Best temperature to reload the wood stove

[handsplitter]

I just start burning with a catalyst probe/thermometer and am really enjoying it.

If you have a choice, in a perfect world so to speak, which obviously is not all the time but just so I understand the concepts, at what catalyst temperature do you guys like to reload the wood stove with new wood?

What I find is:
- if the catalyst temperature is say 450° or less, it may take a good 20 minutes for the catalyst temperature to get back up to the 500°F minimum,
versus
- if I reload the stove at a catalyst temperature of 500-600°F catalyst temperature then I am able to stay at or above 500°F during a full 5+/- minutes of the "moisture-burn off phase where I leave the bypass open" in hopes of getting some of the moisture in the wood out of the stove before I engage the catalyst.

Related question: do you guys recommend a period of time immediately after the wood stove is loaded with new wood to NOT engage the catalyst in hopes of "moisture burn off"? Obviously I'm talking about when the catalyst temperature is ALREADY at or above the minimum 500°F (because I don't engage the catalyst until the 500°F minimum). No my wood is not wet and yes it is properly seasoned; is "a brief moisture-burn off phase" sound, and if so you guys like to do it for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes? Loading door cracked open for maximum draft for the moisture to exit or not really necessary so long as the bypass is opened & the catalyst is not engaged?

Related question: I read here about trying to avoid "thermal shock" to the catalyst. I'm aware that one really wants to avoid shocking the catalyst with moisture (which will contribute to "thermal shock"?), but thermal shock happens to the catalyst whenever we reload our wood stove with new wood, right? The loading door is opened so much greater air supply & draft will cool wood stove & catalyst, no way around that. So back to my initial question about "the ideal catalyst temperature to reload the stove", does it make a difference to the overall performance/maintenance/best way to treat the wood stove (catalyst, etc.) to reloading at700° versus 400°F? Or maybe I misunderstand the "thermal shock" concept and you could briefly explain it?

As always, if I am over-thinking all this and let me know, just trying to learn, and any chance I have the opportunity to treat my equipment in the ideal prescribed fashion then I always do. Thank you

 

[SuperJ]

I don't find that my catalyst thermometer is a good indicator of when to reload. it will read decently high until almost all the fuel is gone (a good thing). I like to reload on a good bed of coals to get things going quickly, if I waited for the cat thermometer to drop there wouldn't be much left to reload on top of. If my cat temps dropped it's either because I'm out of fuel, or I stalled it.

Basically, I reload on my schedule whenever there is room for enough splits to make it worthwhile. Sometimes once a day, sometimes twice.

 

[jetsam]

Depends on your stove and your wood. I personally reload whenever my schedule permits.

Thermal shock happens when you expose something to a sudden temperature change. In this case, some catalysts have a ceramic (as opposed to steel) substrate. The substrate has a wash coat on it and the wash coat has the catalyst on it.

Take a cold ceramic tile and set a red hot cooking pot on it, and chances are that the tile will pop in half. BUT if you warm up the tile to 500° and then put a 700° pot on it, the tile will probably be fine.

If a ceramic substrate is at 1500 degrees and you hit it with a wave of 300 degree steam, that is a 1200 degree difference- possibly enough to damage the substrate. It could crack and crumble. Worse yet, just open the door with the cat engaged and your 1500° cat gets a blast of 80° air!

Steel substrates do not have this problem.

With proper stove operation, ceramic ones don't have that problem either!

I had a ceramic cat that survived multiple accidental door openings with only minor cracking on the back face. You had to zoom in to see the cracks. I tend to think that the horror stories of cats being crushed to powder by normal use are really caused by operator error.