Anyone having this issue with your Dutchwest Cat Stove?

[hookspacken]

I have a small D/W cat stove bought last year. Works great, except.... When getting the stove up to temp to convert, or when reloading and getting back up to temp. The fire will go up the stove pipe and get real hot (dont have a stack probe installed yet) but it gets the double wall hot and you can smell it, then the smoke alarm goes off. when you turn the draft down to try to keep the flames from licking up the stove pipe, it takes like 30-45 minutes to get up to temp, by that time a good portion of the load has burned up. Doesnt it seem like they shoud have put some kind of baffle in there to keep the flame from going straight up the stove pipe? Anyone else see this issue?

 

[ozarkjeep]

my stove is designed the same way, with the cat disengaged, it goes DIRECTLY up the flu.

Its never been an issue to me, It almost sounds as if the paint was never cured on the double wall.

I have a small D/W cat stove bought last year. Works great, except.... When getting the stove up to temp to convert, or when reloading and getting back up to temp. The fire will go up the stove pipe and get real hot (dont have a stack probe installed yet) but it gets the double wall hot and you can smell it, then the smoke alarm goes off. when you turn the draft down to try to keep the flames from licking up the stove pipe, it takes like 30-45 minutes to get up to temp, by that time a good portion of the load has burned up. Doesnt it seem like they shoud have put some kind of baffle in there to keep the flame from going straight up the stove pipe? Anyone else see this issue?

 

[webbie]

I side with Ozark on this. No prob with the flame going right up, that is what it was designed to do and what keeps the doors clear of smoke coming out. Can be mitigated with a stack or barometric damper, and should not occur much when things are running along regular - in other words, once you have a good bed of embers, you should just be able to open the bypass, load, and then close the bypass without worrying about getting up to temp......or at least no more than 5 minutes in open position.

Yes, you are also probably just burning the paint from sections further up.

 

[Corie]

30-45 minutes? Hrm, sounds like you are reloading too late in the burn cycle, wood is possibly wet, etc?

It definitely shouldn't take that long for the stove to get its thermal momentum back and start rolling again.

 

[Pine Knot]

I'm using single wall pipe from stove to thimble with a magnetic thermo. about 10" up from my Dutchwest large. I, too get flames up in the pipe when in bypass. At 400 degrees I close the bypass and it takes off. The smoke detector going off and smell a paint curing problem?

 

[hookspacken]

So maybe I am waiting too long then. I have been trying to get the converter temp up to 500 deg and the firebox temp over 500 as well. Is it only critical for the firebox temp and not so much for the converter?

 

[ozarkjeep]

can you see the face of the combustor unit inside your firebox?

I open the door slightly, and shoot the front of the combustor with a non-contact ( harbor freight) temp gun.

it climbs to over 500 degrees fairly quickly

So maybe I am waiting too long then. I have been trying to get the converter temp up to 500 deg and the firebox temp over 500 as well. Is it only critical for the firebox temp and not so much for the converter?

 

[webbie]

On newer stove designs, the user should not have to worry about getting the cat up to temp after the initial load of wood. The cats actually start reacting at lower than 500 anyway, and quickly rise from internal reactions.

As long as you have good wood and are just throwing a couple pieces in here and there, open it, toss them in, and then close it....

At least that is how it should work!

 

[ozarkjeep]

interesting.

If I re-engage mine immediately after a re-load, it gets 'blackened'

Maybe that doesn't hurt anything though, I have noticed it burns off as soon as it heats up.

On newer stove designs, the user should not have to worry about getting the cat up to temp after the initial load of wood. The cats actually start reacting at lower than 500 anyway, and quickly rise from internal reactions.

As long as you have good wood and are just throwing a couple pieces in here and there, open it, toss them in, and then close it....

At least that is how it should work!

 

[webbie]

The cat does not and should not glow during many parts of the fire and reaction. EPA would (hopefully) not allow a stove to pass if it took too much fiddling - in other words, anyone should be able to run a cat stove. The lower temps I was mentioning are actually firebox temps, not cat temps. Turns out that firebox temps as low as 250-400 can sustain the reaction in the cat once it has started......which goes back to my point that once the first load or two is burned, the stove and embers should maintain this temp easily.

A lot of good info here:
http://www.sud-chemie.com/scmcms/web/page_en_5687.htm

 

[hookspacken]

Thanks for that link, web. Tons of good info there. I will mess around with some different variables and let you know how it works.

 

[aknight]

I have an extra large dutchwest. The operater mannual says the cat should be at a temp of 500 before you engage it. you should have a small thermostat on top of the stove with a probe on it going in to the cat. this is where you should get the 500 degree reading. The smell you are smelling is probably just paint getting hotter than it ever has yet. mine still will when i get it hot and i've been burning it for three years. If you have good stove pipe it should be able to take a temp of 2000 degrees or better. One thing that i have found in getting the cat up to temp is using a in flue dampner and shutting it slightly after the wood starts to burn and the stove pipe heats up. This seems to help get the cat up to temp faster. Only takes about five to ten min using this method with good wood on a fresh start. When reloading in the morning, I usually have a good bed of coals and and just toss some wood in and reingage the cat. I go to work and wife and kids stay asleep so must be burning good and keeping the house warm, or she would flip the furnace on and call and yell at me. Hope this helps you out

 

[Pine Knot]

On my Dutchwest large I have three thermometers, One on the left side door, one on the stove pipe about ten inches up, and a probe type directly into the cat area that came with the stove. After reloading, and trying to determine when to engage the cat I watch door thermo and the pipe thermo, When either passes 400 degrees I close the bypass. The temp at the cat probe will often be 300 degrees or less at the closeing of the bypass.I leave the draft lever full open for several minutes. The cat probe thermo starts to rise, when it passes 500 degrees I assume the cat is working and I close or nearly close the draft. This is for a reload from a fairly low fire where temps at all three thermos have dropped to 300 degrees or less. The key is, don't wait for the cat thermo to indicate 500 degrees. When the smoke and gas and heat are routed through the cat it will heat up and light off.If door and pipe are reading 400 degrees I assume inside the firebox temps are approaching 500 degrees.
Hope this helps.

 

[jpl1nh]

I think you are waiting too long before engaging your combustor. The link web gave you does have lots of great info. You don't want to shock your cat and it explains that pretty well, but I think many people don't realize how quickly they achieve cat light of temps.