Did I just screw up bad and what to do? Cat not ready.

[crater22]

First time in 4 years I closed the bypass to soon before the cat was ready. This was on a reload. Have a good fire going but also have smoke coming from the chimney. Should I just let it burn and be more careful in the future or is there a way to save this.

Appreciate the help and advice (and the scolding )

 

[begreen]

Is there a reason why not to open the bypass again until it gets up to temp?

 

[crater22]

Actually,that is what I did. I just went into panic mode and did not think. Appreciate you getting back to me.

Thanks.

 

[bholler]

First time in 4 years I closed the bypass to soon before the cat was ready. This was on a reload. Have a good fire going but also have smoke coming from the chimney. Should I just let it burn and be more careful in the future or is there a way to save this.

Appreciate the help and advice (and the scolding )

Not a big deal. Either open the bypass again or the temp will probably come up on its own if there is enough air

 

[bholler]

Actually,that is what I did. I just went into panic mode and did not think. Appreciate you getting back to me.

Thanks.

Relax this is absolutley no reason to panic

 

[Highbeam]

It's fine. In the old days some stoves engaged the cat as soon as the door was closed with a silly little push button arrangement.

 

[jetsam]

I close the bypass when the wood's loaded and the door is shut. I don't see what benefit I am getting by letting the firebox vent directly to the sky just because the cat isn't up to 500 yet.

 

[Kevin Weis]

With the damper closed and primary air open all the way it should get to cat ignition temps anyways albeit several minutes later. This happens to me frequently. If the temps stop riding before the cat egages I just open the damper up again to raise it dome more. No big deal as has been said.

 

[ohlongarm]

I close the bypass when the wood's loaded and the door is shut. I don't see what benefit I am getting by letting the firebox vent directly to the sky just because the cat isn't up to 500 yet.

Do you have a BK stove?

 

[jetsam]

Do you have a BK stove?

Yeah, and a steel cat, so I don't worry about thermal shock anymore either. Not that it ever actually proved to be an issue with the ceramic cat.

 

[bholler]

Yeah, and a steel cat, so I don't worry about thermal shock anymore either. Not that it ever actually proved to be an issue with the ceramic cat.

It without a question was an issue with ceramic cats

 

[jetsam]

It without a question was an issue with ceramic cats

Mine made it to retirement age without cracking, and it suffered several room temperature air ingestions while it was at cruising temperature.

Not saying that thermal shock doesn't break up ceramics; obviously it does, but my substrate survived significant abuse.

 

[weatherguy]

I've done that a few times over the years, you'll probably do it again yourself, I just kick myself in the arse for not paying attention and keep on burning.

 

[Woody Stover]

First time in 4 years I closed the bypass to soon before the cat was ready. This was on a reload. Have a good fire going but also have smoke coming from the chimney. Should I just let it burn and be more careful in the future or is there a way to save this.

Was the stove still fairly hot from the previous load? You have a surface meter above the door, right? What was it reading? Sounds like you had some flame going in the box, correct? What was the cat probe reading when you closed the bypass?

I just now closed the bypass too early. Didn't have a lot of coals left so the stove wasn't very hot. I loaded (E-W,) but flame wasn't coming up the front of the load, as I generally want it to do. I let the flames go out the sides for a little bit, then closed the bypass, thinking the cat would catch. As soon as I didn't hear the usual clicks and ticks indicating that the cat was heating up, I bailed out and opened the bypass. I got the flame coming up the front of the load, then closed the bypass again with some flame to the screen in front of the cat, which gets it glowing pretty quickly. I then heard the clicks and ticks, and the cat was starting to glow within a couple minutes. I generally keep flame in the box for a while longer until the cat glows strongly, then I cut the air to my cruise setting.

steel cat, so I don't worry about thermal shock anymore either. Not that it ever actually proved to be an issue with the ceramic cat.

It without a question was an issue with ceramic cats

My neighbor can crumble his cat really quick. He opens the door mid-load to throw in a couple more splits, some of which may be wet from rain or snow. So either opening the door on a hot cat, or the wet wood is probably what crumbles his cats.
I haven't had a problem, and burn both ceramic and steel. I don't generally open the door mid-load, and always open the bypass for a couple minutes before opening the door.

I close the bypass when the wood's loaded and the door is shut. I don't see what benefit I am getting by letting the firebox vent directly to the sky just because the cat isn't up to 500 yet.

I like to minimize the amount of unburned smoke going through the cat, because I have a theory that if creo is deposited on the cat cell walls, then burns, that ash will stick, it won't blow out as easily as fly ash does. I don't know if my theory is right or not, or how much difference it makes in practice.

 

[crater22]

Woody, I actually replace the cat probe with a probe thermometer from Auber. There was a good bed of coals going, but I was always under the impression that on a reload, I was to let the temp get below 400, reload and then get the temp to atleast 800 before closing the bypass. I am now hearing, (PLEASE confirm if this is true) that I can reload at any time but the key is to always get the cat temp up to at least 800. It appears, and I need to confirm this some how, that the Auber is reading about 100 deg different that the Condor probe. So on the reload, this time, I thought since the temp was so low, that I only needed to get it back up to 500. Everytime I think I have figured this stuff out, I learn something new every day. That is why, I and a lot of other people, really appreciate this forum.

Thanks again and Please let me know if I am doing this all wrong. Waiting till 400 to reload, by the time I get the wood in, the temp drops by at least another 150 deg and I burn a lot of wood trying to get it back to temp.

Again,, thanks.

 

[Ashful]

How would anyone get the cat below 400 on a hot reload? Bypassing the cat for a few minutes prior to reload is a good thing, I suspect you might bring it down a few degrees in doing so. But let’s not pretend it’s going to drop below active by going to bypass, in all cases. After all, the stove was in bypass when you got it warmed up to the active zone during startup.

I bypass my cat before going out to fetch my wood. When I come back in, I open the door and load. If it took much more thought than that to keep one of these things from falling apart, cat manufacturers would have an awful rough time staying profitable.

 

[Woody Stover]

There was a good bed of coals going, but I was always under the impression that on a reload, I was to let the temp get below 400, reload and then get the temp to atleast 800 before closing the bypass. I am now hearing, (PLEASE confirm if this is true) that I can reload at any time but the key is to always get the cat temp up to at least 800.

You can reload above 400. The reason my cat temp was usually lower was that the stove was at my MIL's house, and I only went over there to load every 12 hrs. A lot of times, temp was down to 250 or so. That's when I would burn a couple of smaller splits with the bypass open to get the stove heated up and get some coals, then I would put the main load in and get the temp up to 800 or better.
Now, some of the other Buck guys were saying they closed the bypass at about 600 and ran some flame in the box to fire up the cat. If you try that, make sure you don't cut the air lower to your cruise setting too soon, for a cat-only no-flame burn, or the cat may not sustain its burn and cat temp will start falling. Then you have to bail out and feed more flame heat to the cat.
But if I got to my MIL's and cat temp was still at 500 with plenty of coals left, I just put the full load in right away and closed the bypass when the cat got around 800. Maybe to go at 600, you need bigger flame in the box to get the cat to light..? Just keep an eye on the flame to make sure it doesn't go too far around the sides of the cat shield, and actually hit the cat. That would be pretty hard to do I think, as long as the air isn't way far open. You just have to keep trying different things to see what's possible.
That said, you may still see smoke after you close the bypass but once the cat probe gets to 1100+ the plume should clear up. If not, or if it seems like the cat is getting harder to light, or dropping out sooner at the end of the burn, it might be time for a new cat. You have about 4 years on your cat, right? You might be about due for a new one...

 

[kborndale]

Wow, you go to the MIL's twice a day to load her stove? Your a better guy than me!!

 

[Woody Stover]

Wow, you go to the MIL's twice a day to load her stove? Your a better guy than me!!

Not any more, I don't. It wasn't too bad though..I liked her.