Another question on running a cat stove

[crater22]

I have been following the thread started by SkydiverChris and have a question regarding my Buck. Are you supposed to start shutting down the air before or after you close the bypass when the cat lights ? I have been closing the bypass as soon as it hits the active range but have not been able to get cat to glow, and after I close the bypass I start closing the air down and have got cat temps as high as 900 and no glow or secondaries. Could my cat be bad? This is my second year of running this insert.

Many thanks in advance and I hope I did not confuse you all with my questions.

Thanks again

 

[rdust]

I've done it both ways. If I turn the air down some with the bypass open the stove warms faster. Also keeps the flames from getting sucked up the chimney on cold/strong draft days.

The cat doesn't need to glow to work. If the chimney is smoke free and the stove is performing as desired things should be ok.(keeps temp, no cat stall etc)

 

[Heftiger]

How dry is your wood? Rdust is correct, the cat doesn't need to glow to work. But it should be possible running it full bore to get it to glow. You may have trouble achieving that if your wood is not optimal.

 

[crater22]

Burning mostly Ash at 15-14%.

Thanks guy's. Just tried it for the first time shutting down the air before closing the bypass and the stove did get hotter, faster and is crusing right now at stove temps of 350 with very little wood. I think (pray) I might have finally figured this thing out. Now, knowing I do not need a constant flame, I will try my first overnight burn. Before, I thought I had to have flames going and was leary of going to bed or even leaving for awhile to go to the store, etc.

You guy's are great.

 

[Heftiger]

That wood should be perfect.

To verify you're getting a good clean burn, check the chimney, there should be little to no smoke once it's settled down. Here are some pics of my stove and chimney right now, cruising at 450 (sorry about the glare)

 

[crater22]

Hey, the glare did not bother me, but how the heck did you get your pup inside there...??

Chimney is fine, just had it cleaned and hardly anything but powder came out, and maybe a 1/4 cup. It has been crusing along fine with a small load and going for a lot longer than ever before. I really think my problem was that I thought I had to have flames showing.

Thanks again

 

[Woody Stover]

Burning mostly Ash at 15-14%.

If that's on a freshly-split face, that's about as good as it gets.

Just tried it for the first time shutting down the air before closing the bypass and the stove did get hotter, faster and is crusing right now at stove temps of 350 with very little wood. I think (pray) I might have finally figured this thing out. Now, knowing I do not need a constant flame, I will try my first overnight burn. Before, I thought I had to have flames going and was leary of going to bed or even leaving for awhile to go to the store, etc.

We've had a lot of warm weather in our neck of the woods. That means a lot of cold starts on the stove. I found that I have to get the stove fully up to temp before closing the bypass, to get a solid cat light-off. In the manual you'll see a "catalyst" section, at the beginning of the manual after the stove controls diagram. Maybe they should have also put that info in the "operation" section, so nobody overlooks it. It states that you need 700-900 on the cat probe before closing the bypass, and I found that's the best way to get a solid light-off. It's a big stove with a lot of metal you have to heat up, and from a cold start this takes a while, especially with that big cat shield blocking radiation to the top of the stove. As you discovered, the quickest way to build heat in the stove is to have the air somewhat cut back. I put several smaller 2-3" splits in the front of the box. Then I use the left slider to blast the doghouse air onto the splits and get them burning good. Once they are going, I cut the doghouse air and use the right slider to supply air and wait for the cat probe to go to about 900 or even 1000. Then I load the stove with medium large splits, leaving it a little loose in the middle so flame can still get up to the shield. The temp will drop some after loading, so I build it back up to 900-1000. I want fairly big flame with as low an air setting as possible as the load gets burning; This builds heat in the box instead of blowing it up the flue. Then close the bypass at 900+. I don't cut the air yet, and keep flame going in the box. This gets the cat burning well. You can tell when the cat takes off because the probe temp will start rising further to 1050 or 1100. Then I will start cutting the air in a couple of steps as temp builds, to my final setting which is left slider closed, right slider open 1/8-1/4". The flame will be low or may go out but cat will continue to rise, maybe to 1400-1500. As you gain more experience you learn to read the temps and how the load is catching. You don't want a bunch of small wood in the load or you can get too much gassing and the cat may go high. But you want enough of the load burned in so that you have enough smoke to feed the cat. You can crash the cat if the stove isn't hot enough, or if you don't have enough of the load burning. Once you are cruising, the cat probe will stay over 500 for 10-12 hrs. depending what kind of wood you have in there. It took me 45 min. to an hour to be able to walk away, if the stove was pretty cold. On an 8 or 10-hr. load schedule, you can get the stove up to temp quicker since you're starting with a warmer stove.

 

[crater22]

Woody, thanks so much. If you are ever up this way I will buy you a beer (or two). I am printing this and keeping it handy.

 

[English BoB]

That wood should be perfect.

To verify you're getting a good clean burn, check the chimney, there should be little to no smoke once it's settled down. Here are some pics of my stove and chimney right now, cruising at 450 (sorry about the glare)

View attachment 170198
View attachment 170199

This is a cat stove thread. Stop hijacking the thread with dog pics

 

[Woody Stover]

This is a cat stove thread. Stop hijacking the thread with dog pics

That's not a regular dog, that's a hot dog.

 

[Woody Stover]

I am printing this and keeping it handy.

Yeah, I make it sound complicated but you'll get a feel for it pretty quickly, then it becomes second nature. Feel free to PM...