Heat spikes with Intrepid II 1990

[Mr_662]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and am looking for some advice. I have an Intrepid 2 1990 which I recently replaced the gaskets and catalyst on. The reason for doing that is that the cat was shot and had bits of metal falling out of it and the seals hadn't been done in years.

I'm having an issue now where I close the damper and main air vent around 550 degrees on the stove top and the temp will spike over 600 degrees. Yesterday it even got up to 700 degrees. I remember reading temps above 600 will cause damage to the catalyst.

Does anyone know if this is normal and if not, any suggestions on how to prevent these spikes?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[begreen]

The catalyst temperature and the stovetop temperature are independent measurements. The catalyst starts burning flue gases between 500º and 600º. You want the cat to be active before closing the bypass. When active, the cat temp can be between 500 and 1500º. This is inside the stove and not the same as the stovetop temperature. Stovetop temperatures on this stove can range from 300 to 750º when burning. In lieu of a cat thermometer, the manual uses a 450º stovetop temp as a guide to close the bypass. This is covered in the manual on page 22.

 

[hansenjw]

Yesterday when I was burning my stove, with a 3/4 load of wood, after about 30 minutes of burning my stovetop temperature was 640f and my catalyst was at about 1300f. It was nice and stable there for an hour and started slowly dropping off after that.

I also recently got an Intrepid 2 1990 and posted a different thread about cat temperatures. I had just gotten a catalyst thermometer, which is easy to install in this stove, and I was surprised to find out how hot the cat would get. I’m pretty sure that before I got the cat thermometer, I was probably burning my new cat up. With a couple days of practice, I have it nicely under control.

 

[Mr_662]

I don't have an easy way to install a cat thermometer as I have a heat shield on the back of the stove which is blocking the port, so I'm just left with the stove top thermometer and the one on the flue.

 

[hansenjw]

I don't have an easy way to install a cat thermometer as I have a heat shield on the back of the stove which is blocking the port, so I'm just left with the stove top thermometer and the one on the flue.

I think I read somebody say that one of the common probes bent at a sharp 90 degree angle, allowing it to fit behind the heat shield. I don’t recall which one it was though.

By the way, could you post a picture of your back heat shield? I haven’t seen one.