.

The PH really is an incredible stove. Keeping it clean makes all the difference in how it functions.

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The other day I read on another site that Woodstock is now saying you can take off and stop using the screen. Mine gives me no problem at all, so I am leaving it on, but the poster said that Woodstock claims it doesn't matter if you keep it off. You might want to check with Woodstock before removing it.

Just to confirm, Woodstock told me I could take mine off last Spring. When I called the Autumn to see if it was OK to burn for the entire season without it, they told me they were no longer installing the screen, and it was just fine to burn without it.

rideau said:

Just to confirm, Woodstock told me I could take mine off last Spring. When I called the Autumn to see if it was OK to burn for the entire season without it, they told me they were no longer installing the screen, and it was just fine to burn without it.

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thanks for the update.

The quote I saw on this was that the benefit of the screen was not enough to warrant the service calls they were receiving. Too many issues for not enough benefit. They did not say that the screen was worthless but that it was not worth what it was costing them in customer issues.