Cat... smolder burn

[jtb51b]

Dave,
By your pic I assume you loaded it up some before the pic..half hour or so?
I get the same smoke on the glass after reloads..even after gassing off for a 1/2 hour.
It's almost like the air wash is moving the smoke to the glass because the center stays clear for a long while.
I dunno..but I don't care because its heats so well.

Roger that; I didn't get a pic, last night, of it on high, & just full of flames in bypass closed mode.
But here's a Pic 10 min after I turned it down from high to 2.25
Then a pic, just minutes ago, getting ready to empty the ashes in about 2 hours after 11 days of burning of the coals I raked to the front. (cat temp mid range)
More coals than normal so heating the house pretty warm now, on high but trying to get in done while it's still daylight.
Flash don't do it justice, it's cherry red coals & too hot to get in to empty ashes.
Pic 1 was 10 pm last night, pic 2 is 3:30 pm today 2 hours of burn cycle left to go to have less coal so I can empty ashes..

I remember those days, and I sure wish mine would go back to burning like that! I get mountains of coal and takes a ton of time and air to burn them to ash.. It wasn't like this when I first installed the stove.. I can burn low and long but I don't get the heat output I used to either. I have to turn the stove up to get heat..

Jason

A combustor last about 2-1/2 to 3 years before it starts to deteriorate. I've read the 10,000 to 12,000 hours life span of the combustors on a few university studies also.
A good read for those with over 3 year old combustorslast few paragraphs) (cost study link on the page too)
http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/How_They_Work.html

If thats the case then mine lasted less than a season.. From February of 2010 till the end of the season. When I started back up the next year is when I began having problems. I have not burned any paint or garbage in mine and the cat seems to light off well, I guess..

Jason

 

[bogydave]

Jason;
I'm not saying this is your problem.
I don't know why your stove is burning different than last year.
Same type of wood? Same dryness? Different stat setting & longer burn times, High/Low weather changes, are a few things that come to mind for the change.

I have lots of coals if I load the stove before the chunks inside have burned down real good.
That's one reason i don't always load it "stuffed full". After 24 hours on low, the full load is not burned down to mostly ashes & hot coals; but wouldn't make it thru the night.
I want to load it & go to bed so I rake the chunks a even as I can & cover them with new splits. After a few day of this i have to burn it on high for a few hours, & every now & then rake the coals to the front.
I get lots of heat from this, & sometimes throw a flat split on top (E/W, up front), if the weather is cold, to keep the stove's heat output up.
Now that it's getting in the teens at night, I'm not getting the over 24 hr burn times & throw on 2 splits of spruce around noon, run on med to high & finish the burn down of the hot coal so I can get a full load in at night.

 

[Todd]

Temps over 1600 can degrade a cat much faster, best to monitor cat temps if you can for longer life.