Okay all, here is the question. During a reload how much smoke puffs out the ol' stack? More than you would like to see? Can you see it when you look out your window and say... jeez i gotta get this thing up to cruising speed fast!
How much smoke from the chimney during reload do you produce?
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I worry more about smoke from my truck on a cold start than the stove on a reload if its concerning the neighbor's. :lol:
If the temperature is too low at re-load time, I get too much smoke. If I reload at 350 degrees F or higher with a good load of coals, I'll get a drop to 300 degrees F (stovetop) for a few minutes as the wood catches, then it will move back up again pretty quickly. I'll get smoke for perhaps 10 minutes if I load at 350 degrees F.
Depends when I reload, I usually reload at low temps so I get some smoke for a while. From a 200* stove top I'll be smoke free in 20 minutes or so if I had to guess. I can't say I've ever cared enough to time it, I figure the smoke will be gone at some point. :lol:
Depends on the coal bed and firebox interior temperature. If the coal bed is hot, and the stovetop is still north of 300, I get secondaries (and vanishing of smoke) in like 5 minutes. On a top-down cold start, I get a small wispy plume of smoke for about a half hour until secondaries catch. The worst is a warm restart where the coals are wimpy and the stovetop is under 200, which could get me a fair amount of smoke for 15-20 minutes.
My stove has always smoked. No not black rolling clouds out the chimney or fogging up the whole neighborhood, but I can tell a fire is going in the stove from outside.
My experience is about like grommals. I try to reload when the stove is still hot but the wood is all coals so I minimize smoke. If I reload when some of the wood isn't coals yet, I am likely to get a little smoke in the room. If I wait too long and the stove cools too much I am likely to get smoke out the stack for a while (up to 20 minutes??) If I get it right there will be very little smoke.
grommal said:
About the same.
My neighbor replaced his stove with a newer EPA stove and I can tell when he has started or refueled, but have to look for the heat waves signature off his cap to know if he's burning or not. There's that little smoke.
We both have nice dry well-seasoned wood, though.
People who moved in across the street burned in the Fall.
Green wood that smelled like sh!t.
grommal said:
Ditto . . . I don't worry too much about the smoke though . . . I mean it's not like I'm in a race to see who can get the fire to the point where little to no smoke is coming out of the chimney the fastest . . . that is to say . . . I want to burn cleanly, but I'm not too worried on a reload if there is some smoke coming out of the chimney . . . way I look at it . . . it lets the neighbors know that I truly do burn all that firewood I've got stacked on my property and that it isn't there just for looks.
I get more smoke with my NC-30 than i do with my Harman downdraft,thats for sure. THe NC-30 gets easily overwhelmed when burning pine, and emits dark smoke until the off gassing stage is past on high air settings,even with very dry pine ,the harman however can burn anything clean at any air setting. With hard wood the 30 doesn't smoke near as much as with soft wood so most people wont have a problem. Both stoves will emit steam for a few minutes after a reload,cant burn steam.
It is a fact that there will be smoke when you put in fresh wood. Even on a cat stove because when you reload you bypass the cat. But it depends on the coal bed and much of it depends upon what you are putting in there. Some wood will smoke more than others, especially if it is not seasoned well. It also depends upon how much fresh wood you put in. Fill the firebox only 1/3 or 1/2 and you won't get as much as a full load, etc.
I try to avoid overloading my fire, not particularly because of the smoke, but because it tends to take longer to heat back up to the secondary burn.
Once it's dark, nobody notices the smoke anyway, they are all in huddled round their fires as well
!!
Once it's dark, nobody notices the smoke anyway, they are all in huddled round their fires as well
!!
I now close the by pass as soon as I'm done loading as long as the cat temp is 1/3 or better.Backwoods Savage said:
I find I get way less smoke out of the chimney...I don't understand why some cat owners think they have to char the wood first.
Backwoods Savage said:
HotCoals said:
I cook off the excess moisture; I don't want to damage my ceramic combustor. I'm going to get a steel combustor and have wood that's seasoned better for next winter...
HotCoals said:
When you reload there will be lots of smoke and also some steam as the remaining moisture is evaporated. If you wait 10-15 minutes before you engage the cat you will not have to replace that cat nearly as often.
You can indeed leave the cat engaged if you so choose but it is not recommended.
Thing is when reload and don't kick it up to get flame it doesn't release a lot of moisture at one time.Backwoods Savage said:
I think it's better not to char it and release a lot of water all at once ..seems that would be harder on the cat.
Maybe that's just me..I'll let you know how long it takes before I kill my cat..lol.
The idea is to release the moisture....before engaging the cat. Moisture is a cat killer, or at least for the ceramic cats. I have yet to try out the steel cats so will be anxious to see the difference. The reports so far sound good.
It would seem to me even with the by pass open the cat is still getting hit with it..I dunno.Backwoods Savage said:
I really don't seem to get a lot of moisture reloading then closing it down before it erupts in flames.
I'm interested in those steel cats also..in case I kill this one prematurely..lol.
I guess I have 2 years free replacement...I'll see what this ceramic one can take!
Half way through a burn I have opened the air all the way and hit the cat good with the flames just to show some people that this King Cat will kick it!
Still I have yet to see over 650 stove top.
HotCoals said:
It is going to take the path of least resistance. The cat isn't even close to in the game with that 8" straight up cannon open. Crack the door and watch what the flames do with even a large amount of air and the bypass open.
If you are trying to avoid smoke in the neighborhood by closing the bypass early, try stirring up that coal bed good and hot with the tstat wide open for 45 minutes before you reload. I find a garden hoe is much more effective than a poker.
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