Catalytic Thermometer Use and Mounting?

[capperja]

Good Evening Fellas,

New to the forum here but I have read a bunch of threads over the past week and thought I might run some of my thoughts idea around with you guys. I recently acquired a Derco Grizzly Super Achiever FPI-2 LEX/90 stove for my 1500sq ft house. Without getting into all the specifics, the stove was given to me but due to weather and schedules I preemptively bought and installed a 6" Lifetime double wall smooth inner liner with insulation prior to picking up the stove (had to wait on the previous owner to have a chimney guy out to install a damper for him). After picking up the stove I learned that the manufacturer calls for an 8" liner, well I used a 8" to 6" reducer in order to make everything work with my 6" liner. Is this something I should be super concerned about? The stove seems to run pretty well, and I'm learning it each day,I do however get some smoke coming back when I fully open the door. Anything I can do to circumvent this as I'd really hate to pull my 6" liner.

Also, this stove is a catalytic stove and I've already ordered a new catalytic combustor because the previous owner stated that he did not think it was working properly and its quite old. My second question is where do I mount a catalytic thermometer with a probe for it? I've read that the bypass should be closed when the cat reaches 500 degrees however this stove only has a surface mount thermometer on the face that I do not believe is working properly. I also can't seem to find where a hole would have been predrilled for a probe. What I've done so far is get the stove going and switch my fan to low on thermo mode, once the fan kicks on I close my bypass. Just curious what your thoughts may be. Thanks for any and all help.

Cheers,
Jeremy

 

[jetsam]

You can read some talk about this stove here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/need-advice-on-derco-grizzly-stove.80317/

I don't know anything about the stove and the manufacturer appears to be long gone. Look at how it is set up. Some early compliance-only catalytic models had the cat mounted right at the exit of the stove, right next to the flue. If that's the case, I probably wouldn't worry too much about the cat's exit temps- it is all going up the flue anyway.

The cat probe generally goes in the airflow right behind the cat. You will possibly be on your own figuring out where to drill that hole, unless some of the other owners are still around (see above thread). If you get us some photos, we can make some educated guesses.

You are probably going to struggle with draft. If you have a tall stack, you may get away with 6", but 8" stoves usually need an 8" liner to perform right.

The good news is that if it's working, you can limp along with the Grizzly until the end-of-season sales on woodstoves happen, then switch to a modern 6" stove.

Maybe return that cat if it's not too late and put the purchase price towards the new stove... it might be a quarter of what you need to buy the new one.

 

[mellow]

Always liked that curved glass on the Grizzly. I don't think it had a probe hole from the factory, if you go this route I would install a thermocouple and use something like the Auber 100 to get your temps downstream from the cat. In reality you could just use the temps from the exhaust with a washer probe k type thermocouple.

Try opening up the damper for a while before you open the door to preheat the chimney for better draft. Also it helps to only reload on hot coals. Hopefully your chimney is longer than 20ft, I always see issues on anything shorter than that with the reduction.

 

[heykennyii]

Good Evening Fellas,

New to the forum here but I have read a bunch of threads over the past week and thought I might run some of my thoughts idea around with you guys. I recently acquired a Derco Grizzly Super Achiever FPI-2 LEX/90 stove for my 1500sq ft house. Without getting into all the specifics, the stove was given to me but due to weather and schedules I preemptively bought and installed a 6" Lifetime double wall smooth inner liner with insulation prior to picking up the stove (had to wait on the previous owner to have a chimney guy out to install a damper for him). After picking up the stove I learned that the manufacturer calls for an 8" liner, well I used a 8" to 6" reducer in order to make everything work with my 6" liner. Is this something I should be super concerned about? The stove seems to run pretty well, and I'm learning it each day,I do however get some smoke coming back when I fully open the door. Anything I can do to circumvent this as I'd really hate to pull my 6" liner.

Also, this stove is a catalytic stove and I've already ordered a new catalytic combustor because the previous owner stated that he did not think it was working properly and its quite old. My second question is where do I mount a catalytic thermometer with a probe for it? I've read that the bypass should be closed when the cat reaches 500 degrees however this stove only has a surface mount thermometer on the face that I do not believe is working properly. I also can't seem to find where a hole would have been predrilled for a probe. What I've done so far is get the stove going and switch my fan to low on thermo mode, once the fan kicks on I close my bypass. Just curious what your thoughts may be. Thanks for any and all help.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Hey there!

I came across your post regarding the Grizzly wood stove while I was trying to troubleshoot an issue on my own and thought you may be able to help if you'd be so kind.

I'm having trouble accessing the catalytic combuster. It looks like the cap should just unscrew from the interior, but when I go to do that the thing doesn't budge. And, 2 studs snapped off. :/ At any rate, if you have any tips from experience on accessing the combuster that would be so very much appreciated. As you know, these things are hard to come across information on.

Thanks so much,
Kenny

 

[mellow]

Pictures would help your cause, some of these stoves have different brackets.