1st night with the Intrepid, learning a lot...

Did you even activate the catalytic combustor?


Can you describe your burning process to us? The stove has the ability to do a lot more than it did last night, I think the problem might be in your operating procedure.

What is the moisture content of your wood?

Are you filling the firebox?

Get that thing filled up and leave the draft open until all the wood is charred up, then bank it down. I dont know much about CATs stoves but I would imagine that stack needs to be around 500 to engage the CAT.

Dont tippy toe around with the stove, load her up and let it rip

If you're not activating the catalytic combustor, no offense, but obviously you're not going to get much heat out of the stove. You're sending most of the heat straight up the flue, because with the damper open, the hot gases of the fire have no residence time in the firebox to allow heat transfer to the room.

Once you start the fire, and the stove gets to 500 degrees on the stove-top thermometer (hopefully on the center of the griddle), close the the bypass damper but keep the air control wide open. Once the cat is activated you can start to close the air control.

Before going with what i say though, you should really read the section in your manual that describes operation of the stove in conjunction with the catalytic combustor. That's catalyst is crucial to both the clean burning function of your stove, as well as crucial to getting HEAT out of the unit. Without activating it, you're operating like an old smoke dragon, sending tons of heat right up the chimney.

moondog,

Do you have your ceiling fan turned on? Mine makes a HUGE difference in my stove room with the cathedral ceiling. The room warms up much faster and it helps distribute the heat into other rooms as well.

Although our stove is not a VC, it does have a cat. When the internal reaches 500 degrees we engage the cat. and it is amazing how quickly the temperature goes up and the heat goes into the room instead of into the flue. You should be amazed also. Please try that cat. today or tonight and enjoy that stove instead of being disappointed.

Interesting. I'm using an older non cat Intrepid to heat my office which is a former single car garage; the dimensions are approx. 13x20 with a cathedral ceiling line that goes from 8' on the low end to 16' on the high side.
I have to be VERY CAREFUL not to heat myself out of the room with that little bugger. Forget loading it and walking away. Even when it was 17 here on Fri eve. I couldn't just pact it up. Considering a SMALLER unit and moving this one out to the larger Studio building.

GREAT STOVE so don't be dismayed..

John

Hey md relax, not using or engaging your cat in your stove is like leaving your attic hatch open to your house. The cat is the heartbeat of that stove.
Yeah 500 is 500 but stove top though. That cat will help punch heat out the sides front ect... Increasing your radiant and convection heat. I think your gonna be OK. Get that V-8 runnin on all cylinders. Your only runnin it on 3 without the CAT. Take it easy and dont get bumed. Good luck and report back. :coolsmile:

moondoggy said:

as for the ceiling fan.... thats my next buy... like this week.
I just stood up on the couch... nice and warm up there.

Click to expand...

Once you get ceiling fans in there,it should make a huge difference. Without mine running here, my stove would do no where near what it does with the fans on.

Good luck.

i run mine up to 600 and am sure to smash the logs around a couple times to get a good bed of coals before engaging the cat. you may get lucky engaging at 500 but i say 600, especially if you are looking for heat. 600-650 temps are well within the normal operating limits of the stove.

there is a bit of science to it, but not rocket science so try not to get discouraged. our Intrepid now runs pretty much on auto pilot because we understand her. on the flip side, i just installed a defiant encore (similar stove but much bigger) in our other fireplace and we're trying to get to know eachother so i have similar issues (see my overfire thread). like it says in the manual, it may take a couple weeks of burning fully understand the process.

good luck!

You said your mantel doesn't even get hot? Is this stove sitting in a fireplace? If so, did you install a block off plate where your pipe goes into the chimney? If not you may be sending heat up your chimney instead or the room.

Moon,

From reading the posts seems you warmed up the room 2 deg in one hour one you had the CAT engaged. Thats not bad at all. Lets rip for 5-6 hours and you'll be nice and toasty.

Moondoggy,

Glad to hear your getting the hang of running your stove. Remember wood stoves heat both objects (radiant) and air (convection).

Your furnace warms the house quickly because it is heating by convection in turn the house also cools down equaly fast, resulting in the cycling of the furnace.

Wood stoves heat the mass of the room itself(thats why your mantle will get hoter than the air around it) as well as the air, the temperature increase is slower but longer lasting.

Enjoy the stove and the heat that goes with it.

Garett

If your home was cold to begin with it take a long time to heat it up, remember you are not only heating the air but also all the contents. Sometimes it is worthwhile to kick in your heating system to bring the house up to temp that you desire and then let the stove maintain that temp.

Good luck with the new stove,
Jim