Catalyst temperature issue (too hot)

[secret1122]

I had my first day of burning today with my Hearthstone Heritage. I seem to be running into an issue with temperatures and I don't know if this is normal, or whether I have a thermometer not working correctly, or if I'm just doing something wrong.

Basically, I get my fire started up and see flue temperatures that have peaked anywhere from 600-800° before I cut the air back a little. I'm not using a lot of wood, maybe 3-4 splits that are small to medium. I have yet to fill the firebox more than half full of wood. Every fire (I probably reloaded about 4 times today) got the catalyst thermometer up to the "too hot" line, and one time crossed it a bit. Once it's close to that point I shut the air off completely and the temperature will sit right there for essentially the remainder of the burn. What's weird is that this happens about 15-20 minutes into the burn. So essentially I get to see a fire in the box for maybe 15 minutes before I have to cut the air completely to stop the cat from overheating. From that point on I get to see some secondary burning and a lot of smoldering and everything reduces to ashes.

The stovetop has peaked at 400°, with the majority of the time sitting around 300-350°. Now this is a soapstone stove, so it shouldn't exceed 600° or I've overfired it. But still, I couldn't come close to that just due to the cat peaking rigt in the beginning of the burn. Is it possible the cat thermometer (it's the factory one that comes already installed) is bad, or that unlikely with these analog probes? Is it normal to have the catalyst peak so easily? Something just isn't feeling right about the situation, especially with the catalyst supposedly getting too hot while the stove is hovering between the "low burn" and the "optional burn" temperatures (as read on the stovetop thermometer). I dont see how I can have 1,600° temperatures at the top of the stove, with the actual stone on the surface of the stove never exceeding 400°, especially after a solid 12 hour day of burning.

 

[Poindexter]

New catalytic combustors tend to be overactive or hyperactive for the first face cord to first cord or so. If you are one cord in and still seeing this you might have an air leak. In the meantime if your door seal and other seals are good you just have a new overactive combustor for a few weeks most likely.

 

[Nigel459]

I had my first day of burning today with my Hearthstone Heritage. I seem to be running into an issue with temperatures and I don't know if this is normal, or whether I have a thermometer not working correctly, or if I'm just doing something wrong.

Basically, I get my fire started up and see flue temperatures that have peaked anywhere from 600-800° before I cut the air back a little. I'm not using a lot of wood, maybe 3-4 splits that are small to medium. I have yet to fill the firebox more than half full of wood. Every fire (I probably reloaded about 4 times today) got the catalyst thermometer up to the "too hot" line, and one time crossed it a bit. Once it's close to that point I shut the air off completely and the temperature will sit right there for essentially the remainder of the burn. What's weird is that this happens about 15-20 minutes into the burn. So essentially I get to see a fire in the box for maybe 15 minutes before I have to cut the air completely to stop the cat from overheating. From that point on I get to see some secondary burning and a lot of smoldering and everything reduces to ashes.

The stovetop has peaked at 400°, with the majority of the time sitting around 300-350°. Now this is a soapstone stove, so it shouldn't exceed 600° or I've overfired it. But still, I couldn't come close to that just due to the cat peaking rigt in the beginning of the burn. Is it possible the cat thermometer (it's the factory one that comes already installed) is bad, or that unlikely with these analog probes? Is it normal to have the catalyst peak so easily? Something just isn't feeling right about the situation, especially with the catalyst supposedly getting too hot while the stove is hovering between the "low burn" and the "optional burn" temperatures (as read on the stovetop thermometer). I dont see how I can have 1,600° temperatures at the top of the stove, with the actual stone on the surface of the stove never exceeding 400°, especially after a solid 12 hour day of burning.

That does sound a bit strange. When your probe is at room temperature where does the needle point? My blaze king probe was a bit out of adjustment initially, pretty simple to re adjust.

 

[secret1122]

It reads all the way at the bottom of the scale. Before I even posted this thread I bought a Condar one that shows the actual temperature, rather than the one that came with this stove from Hearthstone, which just shows the 3 levels without numbers. I was wondering if the thermometer was not correct, but also just wanted one that showed actual temperature because I just like seeing the numbers for my own knowledge. I found a thread on here that explains how these cats are overly sensitive when they're new, just as Poindexter pointed out above. I'll see how it goes after a few weeks of burning. Either way I'll have a new thermometer in a few days hopefully.

 

[P-Money]

I'm having the same problem with my new Heritage. Was there a solution?

 

[fordsdf250]

I am also having the same issue. Even on the lowest burn setting my cat temps keep climbing while my stove barely gets out of the low burn zone on the stove top thermometer. Heritage stove was brand new last year, so no seal issues.

 

[kennyp2339]

I dont think your getting the stove temps hot enough, more then likely its because your trying to burn only 4 splits at a time and your not letting the internal temps reach a level before the secondary reburn can kick in, the cat probe is going high because its a new cat (hyperactive) and its a fuel rich environment, since there are no secondary's lighting off (which occurs when the fire is past 1200 deg f - not stove top, internal firebox) So by burning lower and having the cat light off around 600deg f, its doing its job, but its getting to much fuel.
These are hybrids, so they are designed to have your primary fire, as those flames rise up, superheated air is injected from the reburn tubes and hits the flames again burning any particles / violet gases, that then gets sucked through the flue chamber and goes through the cat to get anything that was missed before going out the chimney.

 

[P-Money]

I'm having the same problem with my new Heritage. Was there a solution?

Turns out the temp probe should not be touching the soap stone. It's supposed to be 1/8-1/4" away from the stone. When I did this, the temps were read accurately and now the stove burns great.