Heritage puffed at junction of stone/metal

[whatyousmokin]

First off, My many thanks to this forum for helping me further my understanding of cat woodstove operation. I am starting my second year of operating our Hearthstone Heritage and have had very few hiccups so far. The issues I have had have been operator error and I will probably continue to have operator issues while I gain experience with the different variables like wood species, wood split sizes, ambient outdoor temperatures, humidity , wind, etc, etc, etc.
The hiccup I experienced yesterday was a puff of smoke coming from between the seam of the stone and metal. I circled the area in red in the attached photo; I did not notice puffing out the front door or around the glass. I did not have my eye on the side door so don't know if it puffed at the side door. Thanks to other posts on the forums about puffing, I think I know why it puffed. (I had placed 2 splits of red oak on glowing embers and had dialed down the air intake too much way too soon. The flames had gone out yet, too much off gassing resulted in some ignition of the gasses and the stove puffed). Additionally, the outside air temps were mild yesterday ~50 deg and extremely foggy and damp, so maybe not enough draft?. My question is, how much damage does something like this do to the refractory seal and to the catalyst? I have a call into the stove shop service dept and will have them out to take a look see. Would you continue to burn till then?

 

[neverstop]

First off, My many thanks to this forum for helping me further my understanding of cat woodstove operation. I am starting my second year of operating our Hearthstone Heritage and have had very few hiccups so far. The issues I have had have been operator error and I will probably continue to have operator issues while I gain experience with the different variables like wood species, wood split sizes, ambient outdoor temperatures, humidity , wind, etc, etc, etc.
The hiccup I experienced yesterday was a puff of smoke coming from between the seam of the stone and metal. I circled the area in red in the attached photo; I did not notice puffing out the front door or around the glass. I did not have my eye on the side door so don't know if it puffed at the side door. Thanks to other posts on the forums about puffing, I think I know why it puffed. (I had placed 2 splits of red oak on glowing embers and had dialed down the air intake too much way too soon. The flames had gone out yet, too much off gassing resulted in some ignition of the gasses and the stove puffed). Additionally, the outside air temps were mild yesterday ~50 deg and extremely foggy and damp, so maybe not enough draft?. My question is, how much damage does something like this do to the refractory seal and to the catalyst? I have a call into the stove shop service dept and will have them out to take a look see. Would you continue to burn till then?

View attachment 304745

Yes it's fine to keep running. Smoke puffs out of the stove because you have positive pressure inside the firebox and insufficient exhaust volume to remove all of the air at that instant. It may have came out of the catalyst probe location.

I believe these stoves are assembled mostly with gaskets. Either way, it won't harm the stove. Doesn't warrant a service visit, especially if you have to pay for it

 

[mdocod]

When mine puffs it comes out from a specific spot next to one of the soapstone tiles on the top of the stove. I believe they missed a bit of the goop that bonds and seals the stones to the frame up there. I jammed a bit of fiberglass insulation down in the gap to plug it up for now. I have a tube of stove cement on the way to try for a better repair.

I have found that full-choke will lead to puffin on my Mansfield. The stove manual specifies a recommended range to use on the air-control for normal burning. I have found that when operated in that range it doesn't puff and regulates the burn rate very well.