Progress Hybrid: Need Help!

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Waulie

Minister of Fire
Aug 31, 2011
1,012
Nothern Lower Michigan
So I was experiencing a smoke issue when reloading. I used a flashlight to get a look at the screen, and sure enough it looked pretty blocked. So, I waited and waited for the stove to cool down enough to clean it. I just tried cleaning and am not pleased! The damn screen fell apart in my hand. I took it out and brushed it off, then tried to put it back in. That's when half of it slid down the stove on top of the baffle. I've been burning for one month, now my stove is getting cold, and this isn't going to cut it for me. I can't get to the lost screen and my furnace just kicked on. Any Progress owners with suggestions?
 
What is the screen made out of, would a magnet work to reach it?
 
OK, so I got the screen out with a wire hanger (strange I could find one of those). Now, I'm not even close to getting it back in. The instructions are worthless and I'm probably slowly poisoning my whole family at this point. Guess I'll figure out after several gallons of propane. :bug:
 
Waulie, I've only cleaned the screen once and I had trouble with it too, but as I remember when I used both hands, one coming from the top and the other thru the side door and pushing kinda up and sideways at the same time, I got it in place. Remember that it must be in a C shape and that the tabs are on the inside of the stove.

I currently have the door off of mine and can't get it back on. Have tried everything and my arms are shaking so bad, I've had to give up.

Good luck!
 
Thanks everybody! I think I fixed it. Hmm, I guess I'll be the first to say "terrible design". That screen is rediculous. It wouldn't be as bad (but would still suck) if you didn't have to stop heating your house to fix it. After one month, this should not be in the cards. Maybe it's just me with the plugged screen?
 
could the screen be vacuumed in place, what kind of material is clogging the screen(fly ash or creosote)
 
I tried using canned air to clean the screen, per WS, but you just couldn't reach all the places that needed cleaning without taking the screen out.
 
It was just fly ash. I would have sucked it up, but was scared of the random hotness. I probably would have had the same problem though, since I just barely touched it with an old toothbrush when it fell apart. It is simply two pieces of screen door with nothing to hold the shape and no room to spare to put it back. It's just a poor design. I love the stove, but I can still say that.
 
How frequently is this screen going to need cleaning when the stove is pulling 24/7 duty? Would a stainless frame and a stop to keep it in place when cleaning?
 
I too, had a lot of trouble with my screen while first going through the stove prior to install. It took simultaneous hands through both the door and the top to get them back and positioned correctly, and yes, I think this is a prime candidate for a frame of some sort. It would have to be two piece in order to get it in and out however, given the width of the opening it covers.

I have not had much ash caught in my screen after a month of burning. I've had some pretty hot secondary fires with the few cold nights we just recently had however, so perhaps I burned it all out then.

The stove is going great for us. We're warm through the night, and incredibly(!), burning less wood than we did with the Heritage. 2 fires a day and always a lovely coal bed are both beyond my expectations.
 
Waulie

I could not agree with you more, the screen is a pain in the neck. I checked mine right after you said yours was clogged, and I was nervous pulling it out because I had so much trouble installing it about a month ago. Fortunately I had already learned the tricks to getting it in. You have to make sure the rear edge of the screen (non-tabbed edge) sits in the groove of the fireback.The picture posted in this thread shows the groove I am talking about.

I wonder why yours clogged so quickly? Do you use paper to start your fires or are you always reloading on hot coals? What kind of wood are you burning?

Glad you got it figured out, I hate that sound of a running furnace!
 
I'm glad you got it work out. I haven't had to mess around with my screen yet. I looked it over when I got the stove because I remembered reading that it sometimes moved out of place during shipping, but luckily mine didn't move. It did look like a PITA to install if it had to be taken out. I wonder what would happen if you burned without the screen. Do other cat stoves have a screen or is it unique to the Progress?
 
Looks like the screen is designed to keep particulates from getting blown through the cat and/or trapped in the heat exchanger trough shown in the diagram.
 
Waulie

I could not agree with you more, the screen is a pain in the neck. I checked mine right after you said yours was clogged, and I was nervous pulling it out because I had so much trouble installing it about a month ago. Fortunately I had already learned the tricks to getting it in. You have to make sure the rear edge of the screen (non-tabbed edge) sits in the groove of the fireback.The picture posted in this thread shows the groove I am talking about.

I wonder why yours clogged so quickly? Do you use paper to start your fires or are you always reloading on hot coals? What kind of wood are you burning?

Glad you got it figured out, I hate that sound of a running furnace!

I don't know why mine would have clogged faster than anybody elses. That's why I'm bummed about needing to clean it after one month. I haven't put anything in the stove other than wood since my break in fires. I am burning almost exclusively ash that has been split and stacked for about 10 months. The ash was half dead when I cut it and it is burning great. About half my splits don't even have bark on them as it came off while splitting.

I have been doing low, cat burns for the past week or so because it's been pretty warm. I wonder if that has something to do with it?
 
Just a thought, but if you have a really strong draft I could see where that might contribute to an inordinate amount of ash being sucked up into the screen.
 
Waulie said:
I have been doing low, cat burns for the past week or so because it's been pretty warm. I wonder if that has something to do with it?

Maybe your cat cooled down to the point it wasnt active any more and with the air reduced on the main load you gummed up your screen.
 
Hey my post showed up as ASH_403 thats not me.

Software clitch.
 
Who are you then if not ash_403?
 
OK I had to log off and log back on now its showing correctly but the last 2 posts was from me.
 
One thing I know is I am not Ash 403
 
That's odd, though the site went down for about 5 minutes for a ram upgrade about an hour ago. Were you only logged on to Hearth.com or were you also logged onto the new test site?
 
Ash_403 said:
Waulie said:
I have been doing low, cat burns for the past week or so because it's been pretty warm. I wonder if that has something to do with it?

Maybe your cat cooled down to the point it wasnt active any more and with the air reduced on the main load you gummed up your screen.

Waulie:

When you were doing "cat burns", were you getting any secondary flame activity in the firebox, or was it just smoldering with no flames, at a very low temp?
Do you know what your stovetop temp was? I wonder if Ash_403 or Huntingdog is correct, your cat was stalled out???
 
fire_man said:
Ash_403 said:
Waulie said:
I have been doing low, cat burns for the past week or so because it's been pretty warm. I wonder if that has something to do with it?

Maybe your cat cooled down to the point it wasnt active any more and with the air reduced on the main load you gummed up your screen.

Waulie:

When you were doing "cat burns", were you getting any secondary flame activity in the firebox, or was it just smoldering with no flames, at a very low temp?
Do you know what your stovetop temp was? I wonder if Ash_403 or Huntingdog is correct, your cat was stalled out???

I think I was experiencing some cat stalls. I would go out and smoke would be billowing out, quite thick, but white to light gray. If I then openned the bypass and got the wood going well, then shut the bypass and went out to look at the chimney, it would be no smoke or very little. I wanted to try someone's suggestion of just upping the air until things were going well and then lowering the air, but haven't got a chance to try that yet.
 
Anyone have a picture of this screen? I wonder if it's the same size mesh as the new scoops in the other stoves? The cat manufacture recommended this screen for the s/s cat because of the possibility of ash build up. I've been playing around with my scoops and it seems the screen has such small holes it can easily plug up in a couple weeks of low cat burns. Higher burn rates don't seem to clog the screen as much. If this is the case you guys are going to have to check this screen more often if your burning low and slow all the time. Maybe Woodstock should consider a larger screen size for all their stoves?
 
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