Active cat vs inactive cat.

[Niko]

Ok so i have some questions on my stove about the active and inactive cat. Ok so when my cat is active my family room usually gets hot like the 83+ range and it seems to stay around the 85ish Range and higher. Sometimes its just too hot but when i lower my tstat on my king like to N of normal(0r between 2-3 oclock) the cat goes into inactive but the room gets cooler in the 75 and is much more comfortable and will stay that temp for a long time.

That being said is something bad gonna happen if the stove runs in the inactive zone? Its consistinlty staying in the inactive zone for a long period bad i mean the wood is just smoldering really nice and slowwww. Stove temp around 250-280 range sometime lower. I do Turn the t stat on the highest setting every loading period and let the cat roar for a lil bit to get the new wood nice and ready. The cat does not want to stay active even with a full load if i put the tsat any lower then R on normal which is the 3oclock.

On a day off id like to go down stairs and hangout and relax like everyone else, so id like to keep downstairs temps in the mid to hi 70s. I can only achine this with a lower tstat which results in a inactive cat.

So can i do this? What else can i do to acheive lower temps?

 

[mellow]

Have you moisture checked your wood? Usually for the longer slower burns you need wood below the 20% range, checked on the face of a fresh split piece.

Draft can have an impact as well, how is your chimney setup?

 

[aansorge]

Is it too hot when it is just barely in the active zone?
Do you have the blowers off?
You could try pointing a box fan into the stove room and/or turning on the furnace fan.

 

[Woody Stover]

Are you seeing smoke out of the stack when the cat is inactive? I like to put as little un-burned smoke as possible through through the cat. I like to have the stove hot enough so when I close the bypass, the cat is glowing quickly. Sure, creo will burn out of the cat but it might leave ash that is stuck to the surfaces inside the cat, and it won't just blow out like fly ash out of the firebox would. That may necessitate having to simmer out the cat sooner. Then again, I could be full o' carp.

 

[Niko]

No fans are on and i really have not checked to see if smoke is coming out the chimney. I will tomorrow This is something that I just did 2 days ago as the downstaits was just getting too hot. Mixed Wood is pretty good around16-20 percent.

The question i am asking tho is running the stove in the inactive zone, is that bad? When my stove is in the active zone the downstairs gets a lil to hot.

I just checked the cat as i did a reload and it did not look clogged from the front.

 

[tarzan]

It will result in more creosite in your chimney. As for the cat, all I can tell you is your not supposed to engage it if your inactive.

 

[rdust]

Full load of wood and the stove on "n" the cat should be active until the wood is pretty much gone. What does the chimney set up consist of?

Where does the t-stat flapper close on cold stove? Maybe your "n" is a closed t-stat but even with a good chimney and wood it should stay active. Is the cat probe reading right?

 

[Woody Stover]

The question i am asking tho is running the stove in the inactive zone, is that bad?

It won't break anything, but you will be spewing particulates into the atmosphere, annoying your neighbors and Mother Nature. Obviously, when the load gets to the coaling stage, most of the smoke is gone and the cat will go inactive from lack of anything to burn. But I would burn smoke any time I could.
As far as the excess heat, have you tried putting a small 6" or 8" fan on the floor, blowing cool air into the stove room to distribute the hot air to the rest of the house?

 

[Niko]

Inside is double wall black pipe up about 48 inches to 2 45 degree elbos and out the house. Outside i got class a double wall insulted stainless steel pipe, up about 18 ft.

Introducing a fan into the room actaully makes the tstat more open so i loose my burn times and It really has not made the room cooler. It does bring heat upstairs but the room stays downstairs stays just as hot.

My flapper closes right when i hit that R of normal or the 3 oclock position. Not sure if my cat prob is reading right, but it does move Around and fluctuate A lot. I take constant stove top temps and Would like to see the stove in active mode with the stove temps temps lower then 300 more like 250ish. Anything hotter and the downstairs gets hotter and stove temps run around the 330+.

I know this is kinda hard to dial in on a wood stove. But the only constant comfortable temp i have been able to achieve is when the stove is in the lower part of the active or mid inactive Zone.

Amyways im just curious if i run into doing anything dangerous in my house. I will def monitor the outside smoke stack and i clean my setup every year.

I just would like to run cooler temps inside and not hurt anything. If this can not be done then i guess i will just run hotter temps .

 

[Woody Stover]

How many sq.ft. are you heating? Maybe the stove is too big?

 

[tarzan]

running it like that it is esintialy a smoke dragon. My dad has a stove in his basement (tv room) and has simular problems. If you do elect to run the stove in this manner I would check the chimney at least monthly. Even with dry wood creosite will acumulate much quicker.

 

[rdust]

My flapper closes right when i hit that R of normal or the 3 oclock position. Not sure if my cat prob is reading right, but it does move Around and fluctuate A lot. I take constant stove top temps and Would like to see the stove in active mode with the stove temps temps lower then 300 more like 250ish. Anything hotter and the downstairs gets hotter and stove temps run around the 330+.

That's on a stone cold stove? If that's the case you're closed at the n. That's different from most reported tstat set ups. Usually wide open is 6 o'clock and it closes between 1 and 1.5 on a dial with numbers.

Sounds like too much stove if a STT over 300 is cooking you out.

 

[Niko]

That's on a stone cold stove? If that's the case you're closed at the n. That's different from most reported tstat set ups. Usually wide open is 6 o'clock and it closes between 1 and 1.5 on a dial with numbers.

Sounds like too much stove if a STT over 300 is cooking you out.

Well when i checked where it closed the stove was about 3/4 full. The stove might be a lil big for the downstairs but i also didnt want to buy a smaller stove and run it hotter either. Downstairs is 1500-2000 square feet but it is not one big room. So the square feet can grow per say if I open up a door to another family room. That room is not being used now so i would put it at more 1500 square feet.

Its not cooking us out but i would like a lil bit lower temps.

Ill Post back shortly and tell you guys what the chimney is dong and how much smoke is coming out of it or if any at all.