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Maybe its because I'm new to burning in an insert or anything other than a 30 year old stove. Any tips on getting the temp up? I usually light the fire with Cat bypassed and vent open all the way. Once it is burning hard, I engage the cat and start to back the air flow off... am I doing something wrong? I know the wood is a bit wet (24-28%)
Your best bet is to get a probe ona top and develop your technique based on consistent readings . Pointing IR gun at different spots will give you an idea about temperatures and nothing more . Or you can get cat probe temp and install it if it's easy to pull insert out .
Meanwhile just wait until all wood black and burning hot and close bypass then .
You can place stove top thermometer behind grills but it's a pain to read it after that . Brother,I went trough all stages you going trough . ... IR gun, magnetic temp on surrounds etc . Remote probe made my life easier . Now my wife can operate stove without me based on temps she sees
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Glad I'm not the only one! I appreciate all the advise. I'll get remote probe, where did you put the probe end?
I think I'm closing the air intake too soon and the wood isn't hot enough. Sound about right?
I tried something today, hopefully this is the correct way. I let the fire get nice and hot then closed the cat but left the air intake all the way open. I got the air temp coming out about 350 and then started to close the air intake. Is this a better way? Kind of like cruise control on the car. Get to speed and then keep it where I want it.
That's where I was making my mistake. I didn't get the insert hot enough. I think I will get some bio bricks today, the wood I have is a bit wet and I think a combo of the 2 will be about 18% moisture
I spent my first year with biobricks, after burning them you get an idea how it should be with ideal wood . Nothing will compare to real dry oak , though .
I put the probe between outer shell and firebox on a top of firebox , in a space you can see behind grills . I put magnetic top stove thermometer on a top of it to keep in place . Thermometer takes guessing out of the game and gives you piece of mind when you are burning hot . I see temps climbing north of 800 : I put blower on full speed , shaves 100f in no time .
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Thats awesome and it looks easy... I'll give it a try.
I really appreciate all the help from everyone
Thats awesome and it looks easy... I'll give it a try.
I really appreciate all the help from everyone
Well now one more question... I guess I can't stop. Say I dont need to heat the house 40+ degrees... what is the best way to make a "small" fire for lack of a better word. I still need to get to 500 for the cat to kick in.
You've just discovered the first issue with a hybrid stove! A true cat stove only needs flue gases to be in the 500 degree ballpark to engage the cat, then it can be reduced to a very low setting. This isn't possible with a hybrid. Yes it has a cat, but it's not a cat stove. The cat acts as a scrubber to help out the tubes. On hybrids the cat won't act alone, like a true cat stove that is capable of running low and slow, while being efficient.
Got my FireplaceX large hybrid flush yesterday. After 3 burn-in fires, today we got it really going. Ours came with a cat temp probe. Saw 1300 when it was really pumping but usually runs around 1100 degrees.
It's finally warm in my house!
It's finally warm in my house!
Can you take a picture of the probe and where it goes to? I saw where Dmitry put the thermo on his but mine doesn't look like I have that spot or I need better glasses...lol
Well here's the update after 3 months. This thing really gets hot. I went from 3 degrees to 70 no problem. I know that's a lot but locust did good. Downside is if the temp isn't really cold, it's hard to get a medium temp out of the stove. Dmitry, I called Travis and they screwed up and it was supposed to come with a cat temp probe. They are sending and said the install is possible without moving the stove. Is that correct?
Yes , if you can get to the left side of the stove and drill a hole trough another designated hole in a jacket. I have no space to operate there and I don't want to pull insert out since I had hard time with aligning my liner with insert in a first place. Did you call Travis directly or went trough the dealer?
I went through the dealer and they said it's a 3 minute job. No moving anything. IDK but this needs to be right for $5500
Hey man. What is the type of Cat probe is that? The brand and how you use it would be awesome. I have been looking for something like this that I do not have to drill a hole into the stove body. Thanks!
Tegbert
Feeling the Heat
What do you mean that the cat won't act alone on hybrids? That they must have secondary combustion in order to work right?
Lopi Rockport
With the hybrid stoves the cat acts more as a scrubber for the exhaust after it's already passed through the secondary combustion system. They won't sit there on low while the cat does all the work like a traditional cat stove. Although, the Woodstock hybrids seem to do well on low.
Tegbert
Feeling the Heat
That's weird cause that's what I thought they did but I can get mine to pretty much only run on the cat for quite sometime before the secondaries kick back in. Usually when I go low the cat temp will drop 100 degrees but secondaries are going pretty good and not too long after that they slow down to just smoldering logs and the cat probe temp will slowly climb and usually stop at 1050 or so degrees and hover around there for quite some time before it starts to come back down again. The whole time nothing is going on in the box except the cat is glowing like crazy.
Lopi Rockport
The cat is new, it will call down after some time. My cape cod rarely had glow after the first season.
WoodyIsGoody
Minister of Fire
Yes, I think the second part of your question answered the first part!
Wood should be about 15-20% water by weight.
Hey, it's not a cat probe it's just a K type probe I placed on a top of firebox behind grills . Best thing ever . I didn't want to drill a hole in a firebox as well. I connected it to cheap meter from eBay , works just fine . Now I don't need to guess about temps . And it's easier for my wife to operate now based on readings. 9 v battery goes a long way for it.
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Just get the right probe , the first one I got was destroyed by temperature . Get it from AUBER instruments , they have meters as well , but it somewhat ugly and expensive . I got cheap from eBay to see how my setup would work and it's still fine .
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