VC ENCORE - CAT LIGHT OFF

[r_d_gard]

Hey Folks

Back for another season of burnng.

It's chilly tonight, so the stove is up and running. Currently the CAT is engaged and the airflow is choked down to 1/3. Wood is dry (2+ years, poplar), 6" flue liner is 25'. Flue is straight out the back of stove for 14" then "T" piece and run straight up to termination at top of chimney. Temp is holding nicely in the house at 85.

So here is my question. How do I know if the CAT has lit off, if it is dark outside and I can't check the smoke output?
I know on some stoves you can hear the "rumble" and on non CAT stoves you can get the Northern Lights on the roof of the stove. Yet for these VC Encores how do you know if the CAT has kicked off.

Any inside information would be appreciated. Please feel free to post away.

Thanks


Ray

 

[jharkin]

http://www.condar.com/digital_monitor_woodstoves.html

 

[Gark]

The probe just mentioned would be great.
The back wall of the stove getting real hot is another clue. The cat in these stoves flows its burned gases down and rearward, so the heat from the combustor reburn gets the rear of the Encore hot. Unfortunately, we can't see the cat glowing because it's hidden behind a hood and behind the wood.

 

[fbelec]

poplar is a smokey type of wood if you got a fire going and it's dark out grab a flashlight and aim the beam at the top of the chimney and if it's smoking you'll see it with the beam of light. and if you see smoke then most likely the cat is not lit or it needs some work.

 

[jharkin]

And don't forget that its normal to see white wisps of water vapor from the stack. Especially when your wood is not super dry and in mild/damp weather. What you are looking out for is gray/black smoke that doesn't dissipate (sometimes hard to tell in the dark).


Its not cheap but I highly recommend the probe. I obsessed about checking the smoke that first winter (drove the wife nuts) until I got the probe. Its a great help and also gives you advanced warning if you are getting close to overfire temp.

 

[r_d_gard]

I didn't even know you could get a temp probe and place it inside the refactory. That sounds like a great idea. How do you insert it into the stove. Did you drill a hole through the cast iron or did you place it through the back of the stove and down into the refractory?

Ray

 

[certified106]

Not super familiar with the Encore but on my Dutchwest I just pull the cat thermometer and look down through the hole. I am getting light off as low as 350° with the Condar steel cat and have had no problems with it. Secondly go outside and look at the chimney about 5 minutes after you engae the cat and you should see nothing but heat vapor or some condensation that disipates within 10 feet of the chimney. Do you have a temperature probe into your cat? I would be afraid to burn without mine as I can overheat the cat if I'm not careful.

 

[fjord]

C.V. : the present Encore 2550 ( lovely "Merlot Red" procelain cerca 2001 ). This is Encore #3 since the original Vermont Castings design/build in 1989 used for no backup heating in 2 homes.

No real need for probes, Infrared Guns, Moisture Meters, video monitors, HVAC flue devices, or Excel analyses. The original manual is clear and simple for operation--other iterations of VC use the same manual.

This is what we've done successfully for this Encore cat resulting in barely a cup of loose soot in the annual Spring flue brushing, and never rumbling:

1. Load the firebox--top down or bottom up. Seasoned splits preferred, and light.
Bypass damper to the cat ass'y open (pushed to the rear and 'locked in place).
Right hand primary air control full open-towards the front usually horizontal.

2. Monitor the stove-top thermometer placed in the center of the griddle so that the fire gets up to at least 500 F to 600 F ( Morning fire = up to +/- 650 F to "burn out" any accumulated soot from a damped down overnight fire. WARNING: the ash door is open only while emptying the ash pan. This can lead to a fast overfire! ).

3. WITHOUT CHANGING THE AIR CONTROL, engage the bypass by pulling the handlke forward in the "cat mode" locked in position.

4. The fire will damp down slightly in the bypass mode (less air and a complex flame path). WAIT until the temp creeps back up to ~ 500F or more.

5. THEN adjust the primary air on the right hand side to the desired heat.

Simple. It's an extra step from a non cat stove and perhaps some other engineered cat stoves ( no experience here with the other cat stoves such as Woodstock or Blaze King).
With the monitoring of a cheap, easy to read stove-top thermometer following the specs from the original VC engineers, the cat WILL be in gas burning or "lit" mode.
Since morning are hazy @ O-DARK-THIRTY Downeast , we use a loud alarm to signal the stages of burning.
N.B. This is a complex piece of work. Maintenance is critical and $$$$$. ALL parts of the 2550 need to be near perfect for this baby to perform: cat, cat ass'y, gaskets, bypass damper, primary and secondary air, etc....

This wood burner CAN be or should have been one of the finest wood stoves manufactured. Later builds were terrible. If we had to buy a stove now it would be Woodstock (if top loading), PE, Jotul.

YMMV

 

[Backwoods Savage]

On our cat stove we know it is working because when we engage it, the temperature goes up rather quickly. Cat's won't always glow, otherwise we could just look up at the cat to tell. So, we just go by stove temperature. The temperature will not go up a lot nor very fast until we engage the cat.

 

[jharkin]

Fjord,

Glad to hear you have had such good luck with yours. The first year with mine (inherited from PO), I more than once had the cat hit 1800F+ and cause glowing metal around the hood while the griddle thermometer was still under 600. So I grew to like the extra insurance of the cat thermometer.

Hoping this year with good dry wood and all the gaskets perfect I wont have such problems.

Don't get me wrong though, when its burning right I really like this stove, which is why I spent $ and time to replace the worn parts and fix it up.



Rayza- If you do decide to get it, on the back plate of the stove feel for a small metal button you can pop off. In that hole you can twist a 1/4" drill by hand through the refractory to fit the probe.

 

[fjord]

Fjord,
Glad to hear you have had such good luck with yours. The first year with mine (inherited from PO), I more than once had the cat hit 1800F+ and cause glowing metal around the hood while the griddle thermometer was still under 600. So I grew to like the extra insurance of the cat thermometer.
Hoping this year with good dry wood and all the gaskets perfect I wont have such problems.
Don't get me wrong though, when its burning right I really like this stove, which is why I spent $ and time to replace the worn parts and fix it up.
Rayza- If you do decide to get it, on the back plate of the stove feel for a small metal button you can pop off. In that hole you can twist a 1/4" drill by hand through the refractory to fit the probe.

If I had the savvy to figure out the multiple quote scenario then Dennis would be in here. Alas, it ain't no K.I.S.S. Why ?

That "good luck" has been some sweat, $$$$$$$$$, true blood, time, calls, threats, and the usual brain-it-out to get the Encore beast to perform. Replacement, gobs of furnace cement, standard maintenance, frozen bolts with accompanying $#@%&$ in 2 languages over time seems to have tamed Mr. VC....for now.
Our SOP is simply to watch the top thermometer. Nothing else needed.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, what's "PO" ? This some iPhone, techie thing, related to "BO" ?

 

[jetmech]

I have a Cat probe in my intrepid and it is the best way to see if cat is working, Rumbles come and go, Cat can be working with or without rumble... usually if i cut back air the rumbling will stop. By the way PO means previous owner i would think...... just sayin..