Kuma sequoia review

sweedish said:

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Damper installed

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Did you buy that damper or make it? I'm having the same issue and that looks like it would help

sweedish said:

As far as reloads and trying to achieve a more even/ complete burn, If it’s north to south, I pull the coals to the sides of the firebox, and put my biggest pieces on those, smaller stuff in the middle and on top. Conversely if it’s east to west, 70 percent coals in the back, 30 percent up front, and big pieces in the front.

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Did you play around with a top-down start? Put a couple of splits of faster-burning wood under your big pieces to keep it burning hotter at the end of the burn, and put kindling in the center/top with a firestarter like a SuperCedar chunk to get the stove up to temp. You can even put in a couple more medium splits in the center and burn those in, when the stove is up to temp and you are getting close to closing the bypass.

Woody Stover said:

I have several that fell and hung on their own, and maybe using that "come-along" as they call it here, would be safer than trying to cut them, which scares the heck outta me.

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Yeah, I was about to get a come along, but a skidding winch on my tractor is super safe and easy! Pretty much every tree I try to cut gets hung up.

I just finished my third season with my Sequoia. It is a great stove, today I cleaned out both stoves and chimneys and replaced the cat on the sequoia which was still under warranty. A very easy replacement and cleaning was simple as well.

Old cat out new cat, about 20 min job. I replaced the probe thermometer as well it was looking kinda beat up. I figure running the stove 24/7 from mid Oct. till almost May for 3 years is not horrible. The cat was under warranty which Kuma and Applied Ceramics helped me with I did not know this. Both places have great customer support. I noticed the cat temps were not what they used to be so I was just trying to trouble shoot it and Kuma recommended replacing and then they told me to contact Applied Ceramics for warranty on the cat and it was completely covered if I still had bill of sale showing three years or less and theey ask for the old one back. Works for me.

sweedish said:

What causes a cat to fail?

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Wear and tear: masking (deposits covering the catalyst) or surface area loss (substrate gets overheated and flattened out, greatly reducing exposed catalyst).

Abuse: thermal shock (open the door and cold air hits the 1000 degree cat), poisoning (burning PT), and mechanical damage (ramming a log into it).

sweedish said:

And why 3 years? Some people run their cat for like 10 years

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"Fail" is subjective. Hammer noticed a decrease in cat temp; most people wouldn't notice/care.

Cats are also rated in hours, not years. I burn ~5000 hours a year, but the next guy over might burn 5. My cat will go for a couple years before it gets tired, and his will last longer than his house will.

I think I probably could have gone another winter, but I was noticing a decrease in temps. Towards the end of the burn season I would still see temps over 1000 to 1100 some days but both Kuma and Applied Ceramics talked about burn hours like jetsam mentioned. 10,000 to 12,000 hours I tried figuring it out the way I burn and it was close. My stove runs 24/7 from Oct to almost June. If the stove runs 15 hours a day by 7 days a week that is 105 hours a week multiply by 28 weeks or 7 months 2940 hours a year by three years all subject to figuring it out why it was burning not quite as hot. Both Kuma and Applied Ceramics seemed to have no problem replacing the cat under warranty, which I appreciate. I try and take care of the stoves properly, no thermal shock to the cat burning clean dry wood, not having logs hit or touch the cat. I just noticed the last three months the temps seemed to be down from past burning so I talked with both parties and this is the result. Kuma said they see some customers replacing a cat almost every burn season from burning it hard long burn seasons etc. I guess every situation is a little different. If you hardly used the stove a fire here or there the cat would last for many years. This is just the observation I noticed with my stove and operation. If every three years or so I had to replace the cat I could live with that kind of maintenance. I saw other threads where guys were replacing their cats after 2 years. One of the members is the one who posted pics of his replacement, 2 years old cat that is what was very helpful on replacing mine.

Yes I just don't have it in the pics but there is a large cat cover installed in front of the cat

How is everyones catalytic combustor housing holding up? Mine is sagging pretty good. I tried to find a part # for it in the manual but it doesn't show one. Certainly this is a replaceable part, right? Im sure most don't see the extreme use that I put mine through but I thought it would last longer than this. I keep mine running hot, usually with the intake open nearly halfway. With my draft that gets things hot. Of course for overnight burns I close it down all the way and still have a flame going in the morning usually.

begreen said:

How old is the stove now?

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Put it in October of last year 2018. I noticed it started warping after a month or two. I tried to convince myself it wouldn't get any worse.

Definitely a replaceable part. Fatigue that early is unusual but maybe yours is running hotter than most, as you say.

Either way, we'll warranty that part for you. Give me a call to get that ordered.

Jason
208-209-5862

Can you just bend it back to square?

Woody Stover said:

Can you just bend it back to square?

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Possibly but if Im taking it out, its getting replaced.

Thanks for the offer Jason but I don't feel this is warranty. Im heating the great outdoors, indoor. Somewhere between 6000-8500 sq ft log cabin with 30 ft ceilings. 1000+ sq ft of windows. Id put this insert up against any other comparable sized unit out there. It throws some serious heat.

Ok... I think I speak for everyone here.... We need some pics

Rockey said:

Thanks for the offer Jason but I don't feel this is warranty. Im heating the great outdoors, indoor. Somewhere between 6000-8500 sq ft log cabin with 30 ft ceilings. 1000+ sq ft of windows. Id put this insert up against any other comparable sized unit out there. It throws some serious heat.

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A man after my own heart. I've never called in a cat warranty; From what I've seen, they have functioned as the should, for their expected life span.
Holy Kamoly, trying to heat that place it's no wonder you run it hard!
Has anyone measured the actual usable firebox volume on this stove? I think I already asked someone, but I can't remember what their reply was. The Buck 91 was also a flame-thrower but had under 3 cu.ft. usable, only.

The sequoia is about 3 cu. feet once you take into account the cat housing area. I do agree with Rockey the stove will put out some heat. That is some sq feet you are trying to heat I'm at about 4000 sq feet but I have two stoves and I use the furnace when it is real cold. Replacing it is only 4 bolts it looks like a simple process but you how those jobs usually work out.

Ok, so I got the baffle set replaced before I started burning back in October. My question is this. Can I get the baffle box heat treated so this will not warp again? I really dont want to replace this insert as does an amazing job in our house. The only thing I could imagine replacing it with is a custom epa fireplace but I dont know any company that I could trust to do this. I wish I took a picture before I tossed it. It was really warped.

With a 30' ceiling peak I think you probably have a hell of a draft up the flue. I wonder if the stove may have overfired on a cold night. You may be better served with a wood fired furnace or hydronic heater and then enjoy the insert whenever you want to see a fire.