What'd I do ?

[Trktrd]

The end of week 2 burning my new to me stove 24/7. I've been fairly satisfied with it. It is my first CAT stove and getting used to it. Seems to have a very fine line between smoldering and full out fires of hell. Inlet air damper seems to have minimal effect. Anyway I decided that it being a nice day I'd let it go out and clean it up and check the chimney, cats etc. I made 2 seemingly small adjustments.
1: There was small gap between the cats and the top of the stove so I cut a piece of stainless to fit and snug up the cat chamber.
2: Where the slip joint from the ceiling box meets the stove pipe seemed a little sloppy so got out the caulk gun with the furnace mortar sealed it up.
When I lit her up for the evening fire I couldn't believe the difference. Took 1/2 the time to get the temp up and when cruising I was able to control the fire without a problem. I even loaded the second time with a lot more wood than usual and the temps stayed controlled and didn't run away as it would have before. Curious as to what little adjustment "tamed" my stove.

 

[Dune]

Both. Air leaks into the chimney cause poor draft. Rather than pulling air in through the stove, some air comes in through the leaks. The other thing you have unwittingly improved is your overall chimney condition. Cold air entering a chimney causes greatly increased build up of creosote, by cooling the stove exhaust gases too much.

 

[Trktrd]

Thanks Dune. Is there any "hardware" for installing around single wall pipe joints ? Would make it easier then re-caulking the joint every time I check/clean the chimney.

 

[BrotherBart]

It isn't "pretty" but flat ribbon gasket like is used for stove glass and a stainless steel hose clamp get it done. I used to have one on each pipe joint on the basement stove before I changed to DuraBlack pipe down there.

 

[Trktrd]

Just noticed another potential issue. Where the single wall connects to the ceiling box the pipe is as far as I can get it on, and still see some of the crimp. I'm sure air is entering there too so I'll mortar that joint too. Still can't believe the vast improvement it made so far.