I think this needs its own thread.. General discussion of stove temperature performance
@arnermd needs place to show the fancy graphs he makes..
@arnermd needs place to show the fancy graphs he makes..
2023/24 VC Temperature discussion thread
- Thread starter Woodsplitter67
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AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
I posted this in another thread but it may be more appropriate in this one.
Today on a hot reload cat was 550 and STT was 450 I loaded a little more than 1/2 full with primary air all the way open. After about one minute I closed the by pass and cat temp jumped to 1,000 within two minutes. When cat temp hit 1,100 I moved primary air to about 75%. The temp slowly climbed to 1,300 so I closed primary air to 50%. Continued slowly climbing to 1,450 then I could hear some of the wood move and shift, flames started dancing around like crazy and the cat temp shot up to 1,575 so I closed my primary all the way, then my glass went mostly black and cat got to 1,620. From reload to 1,620 was about an hour and a half. It hovered around 1,600 for about 10 minutes then very slowly came down. The STT never got above 550. Two hours in and cat is down to 1050, STT is 525 and the slightly more than 1/2 load is basically down to coals. I specifically checked MC on this load, which was about 13%. After this I understand when guys say they aren’t too concerned with STT.
Based on how this went I’m assuming I should have dialed the air back sooner.
Do you have issues with glass going black with higher cat temps, lower MC, and decent STT temps? Should I be going through that much of a load in 2 to 2.5 hours? Wood too dry?
Today on a hot reload cat was 550 and STT was 450 I loaded a little more than 1/2 full with primary air all the way open. After about one minute I closed the by pass and cat temp jumped to 1,000 within two minutes. When cat temp hit 1,100 I moved primary air to about 75%. The temp slowly climbed to 1,300 so I closed primary air to 50%. Continued slowly climbing to 1,450 then I could hear some of the wood move and shift, flames started dancing around like crazy and the cat temp shot up to 1,575 so I closed my primary all the way, then my glass went mostly black and cat got to 1,620. From reload to 1,620 was about an hour and a half. It hovered around 1,600 for about 10 minutes then very slowly came down. The STT never got above 550. Two hours in and cat is down to 1050, STT is 525 and the slightly more than 1/2 load is basically down to coals. I specifically checked MC on this load, which was about 13%. After this I understand when guys say they aren’t too concerned with STT.
Based on how this went I’m assuming I should have dialed the air back sooner.
Do you have issues with glass going black with higher cat temps, lower MC, and decent STT temps? Should I be going through that much of a load in 2 to 2.5 hours? Wood too dry?
I would have turned the air back sooner.. If your on good coals and your catalyst was already pretty active Id only wait a couple minutes for the wood to catch then dial the air back.. pretty much all the way.. Your wood offgassed pretty much all at once.. and the catalyst temperature went through the roof.. The key is to allow the wood to catch but not let the box get to a flaming mess
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
Based on that and how the temps jumped that much, with loads 1/2 or more, I would have to have the air at 90% cut otherwise my cat will take off. Next time I do a hot reload on a load that size I’ll dial the air back that far right away and see how the cat does. Smaller loads of a couple or a few splits I can manage the temp pretty well with air at 50% maybe a little lower. It’s going to be warmer this week so I probably won’t be doing big burns.
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
I am trying a new set up to monitor the cat temps while I’m not in the room. I had an inexpensive security camera that I set up over the stove so I can check in on the cat temp and STT whenever I want. It also records 24/7 and stores up to two months of recordings that I can go back and look at it. It isn’t as fancy as @arnermd set up with graphs but this definitely gives me peace of mind that I can check in on the stove. 
If my stove is hot I dial air back to 90% soon as cat hits 1000. I also don't wait and let the wood catch. Wood on to coals, damper closed, cut the air at 1000. The @Woodsplitter67 method. And it works like a champ for me. The tighter you pack the splits the easier the load is to control.
Tonight I reloaded cat was at 635. Spread the coals around. 3 large splits in. Air closed. Cat slowly worked its way up to 1040. Little higher than I let but I was cooking. Cut the air to 90% closed. Cat dropped to 1010 then slowly crept up to 1250. Now it sitting around 1100. This process started at 630 tonight so this is over the course of 1:30. And this will burn well in to the night I won't add anything else
Tonight I reloaded cat was at 635. Spread the coals around. 3 large splits in. Air closed. Cat slowly worked its way up to 1040. Little higher than I let but I was cooking. Cut the air to 90% closed. Cat dropped to 1010 then slowly crept up to 1250. Now it sitting around 1100. This process started at 630 tonight so this is over the course of 1:30. And this will burn well in to the night I won't add anything else
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
For my stove I've found 600-650 cat temps work best for a hot reload if I'm loading the stove. 700+ and it gets too hot and I can't control it
yea that's about right. 2.5 hours with 4 really dry medium pieces and a 50% open air control.
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
Through that process there was one thing that really surprised me. This could be due to my lack of wisdom with wood burning stoves, but the cat took off right after the splits moved and shifted and I had a lot of flames inside the stove all of a sudden. That's when I closed the primary all the way. When I closed the primary it didn't dampen the flames. The stove wasn't flaming like when the by pass is open and the air is fully open but there was a lot of flame when I would have expected very minimal. Do I have a leak somewhere letting a decent amount of air in or is that kind of reaction expected from the secondary air intake?
This is par for the course, as the load burns and collapses it exposes fresh fuel. If you look at some of my plots temps are up and down as the load burns down.
If you had a leak you would not be able to turn it down at all, it would not be intermittent.
If you had a leak you would not be able to turn it down at all, it would not be intermittent.
Solid burn. I have 2 splits on cat at 1024 right now. Probably put 2-3 more before bed. Hitting 44 tonight. Then 40 tomorrow night before we get back in to 70s.
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
I’ve got three splits on with cat hanging out around 1000. Been a solid weekend of burning. Learning a little bit with each burn.
Just remember how your doing it.. this is all repeatable.. once you get in the zone.. this becomes really easy.. Each setup has its own little quirks.. but this is totally doable. you lears as you go, but remember this.. you will need to adapt some as the weather changes. You really sound like your doing well with the short time you have been burning.
The best is when you dont shut the stove down at all and you burn for weeks.. thats super sweet..
I finally got the Auber AT100 installed on Friday. We've had a few mid-sized fires this week, got the cat up to around 800 the first time, but I didn't have a large load in, so it dropped down after about two hours. We're mainly burning compressed NIEL and Presta logs this year as we're getting our wood supply up. I do have some wood that I dried in our cold-frame as a makeshift solar kiln this summer, all told, probably less than half a cord at this point - all between 15 and 20%.
Tonight with a larger fire I got the cat up to 1150 - that feels nice. All in all it's pretty manageable. The pressed logs are significantly consistent, which makes the initial learning phase easier. I do throw some "real" wood on too to see how it behaves. The cat has settled in for the past hour and a half at around 820 degrees.
Tonight with a larger fire I got the cat up to 1150 - that feels nice. All in all it's pretty manageable. The pressed logs are significantly consistent, which makes the initial learning phase easier. I do throw some "real" wood on too to see how it behaves. The cat has settled in for the past hour and a half at around 820 degrees.
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So just as a heads up.. that cat temperatures will be different with compressed logs as compared to wood. there's alot more offgassing with wood.
Yeah, I was expecting that. As there's more smoke from wood there's more for the cat to eat. I'll do a couple of wood fires in the week to get a feel for the difference. I have enough to experiment and to supplement the majority of our fires, but not enough to solely burn wood. Real wood takes off a lot faster, and burns faster than the compressed logs, so if I'm trying to get the stove to initial temperature I'll throw some in at the beginning. Overall it's nicer to work with, but I need to build up my supply.
Putting the finishing touches on the woodshed - which should hold about five cords or so. Actually the finishing touches are the closed in portion for the solar generator rig. Once that's done I have some wood to put through the splitter to start building up the stock pile.
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
When you cut the air back to 90% for that entire burn, what does your glass look like at the end of the burn?
So expect it to be black, any stove that can get cut back will do the same. So when I do an overnight burn and I wake up.. my glass is not clean.. just drop wood in it and turn the air up and get the stove hot.. it will burn right off and be like new.
Getting ahead of the wood consumption is the hardest thing to do.. but once your ahead.. its smooth sailing
Really sounds like you going in the right direction
AsylumResident
Feeling the Heat
I'm trying to gauge it based on other's experiences. I'll have the glass go "brown" which burns off pretty easy and then when I set the air to 90% down for a long burn it'll be very dark brown over 80% of the glass and it doesn't burn off too well.
so its totally weird.. sometimes is super crusty.. other times you can still see through the glass. This time of year is kind of a pain.. in 60 days your consistently burning hotter so the glass gets clean easier.. right not your just trying to burn and not overheat the house
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