How long does your cat hold peak temps?

[WoodpileOCD]

I'm into a stack of 2yr. Red oak (I know,I know 3 is better but this is burning great) and the cat probe has no trouble getting to 1500 but only stays there for maybe an hour and a half then starts to fall off. It will gradually drop to about 800 after maybe 3-4 hours and hold that temp pretty much until it hits the coaling stage and drop to around 500. This is over about a 6-10 hour depending on the load. I know I'm leaking some air in around one side of the door and I have a new gasket ready for a stretch of warm weather so it won't shut down as much as I would like.

For you cat burners, does this seem like a normal cycle for you? In particular I'm interested in the length of your peak temps.

 

[coltfever]

Thats about what the cats temps hold on my stove also. Maybe the only difference if loaded with hickory my probe peaks 1700.

 

[jeff_t]

It sounds pretty good. It's hard to compare with just any other cat stove. Not many are as big, and mine is a lot different than yours.

I have no idea how long my stove will hold like that, as I only load it full at night or when I leave.

 

[mellow]

My peak is about 1500-1700 and it holds in the 1000 degree area for a good 2-3 hours, then drops down to 800 and 500.

I loaded the stove last night at 9pm, came down this morning at 8:30am and the cat was still at 500 degrees and blowing 200 degree air out with the fan on high.

With my stove being smaller than yours you must be loosing efficiency either with the cats or an air leak.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm into a stack of 2yr. Red oak (I know,I know 3 is better but this is burning great) and the cat probe has no trouble getting to 1500 but only stays there for maybe an hour and a half then starts to fall off. It will gradually drop to about 800 after maybe 3-4 hours and hold that temp pretty much until it hits the coaling stage and drop to around 500. This is over about a 6-10 hour depending on the load. I know I'm leaking some air in around one side of the door and I have a new gasket ready for a stretch of warm weather so it won't shut down as much as I would like.

For you cat burners, does this seem like a normal cycle for you? In particular I'm interested in the length of your peak temps.

That seems pretty close to how my 91 is running, but I'm not there all the time to monitor it, and the readings that are taken are spotty. Anything over 250 on the stove thermo is still pushing out pretty good heat, and I think it's probably ten hours before it drops below that.
I looked at a new 91 at the shop the other day and it looked like they siliconed the ends of the door gasket. I wish I had done that because it looks like the ends are starting to loosen up a bit. How did you determine that your door is leaking? My lower-right corner is where I have more dirty glass...
What about your ash pan gasket? Since you're not using the ash pan, it's possible that the gap didn't develop on yours; Mine developed a gap where the gasket ends came together. I replaced it and the same thing happened again so I glued a piece of gasket into the gap for now. I wish I had left the original gasket in there; The one at the shop seemed like it was a real tight weave, tighter than the replacement gasket I put in. I'll post shortly about a couple of tweaks I did...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

To be very honest, I don't know. I simply go by how warm the house is. When it starts cooling then we put wood in the stove. I will sometimes look at the temperatures while the burn is going on but not always. Put the wood in, when going nicely, cut the draft down and engage the cat. Forget the stove for many hours. Simple.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

That seems pretty close to how my 91 is running, but I'm not there all the time to monitor it, and the readings that are taken are spotty. Anything over 250 on the stove thermo is still pushing out pretty good heat, and I think it's probably ten hours before it drops below that.
I looked at a new 91 at the shop the other day and it looked like they siliconed the ends of the door gasket. I wish I had done that because it looks like the ends are starting to loosen up a bit. How did you determine that your door is leaking? My lower-right corner is where I have more dirty glass...
What about your ash pan gasket? Since you're not using the ash pan, it's possible that the gap didn't develop on yours; Mine developed a gap where the gasket ends came together. I replaced it and the same thing happened again so I glued a piece of gasket into the gap for now. I wish I had left the original gasket in there; The one at the shop seemed like it was a real tight weave, tighter than the replacement gasket I put in. I'll post shortly about a couple of tweaks I did...

It's impossible to keep the lower right corner clean and there is creosote buildup on the door opening around that corner as well. When I shut it down too quickly I get airflow moving from rt. to lft. across the window.

I've never used the ashpan and don't see any sign of air leaking around it.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yeah, smoke moves from left to right in mine...because of the air coming in the ash drop, I guess. Yep, I've seen that creo on the rt. door frame as well. I'll have to take a good look at the door and make sure it's flat...

 

[WoodpileOCD]

Somewhere on a thread I saw someone talking about a door that wasn't flat. i know it was a buck but dont remember the model. I think he got a new door from buck but probably bought his new. I need to put a straightedge on mine as well. Hope that's not the case for you or me. Let me know what you find.