Driving a cat- need more heat from an FPX44

[[email protected]]

So from a cold start top down
By pass fully open I will start to slowly close the by pass 1/4 at a time with air still at full.
Temp up to 350 cat glowing and by pass 3/4 closed cAt fully engaged goes up to 450 or so With good 2ndary's.
down to coals
open the by pass stuff her full and then do I close the by pass with full air or
re peat the process from my cold start? Or do I have my cold start process wrong??

 

[begreen]

Whoopsee, thought you meant driving one of these.

 

[Fsappo]

I drive a cat by using a very small saddle. I have a stick with a sardine hanging from it to keep the cat moving

 

[Todd]

You don't need to slowly close the bypass. When it's up to temp close bypass and set your air till the flames slow down and start to lift off the logs. When reloading open bypass and air, load, wait about 10-15 minutes, close bypass and adjust air setting.

 

[[email protected]]

I slowly close the by pass as I have found it difficult to get this thing up to temp and if I keep the by pass 1/2 closed etc it seams to help

 

[tickbitty]

I drive a cat by using a very small saddle. I have a stick with a sardine hanging from it to keep the cat moving

:lol:

 

[Todd]

Try more kindling with a cold start. I like to put down 2 small splits followed by many pieces of kindling criss crossed almost to the top of my baffle, and after about a half hour in the bypass mode I have a nice coal bed to load larger splits and the stove is up to cat temp.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Get yourself a couple cord of small split pine. Lay a few splits on the bottom of every cold start or reload.

 

[begreen]

I slowly close the by pass as I have found it difficult to get this thing up to temp and if I keep the by pass 1/2 closed etc it seams to help.

Curious. How tall a flue on the FPX 44? Does it have an outside air supply? Do you know if there is a cool air trap on the circulation air?

 

[raybonz]

I'd drive my cat if I could keep it awake for more than 2 minutes.. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ray

 

[[email protected]]

I slowly close the by pass as I have found it difficult to get this thing up to temp and if I keep the by pass 1/2 closed etc it seams to help.

Curious. How tall a flue on the FPX 44? Does it have an outside air supply? Do you know if there is a cool air trap on the circulation air?

I have 27 ft straight up
Ouside air supply yes and it does have a p-trap

 

[begreen]

Sounds great. With that setup, you would almost expect it to light itself.

 

[North of 60]

How dry is that wood of yours...?

 

[[email protected]]

measures 20 % on the meter

 

[North of 60]

measures 20 % on the meter

Inside of a fresh split?

 

[[email protected]]

Yea some is lower than 20 %.
I have called Travis and they were no help.
Everyone says my set up is ideal but i have to load her to the gills and give her full air thru out about the entire burn to get her up to 550.. It has not really been all that cold So I am hoping things will improve as it gets colder.

In the mean time I am going to tear into the wall in the 2nd story of the chase and climb/cut my way down to re-do the p- trap configuration and change it so the blower pulls air from the basement.
Hoping that will help ??

 

[firefighterjake]

Huh . . . this is what I thought of when I read the title about driving a cat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

 

[[email protected]]

I guess I should change the title to
Help I can't get it up
or
It's not hot in here


I also just bought 2 rolls of Ka wool ultra high temp Sheeting
So I will pack that around the stove.
If I didn't have 4,000 lbs of stone surrounded this thing I would rip it out

 

[begreen]

LOL. That was a hilarious video Jake. :lol:

I just modded the title. Hopefully we can draw some working commentary from some FPX owners.

 

[firefighterjake]

I guess I should change the title to
Help I can't get it up
or
It's not hot in here

. . .

Well you could change the title to the aforementioned suggestions . . . but that would just make me think of Smiling Bob as shown in this video.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/enzyte-smiling-bob/05F25CCDB02975629AAE05F25CCDB02975629AAE

 

[Got Wood]

Hmmmm, I have the 44 Elite. Works awesome for me. I dont have a thermometer so I cant say what temp's I'm hitting but I can certainly say it kicks off alot of heat. I don't gradually close the bypass... not scientific, just leave bypass open until the fire seems like its roaring and has been for 5-10 min then shut the bypass. I watch the fire and the glow of the Cat looking for a good flame and a glowing cat before cutting the air down. Sometimes I will reload at the point I'm ready to shut the air down to get it stock full and roaring, then shut bypass and air shortly there after. I seem to have no problems getting a secondary to kick in and it gives off plenty of heat.
What is your real concern? Not hitting the 450 temp or the amount of heat produced?

 

[[email protected]]

I can get her roaring no problem but even roaring full air by pass full open will produce a 500 deg temp and by this time I will be ready for a re load in 30 min. I am just trying to get the most out of this thing possible. It's my understanding that all THe REAL HEAT is produced in the 500- 600 deg range.
I am trying to heat 4200 sqft.
This is a new install in a new home so tring to figure out if something is wrong with me ,the install or my expectations are 2 high


So you will open her up stuff her get the wood all charred then close the by pass and 5-10 min later check the cat and if glowing closed down the air ? How long of a burn does that process get you ? and what are you using for fuel ?

 

[Got Wood]

A couple things, I have never shut the air all the way down, 3/4 is the most I have done. When I have done more than that the glass gets all black. Our house is approx 2300 sq ft and it does heat the house - it is located in a pretty good spot (lower level) which encourages movement of the hot air.
For shutting down the air I usually shut it down in stages, closing maybe a 1/4 at a time getting to 3/4 closed over roughly 20 min. How long of a burn I get depends on the wood quality and have tight I loaded it up. I have been able to load up around 10pm and have red coals around 7am but it isnt blowing heat at that point. This was last winter, my first year with it. My wood quality will be better this year. Hoping to have more success on the over night burn. The length of burn isnt close to the advertised 11 hrs from what I have found. Last winter we were waking up to the house being in the low 60's (we set thermostats below 60) which is ok with us, I load it up and within 30-45 min the temps are rising.
I played with the bypass and air shut down alot last winter. One thing I found was it seemed to be more efficient once you got the secondary kicked in and the air shut down. Leaving the air open goes through wood very fast. I went through 5 cord last winter with an install that completed late Nov.
I would say my biggest complaints are length of burn and quantity of wood required. Biggest Pro - it does a great job heating our house, even the remote rooms. The POS system does work. Where we have drafts it stops them totally. And I love our install with the stone work (pride I did it myself)

 

[Todd]

I can get her roaring no problem but even roaring full air by pass full open will produce a 500 deg temp and by this time I will be ready for a re load in 30 min. I am just trying to get the most out of this thing possible. It's my understanding that all THe REAL HEAT is produced in the 500- 600 deg range.
I am trying to heat 4200 sqft.
This is a new install in a new home so tring to figure out if something is wrong with me ,the install or my expectations are 2 high


So you will open her up stuff her get the wood all charred then close the by pass and 5-10 min later check the cat and if glowing closed down the air ? How long of a burn does that process get you ? and what are you using for fuel ?

It's going to be tough trying to heat 4200 sq ft with a wood insert, that's way over it's manufactures ratings. It also sounds like your using too much air and sending too much heat up your flue. More air doesn't always mean more heat with an EPA stove, you need to find that sweet spot. The cat needs some time to burn the smoke and gas while it passes through, try turning the air down about 3/4 and have a little patients, it will take some time for that much space to heat up, it may take all day and may also mean burning the unit 24/7 with full loads.

 

[[email protected]]

It does not take all that much to heat this house
I know that the 44 elite will be able to do it.
I guess I was just a little confused on how to bring the stove up to temp.
I was trying to hit 450 then engage the cat and throttle down.
I can shut the air all the way down and it will sit there with no flames and then explode with 2ndary flames.

So I need to get it going good engage the cat get it glowing then start working the air down and the temp will come up ? ?.
I was trying to get it up to temp then engage the cat and shutting down the air.