Cat Stove Re-Load (Technique/Requirment)

Lots variables, but you are on the right track.

To reload a cat, first open the bypass, check.

Second, you are going to have to wait a bit longer than you are used to between cracking the door and opening the door to prevent smoke spillage. If you are opening from cracked and see smoke, go back to cracked and wait a little longer. What it is is the exhaust gas coming out of the cat is cooler than it was on your old stove, so it takes a bit longer to get the air in the chimney moving again.

Once the door is open, fill 'er up, check.

Close the door - check your manual. On my model I am instructed to leave the door cracked for high airflow to get the new load charred and burning pretty good before I actually close the door. But yes, next close the door, check.

Next, figure out of the cat is hot enough to re-engage. Sometimes I catch it just right and can go from nearly empty to full stove with re-engaged cat in under a minute. Other times I am a little bit late on the refill and have to wait for the cat to heat back up while running in bypass - then re-engage the cat.

Let it burn a little while with the thermostat on high- check your manual - then turn the thermostat down to where you want it and leave the stove alone until the next reload.

The three main variables are total draft - a function of stack height and outdoor temperature and MC of your wood. You will probably find at and below some temperature your stove settles down and runs really good. If you have a shorter stack and warmer weather the stove might be a little fussy. Before you add stack height I would counsel you to run into the depth of winter to make sure you don't end up with blast furnace type draft in January trying to compensate for a slightly fussy stove in September.

One way to compensate for fussy draft in the shoulder seasons is to burn drier wood.

Good luck.

Reloading is simple but you cant cut around corners, I reload when my firebox is almost empty, I open the by-pass, add a full load, turn my air control all the way up, close the door, let the wood catch fire, check to make sure the cat is up to temp, once the temp is reached I close the by-pass. I let the wood continue to burn, as I do this my cat probe goes into a fully active state I then turn the air down to my desired setting. Total reload time is about 10 min. If its real cold out and I want to add a couple pieces to a half full firebox, I just turn my air all the way up, open bypass, open door, add wood, close door, close by-pass, I let the couple pieces fully catch and then dial in my air setting. *it is very important to burn only dry wood, especially when loading on a hot fire (like when topping off a half load) if you burn wood that has a higher moisture content you could damage the cat by shocking it (thermal) or of its not up to temp you can plug it up. When burning on lower air settings its a good idea to give the stove a hot burn once a week for about an hour. Having a cat stove has been very easy to manage and once you learn your stove I'm sure you will like the smoother heat, longer burn times, and over all efficiency

Good advice above. How long you must "babysit" the cat depends on how hot the stove and coals are, and how dry the wood is. I open the bypass, then the air, then the door. After 12+ hours, I rake coals to the front(by the glass) where they will be in the airwash and heat up quickly. If reloading early(8 hours) on a large bed of very hot coals, I just load on top of the coals. I get enough draft through the air intake, usually don't have to crack the door. Turn air down gradually, pausing several minutes at each level, like 50%, 30%, 20%. Close bypass. Fine tune the air for desired burn rate.

ddddddden said:

Good advice above. How long you must "babysit" the cat depends on how hot the stove and coals are, and how dry the wood is. I open the bypass, then the air, then the door. After 12+ hours, I rake coals to the front(by the glass) where they will be in the airwash and heat up quickly. If reloading early(8 hours) on a large bed of very hot coals, I just load on top of the coals. I get enough draft through the air intake, usually don't have to crack the door. Turn air down gradually, pausing several minutes at each level, like 50%, 30%, 20%. Close bypass. Fine tune the air for desired burn rate.

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This is exactly the way my stove operates. No need to crack the door after reloading. And I also do not need to do all the steps when adjusting the air. After I engage the cat I run it for a few minutes at 50% air and then turn it all the way down. Done.

Congrats on the new stove! As with any new stove, there's going to be a learning curve as you figure out how to run it most efficiently. Gotta ask, how long has your wood been split, stacked and drying, and what species do you have? You need dry wood for these newer stoves to run their best. There's a lot of good info in the manual, available online if you don't have the stove yet. I want the cat to start burning pretty soon after I close the bypass, don't want to run a lot of unburned smoke through the cat, so I get the stove up to temp before I load and close the bypass. If the cat probe is 600+, I may load on the fly and have the stove set for another 12+ hr. burn in about half an hour. If the stove is colder, I'll burn a few small splits to get the probe up to about 700 before I load. In that case, I'm looking at about 3/4-1 hr. to cruise the stove. I'll send a message to your inbox with links to a few posts that describe how I run the 91.

All depends on your temps. This morning I reloaded the IS after just 10 hours so I was still running 300+, just put a couple new splits on and engaged cat immediately, didn't let the wood char at all. Clear stack and back up to 400.

Fastdonzi said:

Thanks for the Links Woody, They will be a great help. I was supposed to pick up the stove last saturday but it snowed again friday night, I wasnt trekkin 100 miles in the snow. I'm hoping for this saturday. As for my wood... I ran out of good wood and bought 4 loads of what (Craigs List says) is seasoned, Well all that is now next years wood. I have a 24'x32' carport type shelter with a clear roof so the sun can shine in but nothing gets wet (planned it that way ) with my current old stove 6 chords is what it took. I'm hoping to get down to 4 or less. I cut wood, and buy wood. at work we use alot of Heat Treated Oak Pallets, they make good filler and will help non seasoned wood chug along. I'm aware I wont be using any non seasoned anymore which is why i'm stocking up now. Also have a Pallet mfgr that comes up with some great Chunks of various sizes.... Thanks again everyone, I can hardly wait. although I'm probably going to have to since I heat 100% with wood and it'll need to be a decent day/weekend to let this stove cool and do the swap.....

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Yeah, between the snow, ice and cold, it's been a mess lately. I'm ready for some average temps for a change! Sounds like you have a good shelter and several sources of wood; You should be able to get yourself set up well for next season with a bit of planning. With that kind of space to stack under, you can spread the rows out for better air movement to dry the wood. I would separate out the Oak from any loads you buy, save that for subsequent winters, and concentrate on getting the non-Oak dry for next winter. Those pallet mfgr. "chunks" sound like a gold mine of dry wood, as well. For the rest of this season, you might try some of the compressed-wood logs they sell at the farm stores. I've never used 'em but I understand they burn HOT so you have to be careful with 'em, just a few per load. Placement in the load may be important as well. I would guess that you'll be able to cut your wood usage by 2 cords, at least. Can you detail your heat needs a bit more? Sq.ft. to heat, stove centrally located, layout pretty open so heat can move through the house easily, insulation and air-sealing pretty good? My 91 has got an uphill battle at the MIL's house...stove at one end of the house, 9.5' ceilings, no wall insulation etc, but it still does pretty well. This stove will toss big heat, and instead of loading "and not worry any more for several hrs," I don't come back for 12 hrs.

You might want to pick up the chimney connector...
http://www.buckstove.com/partsstore/product.php?productid=264&cat=137&page=1

If the chimney comes straight into the top of the stove, you may be able to cut a straight piece of liner to make up the difference. Mine wasn't a straight shot into the stove. If you look at the first pic, the flue collar is connected to a 15-degree stainless elbow, which is connected to a section of stainless flex liner. You could also add a "wood stove appliance connector" for a few more inches. If you know what brand of chimney you have, you should be able to get the parts from that mfgr. and all of it will fit together correctly. Mixing brands can be a crap shoot, and may not work.

Fastdonzi said:

Do you tighten those "L" Latches from inside the stove once they meet??....aquiring/cutting/stacking 6+ chords per year isnt that much fun anymore.

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Right. There's just an 8" hole in the top of the stove, and the lip/gasket on the connector drop into the hole. You back off the nuts on the L-bolts, and once the connector is in place, swing the bottom of the L around to catch the underside of the hole in the stove, then tighten the nuts with a 1/2" wrench from inside the stove. I don't think you have to crank 'em down super-tight...probably would just distort the L-bolts. I kinda wish there were 3 L-bolts, but the 2 seem to be working fine.
I'd think you'll be able to cut at least 2 cords off your yearly usage. Once you have dry wood you can cut the air way down and the stove will idle along, tossing out good heat as it sips the wood.