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First burn ever in a wood stove tonight. Any tips or warnings? BK Ashford 30.2
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Much appreciated. I've spent a lot of time reading here but haven't posted before, which turned out to be the issue. I've really appreciated everyone's insights and experience as I picked out stove and prepped for install (A++ for air block in chimney around flue, installers even argued with me about it!).
I think they meant a block off plate.
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
If my cat is glowing, is it safe to assume its active? Even if the thermometer is showing its in the 'inactive' zone? I have a fan running, so I was wondering if the fan was just blowing the heat off the box so the thermometer was reading lower than the actual cat temps.
I have learned that every glowing cat is active but not every active cat is glowing.
Yeah, that's what I was noticing. Especially with the fan running on high, it seems the cat might be warmer than the temp gauge shows. But not always. I try not to assume the cat is active unless its either glowing or it is in the 'active zone'. Thanks.
Oh, another cat related question. When your getting down to the end of the load and need to do a refill, should you wait until the cat is below the active zone or refill while its still active? My concern is that if the cat is active its very hot. So opening the door will push a rush of cold air across the hot cat and damage the cat. So I've tried not to open the door if the cat is active. But then it takes awhile to warm back up again.
I don't wait until it's inactive.
I add wood when I need more heat than the coals can provide.
What is important is to open the bypass 5 mins or so before you open the door. That cools down the cat (even if the gauge is too slow to show it).
I add wood when I need more heat than the coals can provide.
What is important is to open the bypass 5 mins or so before you open the door. That cools down the cat (even if the gauge is too slow to show it).
Oh! I was only opening the bypass for a minute or so before opening the loading door (I never timed it). I'll give the bypass more time before opening the door. Thanks for the tip.
Mind that I usually burn low'n'slow, so my cat gauge is relatively close to the inactive zone by the time I reload, but I usually keep the bypass open only as long as it takes me to get the wood from the porch. So maybe a minute, tops, before I open the door.
Hasn't hurt the cat so far.
Sure, if the cat gauge was way into the active zone, I'd give it some more time, but that doesn't really happen.
The manual says (for a reload when the cat gauge is still indicating active):
"To help minimize smoke spillage into the room, open the bypass door and again wait a few minutes for the air flow to stabilize."
Nothing instantaneous will happen, but the more one shocks a cat (and each sudden temperature change is a shock, though their magnitude and impact will of course differ with the magnitude of the temperature change), the larger the probability that the wash coat (and the active metals) will at some point start delaminating.
It's your most expensive consumable on the stove, so I'd at least give the care the manual says to do. (They use another argument, smoke spillage, but I presume that's human psychology as the rewards of that aspect are immediate, while minor but cumulative impact that is only visible after a long time generally does not sway human behavior.)
"To help minimize smoke spillage into the room, open the bypass door and again wait a few minutes for the air flow to stabilize."
Nothing instantaneous will happen, but the more one shocks a cat (and each sudden temperature change is a shock, though their magnitude and impact will of course differ with the magnitude of the temperature change), the larger the probability that the wash coat (and the active metals) will at some point start delaminating.
It's your most expensive consumable on the stove, so I'd at least give the care the manual says to do. (They use another argument, smoke spillage, but I presume that's human psychology as the rewards of that aspect are immediate, while minor but cumulative impact that is only visible after a long time generally does not sway human behavior.)
So that's it, then, isn't it? My manual is a bit different:
The reason for waiting is to reduce smoke spillage, and it is even optional (may wish to).
Nowhere in that section is the cat even mentioned...
I believe BKVP has mentioned it on here too.
(Then again, 2 is 200% of the time you indicated as "tops".)
In any case, waiting a bit longer than 1 minute surely is decreasing potential risk for an active cat - which was the concern of the OP.
(Then again, 2 is 200% of the time you indicated as "tops".)
In any case, waiting a bit longer than 1 minute surely is decreasing potential risk for an active cat - which was the concern of the OP.
Agreed. And there certainly is a difference between a hot reload on coals where the cat thermometer hovers just above active range and doing a reload in the middle of a burn with the fire still raging and the cat thermometer topped out.
Learning something every time I drop in to the forum.
