Coming froma catalytic stove to a seconday stove, how do you work this thing?

[hookspacken]

Last stove was a Dutchwest catalytic stove, I found it really easy to operate.Got it up to 550, shut the bypass, lowered the air and walked away. I would go outside, no smoke, just heat waves.
Recently moved, installed a Lopi Endeavor with secondary tubes. I had reas that these stoves were easier to operate than catalytic stoves. I cant seem to get it to burn without any smoke. What temp do you get these stoves up to befores you throttle them down to get the secondaries to light? I can get them to light once and a while, bit not stay light.
Any info would be great. Thanks.

 

[Todd]

You need to burn it hot for the first 10-20 minutes then turn it down to a low setting in small stages every few minutes or so. Temps probably depend on the stove and other variables. You'll get the hang of it after a few fires.

 

[clemsonfor]

Yea i read here that Cat stoved are harder to control. All i do is basically what he said. Get a fire started, watch temp gauge, when it hits 500 or before a prope just guess as its good n hot, close bypass and set the air pretty much where you want it in about 5 mins, sometimes instantly after damper closed. There really eassy. I think getting the secondays lit and the closing down in increments of halfs or 1/8 or what ever you guys talk about is way morecomplicated. I will find out as i have a tube stove on order for the farm house, we shall see this winter?

 

[Highbeam]

I went from non-cat to cat and find the cat stove way more complicated. Wouldn't want to try and start the wife on this without serious training, might have to write down a procedure. Big thing is that you can stall a cat, and you can damage a cat if you screw up. With the non-cat, so long as you don't overheat it you really can't screw anything up.

It's just new to you. You'll figure it out and when you do you might still wish you had a cat stove.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I run my stove air open till the flue 400F then move it to 3/4 open it will raise to 600F then I put it where I want and walk off. If you shut it down fast it will just smoke like crazy but if you get the inside hot then it will run clean.

Pete

 

[Todd]

I've burned them both and consider my Blaze King the easiest to run stove by far.

 

[HotCoals]

I've burned them both and consider my Blaze King the easiest to run stove by far.

X2

And I don't like the idea that on most tube stoves you can't close off the secondary air unless you modify.

 

[Treacherous]

Good tips by others

Get it up over 500 degrees with flue temps over 400 degrees.

 

[DBoon]

With my stove, from a cold start, you really need to make sure that there is a good coal bed before you get too aggressive in reducing the primary air. Even if the stove top temperature hits 600+ degrees (which would seem to be plenty hot), if there isn't a good coal bed and you shut the primary air down too quickly, the secondary burn will stall out and the fire will smoke.

 

[rdust]

I've burned them both and consider my Blaze King the easiest to run stove by far.

X2

x3, no comparison to my Endeavor, the BK is a dream to run.

 

[rdust]

I went from non-cat to cat and find the cat stove way more complicated. Wouldn't want to try and start the wife on this without serious training, might have to write down a procedure. Big thing is that you can stall a cat, and you can damage a cat if you screw up. With the non-cat, so long as you don't overheat it you really can't screw anything up.

It's just new to you. You'll figure it out and when you do you might still wish you had a cat stove.

It was just the opposite for me, I think the BK is much easier to run and doesn't require any babysitting like my non cat Endeavor did.

Closing the bypass after the probe gets active, burning it for 10 minutes and turning the dial with numbers on it to the desired setting is hard to beat in my opinion.

 

[rdust]

Last stove was a Dutchwest catalytic stove, I found it really easy to operate.Got it up to 550, shut the bypass, lowered the air and walked away. I would go outside, no smoke, just heat waves.
Recently moved, installed a Lopi Endeavor with secondary tubes. I had reas that these stoves were easier to operate than catalytic stoves. I cant seem to get it to burn without any smoke. What temp do you get these stoves up to befores you throttle them down to get the secondaries to light? I can get them to light once and a while, bit not stay light.
Any info would be great. Thanks.

Here is how I used to run my Endeavor, these were some rough directions I gave the new owner when I sold it.

*Stove top temps for the Lopi, low burn is 200-400 degrees, a medium burn is 400-600 and 600-800 degrees is considered a high burn. I believe the manual says 800+ is the overfire temp. Temp readings should be taken on center of the cook top, this is usually the hottest place on the stove.


Starting up a stove is a two load proposition. The first load is smaller splits/kindling that you are burning to establish a good hot coal bed for step two. Step two is loading the larger splits on top of the hot coal bed. That is what will get you the hotter longer fire. But wait until that stove is down around 300* or so before you lay that stack of big splits on top of those hot coals loading at a higher temp will make the stove more difficult to control.

First Load:

I usually load the stove with kindling size pieces when I'm starting from a cold stove. I'm a fan of the teepee style fire with a small piece of firestarter in the middle. The super cedars work good, you can usually break them in half or smaller. http://www.supercedar.com/

Open the bypass by pulling the top right lever out

Open the primary air by pulling the bottom rod out

After the door is closed and draft appears to be established(smoke going up the chimney and not staying in the stove) you should be able to close the bypass

You can burn the stove with the primary air wide open for a while and then back it down halfway once the fire is established. This is usually enough for a kindling fire but keep an eye on the temps if you want and back it down more if it's needed.

Second Load:

Once the small stuff is burned down wait for the stove top temp to come down to 250-300* or so it can be lower as long as you still have a nice bed of coals.

Open the bypass by pulling the top right lever out

Open the primary air by pulling the bottom rod out

Crack the door, after the air stabilizes open it up

Rake the coals to the front of the stove to place the new wood in

Place the pieces you want to use in the stove, I usually put the bigger pieces on the bottom with smaller on the top. For example three on the bottom and two on top centered over the bottom three.

On a hot coal bed you may be able to close the door right away, within minutes you should have flames

After the door is closed and draft appears to be established(smoke going up the chimney and not staying in the stove) you should be able to close the bypass

When the stove hits about 400* with charred wood you can push the primary rod(bottom) in about half way

Let it burn this way for about 10 minutes to see how the flames are acting, check the stove top and if it's around 500 back it down to the beginning of the spring handle looking down over the edge of the ash lip

Let it burn for another 10 minutes and check it again, if it's around 550-600 back it down to fully closed or just "smidge" opened from fully closed(ie 1/8 or 1/4 inch) This leaves me with a “cruising” stovetop temp between 600-650F 99% of the time.

Every time you close the primary air the top temp will/may rise and then settle in.

The draft of the chimney, size of splits and other factors will determine how much you can close the primary air. You don't want to turn it down too much and smolder the fire. This is a rough run down on how the stove would typically run, obviously your install will/may perform different so you can tinker with those directions as needed. Once you get the hang of it you will be able to run it by look/feel and your gut*

 

[SmokeyCity]

I won't be buying a Lopi. I don't have a short term memory long enough to turn that routine into muscle memory.
Wow - that's a busy little drill!

Here is how I used to run my Endeavor, these were some rough directions I gave the new owner when I sold it...

 

[certified106]

Man o man, those directions are like a novel......... I'm glad my stove is nothing like that. I just open the air all the way up, reload the stove, let it burn for maybe 5-10 minutes, shut the air down to just below half for a few minutes, then shut it all the way down and walk away from it. I never let my flue temp get over 550 on a probe thermometer during that entire period.

 

[MarkinNC]

I don't need a coal bed to run my lopi. I just load it up and use a firestarter. 30 minutes later I shut the bypass etc.

Basically I run my stove up to 500 then try to "hold it back," My target temp is 550 to 600. So run it up to 500 and close the air control to the first small wire ring. A few minutes later I close it to the first large ring. Temps will continue to rise and I tend to close it one ring at a time trying to keep the stove at 550 to 600. If it goes higher than that it can really take off on you and the fire will burn out more quickly. My stove will smoke if I burn it under 500. When you are cruising in the 550 to 600 range, the flame color will become predominately blue/violet and there is an abundance of secondary combustion, though there is not a huge roaring fire otherwise it will be a much hotter fire. I loaded my stove last night at 9:00 with seasoned hardwood (and one piece of maple) and had it cruising at 550. there were 5 rings exposed when looking at the air control from the top. This morning at 7:00 the stove was 250 and had a full bed of coals to reload on. I notice some people are able to completely shut their air control and they must have more draft than me.

If I want to heat the house up quick I run the stove up to 700 or 750 and, for some reason, is so much more intense heat wise. If I want to reload this more quickly I open the air control all the way when it is coaling (learned that from backwoodsavage).

As to the secondary combustion if you bend down and look at the stove you should see what looks like flames coming out of the air tubes and the air posts in the back as well.

 

[firefighterjake]

I pretty much do the same as Certified on a reload . . . open up the air, reload, let it burn until temps in the flue are good and then throttle down partway . . . sometimes if the temps are really good and the stove has been cooking for awhile I'll turn it right down to the quarter mark, watch it for a bit to make sure the temps are good and flames are decent and then that's it. Easy peasy.

 

[Highbeam]

I should add that once I get the BK settled in, there is nothing to do with it for 24 hours so the bulk of the burntime is easy. The first hour is not as simple as the non-cats but with time, this will become mindless. The extra effort at startup is totally worth it for zero effort for the next 24 hours.

 

[begreen]

I pretty much do the same as Certified on a reload . . . open up the air, reload, let it burn until temps in the flue are good and then throttle down partway . . . sometimes if the temps are really good and the stove has been cooking for awhile I'll turn it right down to the quarter mark, watch it for a bit to make sure the temps are good and flames are decent and then that's it. Easy peasy.

Yes, easy enough to do at 3am while half awake. It takes more effort to type it than to just do it. Though with our stove I close it off almost all the way once it's going good.

 

[certified106]

Just a quick thought based off your comment that you rarely if ever get your secondaries to fire........What condition is your wood supply in? If your wood is not dry it will make it very difficult to get secondaries to fire until you burn off all the residual moisture and you will have to burn with your air control a lot further open.

 

[rdust]

I won't be buying a Lopi. I don't have a short term memory long enough to turn that routine into muscle memory.
Wow - that's a busy little drill!

Nah loading on the coal bed it's the same as any other stove. Load, burn for a while, close air half way, another tweak or two and you're good to go. I made it a novel since the person I sold it to never operated a stove before.

 

[Ashful]

Basically I run my stove up to 500 then try to "hold it back," My target temp is 550 to 600... If it goes higher than that it can really take off on you and the fire will burn out more quickly. My stove will smoke if I burn it under 500.

My god... I'm glad I have a cat stove. I can burn with the stove top anywhere between 200*F and 700*F, and there's no smoke, no fuss, no thinking about maintaining a 50*F window on target temp.

 

[Huntindog1]

If your not sure what the moisture content of your wood is go to Lowes and buy a Moisture Meter are about $30.

Then there is no second guessing the wood.

20% moisture or less from a just split piece of wood is what they call for but I like 18% or less.

Dry wood cures alot of issues.

 

[Pallet Pete]

If you thunk to pieces of wood and it makes a solid thump it is most likely wet if it makes a hollow thump it is most likely dry. I purchased a moister meter and have actually just givin up on it and gone back to my ears and eyes it just works better for me.
If you buy a meter split the test peice and test the center for a little more accuracy.
Pete

 

[Sprinter]

If your not sure what the moisture content of your wood is go to Lowes and buy a Moisture Meter are about $30.

Then there is no second guessing the wood.

20% moisture or less from a just split piece of wood is what they call for but I like 18% or less.

Dry wood cures alot of issues.

This is the most important factor, too often overlooked. The other thing about non-cats is, don't turn the damper down too much, too fast, or you're setting up for a dirty inefficient burn, and possibly backpuffing (personal experience talking here). As others have said here, get the stove up to a few hundred F, fuel burning well and developing coals, then turn down in increments. It's not an exact science, but you kind of learn to read what the fire is doing.

 

[clemsonfor]

If your not sure what the moisture content of your wood is go to Lowes and buy a Moisture Meter are about $30.

Then there is no second guessing the wood.

20% moisture or less from a just split piece of wood is what they call for but I like 18% or less.

Dry wood cures alot of issues.

I was thinking that my manual for my stove said 25%MC. But i cant remember?