Hello everyone!

[Tino&Family]

Hello everyone, I am new to posting but not the site. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site which has increased my wood burning knowledge a great deal and I thank everyone for that.

My question is regarding my new high valley 2500 stove, I been getting a great great amount of heat out of it which we love but, we have not been able to get a long (>6 hr) burn time. It is set up with a metal flue pipe in the basement into a 8 inch round clay chimney!

What we do is get it nice and hot for about 30 mins with oak wood, engage the catalytic and watch the temp probe (condar cat probe) go up like it should to 1200-1400 deg, at the same time decrease to secondary air flow to the point that it is completely shut down. The flames do slow down and start to get somewhat lazy. At this point all air that could be shut off are closed down. The temp stays between 1100-1400 for the first 3 or so hrs and then slowly start to decrease.

My question would be, 1) is the stove burning right, or is that too hot? If it is burning too hot, how can I slow it down when I already closed all air ports that I can. Also if I could slow it down, would that increase my burn time?

Note this picture was taken prior to me getting the cat temp probe!!

 

[quotejso]

Hello everyone, I am new to posting but not the site. I have been doing a lot of reading on this site which has increased my wood burning knowledge a great deal and I thank everyone for that.

My question is regarding my new high valley 2500 stove, I been getting a great great amount of heat out of it which we love but, we have not been able to get a long (>6 hr) burn time. It is set up with a metal flue pipe in the basement into a 8 inch round clay chimney!

What we do is get it nice and hot for about 30 mins with oak wood, engage the catalytic and watch the temp probe (condar cat probe) go up like it should to 1200-1400 deg, at the same time decrease to secondary air flow to the point that it is completely shut down. The flames do slow down and start to get somewhat lazy. At this point all air that could be shut off are closed down. The temp stays between 1100-1400 for the first 3 or so hrs and then slowly start to decrease.

My question would be, 1) is the stove burning right, or is that too hot? If it is burning too hot, how can I slow it down when I already closed all air ports that I can. Also if I could slow it down, would that increase my burn time?

Note this picture was taken prior to me getting the cat temp probe!!

Is that the temp when the cat is active or could you engage it earlier. 30 minutes seems like a long time you could be sending most of the wood gas up the flue. If possible I would engage the cat earlier.

 

[mellow]

I engage the cat at around 800 degrees, once you get a good coal bed you can engage sooner and get longer burns, my stove is pretty close to yours and I get 10 hours no problem with plenty of hot coals for a reload.

It is just a learning curve, once you get some burns under your belt you will get a better feel for when to engage the cat and how much you can lower the air without dis-engaging the cat.

 

[Tino&Family]

Is that the temp when the cat is active or could you engage it earlier. 30 minutes seems like a long time you could be sending most of the wood gas up the flue. If possible I would engage the cat earlier.

Will try it. I try to wait till the cat temp probe reads 500-600 and then engage it! But I have no trouble trying to see if it helps. Thank you for your time and input.

 

[Tino&Family]

I engage the cat at around 800 degrees, once you get a good coal bed you can engage sooner and get longer burns, my stove is pretty close to yours and I get 10 hours no problem with plenty of hot coals for a reload.

It is just a learning curve, once you get some burns under your belt you will get a better feel for when to engage the cat and how much you can lower the air without dis-engaging the cat.

I figure I must keep trying different ways and combinations. I have never burn wood so I do not expect to be an expert. I really thanks everyone's help!!

 

[mellow]

One other thing, buy a moisture meter so you can test the inside of a fresh cut piece of wood, these cat stoves will work with wood in the 25% range but love wood in the 20% and below. In order to get the longer burns you need lower moisture wood so you can cut the air down more, can't do that with higher moisture wood.

Btw, are you getting smoke spillage when you open the door?

 

[Tino&Family]

One other thing, buy a moisture meter so you can test the inside of a fresh cut piece of wood, these cat stoves will work with wood in the 25% range but love wood in the 20% and below. In order to get the longer burns you need lower moisture wood so you can cut the air down more, can't do that with higher moisture wood.

Btw, are you getting smoke spillage when you open the door?

What I do when I have to reload, I push in the bypass valve (disengage the cat) so the smoke (if any) goes out the chimney, reload and the re engage the catalytic.

I feel the wood is well seasoned, it's been split and stacked in the dry for over a year, but I will look into the moister meter. I am sure it will not hurt to have one especially me being new to all of this. Any in particular u recommend??

One thing I don't know is how to cut the air down more than I am doing. Both of the air supplies, primary (closed when the cat is engage) and secondary is slowly closed as temp in cat starts to rise and it is fully closed all the way once the cat temp has reached 1000-1300 deg. Could I have a leak somewhere (stove or pipe)?

 

[mellow]

I was asking about smoke spillage to see if you have enough draft, if you have smoke coming out when you open the door with the bypass open it is a possible sign your draft is not as good as it could be for that stove.

You can get a moisture meter at Lowes or Harbor Freight.

I am sure your primary air rod stops short of cutting off all the air, you want some coming in to help with the combustion process. You will always want a small bit of flame with these stoves, if you crank it down to hard you will start getting back puffing where all the gasses in the firebox build up then get ignited all at once, kinda makes a puffing sound, it will scare the hell out of you the first time it happens, you would just want to open up the damper to get the fire going again.

 

[Tino&Family]

I was asking about smoke spillage to see if you have enough draft, if you have smoke coming out when you open the door with the bypass open it is a possible sign your draft is not as good as it could be for that stove.

You can get a moisture meter at Lowes or Harbor Freight.

I am sure your primary air rod stops short of cutting off all the air, you want some coming in to help with the combustion process. You will always want a small bit of flame with these stoves, if you crank it down to hard you will start getting back puffing where all the gasses in the firebox build up then get ignited all at once, kinda makes a puffing sound, it will scare the hell out of you the first time it happens, you would just want to open up the damper to get the fire going again.

Thanks you very much for all your advices, I will keep tinkering with it!!

 

[kennyp2339]

I think your stove is burning as it should, maybe a little to high, reducing the air will probably help slow things down as long as you maintain a good stove temp.
The one thing that I have to point out is that your masonry walls are absorbing approx. 30% of the heat your stove is producing. If you can insulate the walls you will have more useable heat and then can run the stove lower making the burn last longer.

 

[Tino&Family]

I think your stove is burning as it should, maybe a little to high, reducing the air will probably help slow things down as long as you maintain a good stove temp.
The one thing that I have to point out is that your masonry walls are absorbing approx. 30% of the heat your stove is producing. If you can insulate the walls you will have more useable heat and then can run the stove lower making the burn last longer.

Thank you, I never thought of that, that wall does get kind of warm Now is there a way other than closing off the air supply into the stove to slow down the stove, will a flue damper help me in any way??

 

[kennyp2339]

Check your door seals with a dollar bill, insert dollar in between the door and stove, close the door pull on the dollar, there should be resistance, check in multiple spots.
Check the glass and see if there are any gaps, movements, any extreme clean area's , if there is you may need to change out the gasket.
Dollar bill test the by-pass damper

 

[mellow]

How tall is that chimney?

 

[Grisu]

In the picture, is that the normal amount of wood you are loading? If yes, no wonder your burns are short. If your wood is dry you stuff your firebox as full as possible just leaving a small space under the baffle. Look at this picture for an example: https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/dsc_0790_11831-jpg.85785/

What you show in your picture would be a small startup fire to get the stove and flue warm. Once you have that down to coals, rake them to the front and then fill the stove up. Close the door once the wood is engulfed in flames and then start slowly adjusting air and engage the cat when temps are high enough. Takes a bit of practice to find the optimal spot(s).