Help me help a friend

[crater22]

I have a friend who just bought a Buck 91 like mine. He has asked me some question's on the operation and more importantly safety about them. Of course, I am new and have a lot of learning to do myself.

Please add any comments/other ideas on the two following

Over-fire out of control: I suggested
Closing the air supply
Turning the fan on high
Opening a door or window to help cool off


Re-loading:
Do not reload on a heavy bed of hot coals
Use small splits or even pcs of pine to burn off the coals

I am sure there are many more and would appreciate them so I could pass them on to him, plus learn something myself

Thanks in advance

 

[DougA]

Someone awhile ago suggested putting a large fresh split (unseasoned) in the fire when it is too hot. It will cool it down while trying to cook off the moisture. Make sure all controls are closed as you have already suggested. Overfiring tends to be caused by outside conditions. Very cold and/or very windy will make a strong draft and be a problem. So, it's a lot easier to burn more cautiously in those conditions until you get a better feel for it. I would not open a window. Why waste the heat. The stove will not be a problem (MOST STOVES!) unless you see parts of it glowing. Some people get overly concerned at 650 - 700. Most stoves can cruise at this without any issues.

Re-loading on heavy coals is more related to which stove you have. I can do that on mine easily and actually prefer it but I understand many stoves can't. With a lot of coals, you can also rake them and open all the air controls.

 

[rideau]

Opening the door, while scary, turns the stove pretty much into a fireplace and cools things down.

 

[Jags]

Fuzzy bunny slippers...just trust me on this one.

 

[crater22]

Opening the door, while scary, turns the stove pretty much into a fireplace and cools things down.

I tried that once when I was very new at this, and it scared the do do out of me. Shut it down immediately and vowed to myself to never try that again.

 

[crater22]

Fuzzy bunny slippers...just trust me on this one.

Took me a minute to get it, but I must say THAT IS FUNNY

 

[Tenn Dave]

Yesterday I packed my stove full on a hot bed of coals with nice dry wood. (I have never done this before). Soon the stove top temp was 620* and climbing fast. The firebox was completely dark, the glass was black, and it was in a cat burn only - no secondaries. The air control was shut down to its lowest setting. NOW WHAT !! I remembered reading a post last year by Backwoods Savage that suggested giving the stove more air to flush some heat out of the firebox. Didn't seem very logical but I was out of options and gave it a try. Well sure enough, the stove broke out into a secondaries burn and the stove top temps started to drop. I'm not sure this procedure would work for a Buck 91 Bay, but it sure did for my Progress Hybrid cat stove.

 

[Woody Stover]

I have a friend who just bought a Buck 91 like mine. He has asked me some question's on the operation.

Over-fire out of control:
One thing I'd be concerned with if throwing the door wide open, would be overheating the flue if the flames got big. What is happening in his "over-fire," too much flame or high cat temps (1800)? You don't want the cat probe going over 1800 for an extended period. I like to run it 1300-1500. To get the burn you want, you have to know your wood. Softer woods and smaller splits will gas more rapidly, and could lead to an over-heated cat. Next, you have to establish the new load so that you get the right amount of wood gassing. If you just load up, then run huge flames trying to get up to temp to close the bypass and light off the cat, you may get too much wood gassing and the cat will go high. If I'm re-loading on coals and the stove is at, say, 250, probe 450, I'll pull the coals way forward and open the air wash (right slider) to burn some of the coals down and get the cat probe up to 600-700, then I'll load. Since my wood is cut to 16" for my other stoves, I have the luxury of being able to shove excess coals in the back and still fit in the 16" splits. If I have a bunch of soft Maple, Cherry or some other faster-gassing wood, I'll put the coals in the middle N-S (front to back) and just get the middle of the load burning with the shotgun air (left slider.) That way, I don't get the whole load burning and gassing too much. With Oak or Hickory, I may spread the coals a little wider and try to get a little more wood burning since those dense woods gas in a slower, more controlled fashion and take more time to get burning well when re-loading. Whatever wood I load, I'll run flame with the bypass open and blower off until the cat probe is around 700, then close the bypass and keep some medium flame going in the box. Within 5-10 min, I'll see the cat probe start to rise at a pretty good clip. I'll keep flame going until the cat probe gets to about 1100-1200. If the cat starts to glow strongly, or the surface meter I have on the front, next to the bypass rod, gets to 325-350, I'll start the blower on low. When the stove is hot enough and the cat is glowing, turning on the blower will drop the cat probe temp by maybe 100, but the cat will keep glowing, although maybe more dimly. If you have enough wood gassing, the cat will hold, you can start cutting the air a little and probe temp will begin to rise again at some point. When everything looks good, I'll have the shotgun air closed and the air wash slider out about 1/4". That's my usual cruise setting. If it's very cold or very warm out, draft will be stronger or weaker and you factor that into your cruise air setting. I'll also use less cruise air if I'm burning soft Maple or other faster-gassing wood. If you don't have enough wood gassing or the stove isn't hot enough, the cat can crash. Won't happen once you get familiar with ramping up the stove. In a crash, probe will fall under 1000 and keep dropping. Time to open the bypass and run more flame to get the stove temp up and more wood gassing. I know it sounds terribly complicated, but you'll get the hang of it fairly quickly. I was at a disadvantage because the Buck is at my MIL's house and I would usually load, cruise and leave. I didn't get the feedback of watching the full burn cycle.
Here's a piece of tin foil I use to tell me where the cat probe went when I was gone.

Da meters.