Not sure what my deal is, but I still have a deal. I ordered a brand new t stat for $220. I have it adjusted when cold to 7/8 open, as that's what bkvp told me. It's just not working right. It will never close all the way. Like, it's still a quarter of an inch open when the cat guage is pegged. Burning up my load of wood super quick, and super glowing cat, needle pegged, and can't shut the damned thing down. Almost scary. Pretty sure everyone else with the normal stove with the totally different t stat can close it down while it's cold. So, I moved it down a little more than half an inch open when cold for the next fire. There's oval shaped holes in the t stat when you mount it with two screws, and gives you the ability to move it up or down a bit. It's just like there's no enough play in the spring. It will not close when hot.
Now on my next fire, it went out with wood still in it. The problem is it's not smart, or hooked up to the cat guage to know when it's going out or running too hot. It simply works off the warmth of the stove. Would be nice to have a smart one that worked like that. So then the fire goes out, or almost out, cat goes inactive, and then it starts to open up a tiny bit, making the wood smoke again which just smokes the hell out of the new cat, and new liner for an undetermined amount of hours. NOT what I want happening. It wont get hot enough to re fire the cat up. Not sure what to do from here. Maybe I still have a small leak from the bypass, maybe it's too warm outside. I don't know. It's just a pain to have to be here to babysit this thing, and make sure it's not over firing, or dying out when I turn the fan on. The fan even at half way really brings the cat temp down. You'd think the t stat could compensate and open up when the cat is about to go inactive. It doesn't though. It's like I'd be better off just making the thing like a normal stove without springs n stuff, and just set the damn thing and walk away like most stoves. I don't even care about extra burn times at this point, I just want it to burn at a constant rate, and until all the wood is gone, and then go inactive so it can't ruin a brand new liner.