Hello all and may I say it is great to have the info found here!!
I have just replaced my old 70's era VC Defiant with a new Dutchwest EX large Cat stove and I could use any info in getting comfortable with it! My old defiant was a bugger to burn as it would want to burn way too hot when in secondary combustion mode and way too slow when not using secondary combustion! I rebuilt the stove twice to eliminate any air leaks that might be causing the hot burning but no luck. My only recourse was to burn without secondary combustion and that was causing way too much creasote so the Defiant is being retired to the shop out back.
Now for the Dutchwest-- I purchased this model after much debate. I liked the model for the heat output, the fact that it has a cat and a big plus is the ease in cleaning the ash out after the flu is swept out. there are no hidden air spaces for the ash to fall in. I installed this stove on a stone hearth with a 15' single wall 18ga stack straight up from stove to class A thimble. I have a magnetic thermometer on the left door and an internal flu probe 16" up from the stove connector and of course the cat probe that came with the stove. I have completed my 3 break in burns and I am on my second "cat engaged burn" I can see right away that the more wood you put in the hotter the fire and heat output and the higher the cat temp!
My first cat burn was a little too fast and hot and when the cat probe reached 1200deg I got nervous and tried to close the damper a little too much not to mention it wasn't real cold outside and right away the stove responded with a smokey belch! Well with no experience with this stove and in fear of overfireing I just disengaged the cat and adjusted the fire with the prinary damper and things settled down and so did I. Now I did some homework on this site and some general study on cats and I am currently in my second cat burn.
This time I started off slower, I built a fire and let it build a medium bed of coals then I added a couple of 4" sticks of split hickory and then let the wood heat a little. When my door temp reached 400deg and my flu probe was at 600 and my cat probe was at 400deg I closed down the primary air inlet to about 1/2 and then I closed off the damper to divert heat through the cat. Then I opened the cat air flow 1/2 turn and closed the primary air flow to about 1/4 open and my cat temp probe slowly but surely climbed to a max temp of about 1000deg. The fire box stayed at around 450 the flue at around 600 this burn lasted about 2-3 hours and when all the gas was out of the wood the fire box dropped to about 400 the flue to 500 and the cat to 800 The wood sticks were still intact but chared black, just coals now so I opened the damper and added two 6" pieces of wood and let them warm and off any moisture for about 5-10 min then I closed the damper and back in to cat mode we went!
I had pretty much the same results except larger wood equals a hotter cat temp! This time it read fire box 450 flue 600 cat 1200deg. then after about 4 hours we are dropping all temps again and will soon need wood. I have noticed that the cat really likes the wood gasses to glow red but once the wood has off gassed the cat drops temp to around 700-800 and the box and flu drop also but the wood is still intact but chared black and will fall to coals if more wood is added. I have also noticed that when new wood is added the stove burns pretty steadly then right as the wood is giving up its last gasses the stove will get this erie blue/red glow in the fire box that will whisp from bottom to top the linger around the top. At this point in the burn the cat reaches it max temp of about 1200 deg in this case and I have noticed the interior cast iron ring around the cat will glow red?? Then after about 30-45 min the cat drops temp and all settles down until the next wood is added.
I am burning at pretty much the lowest setting I can and I am wondering what will happen if I load several large sticks of wood?? and what if I open the air flows a little more! Will I over fire the stove?? Am I overfireing the cat by the interior cast glowing red?? I really want to have a night burn of around 8 hours and I am not sure how to achieve this without loading a full box of wood but I am nervous about doing this right yet! Did I mention that I really like this stove! And I really like looking up at the stack and seeing only a little steam or nothing at all comming out of the stack! I really like knowing that no smoke equals no CREASOTE! Any advice or feedback would be greatly appriciated
I have just replaced my old 70's era VC Defiant with a new Dutchwest EX large Cat stove and I could use any info in getting comfortable with it! My old defiant was a bugger to burn as it would want to burn way too hot when in secondary combustion mode and way too slow when not using secondary combustion! I rebuilt the stove twice to eliminate any air leaks that might be causing the hot burning but no luck. My only recourse was to burn without secondary combustion and that was causing way too much creasote so the Defiant is being retired to the shop out back.
Now for the Dutchwest-- I purchased this model after much debate. I liked the model for the heat output, the fact that it has a cat and a big plus is the ease in cleaning the ash out after the flu is swept out. there are no hidden air spaces for the ash to fall in. I installed this stove on a stone hearth with a 15' single wall 18ga stack straight up from stove to class A thimble. I have a magnetic thermometer on the left door and an internal flu probe 16" up from the stove connector and of course the cat probe that came with the stove. I have completed my 3 break in burns and I am on my second "cat engaged burn" I can see right away that the more wood you put in the hotter the fire and heat output and the higher the cat temp!
My first cat burn was a little too fast and hot and when the cat probe reached 1200deg I got nervous and tried to close the damper a little too much not to mention it wasn't real cold outside and right away the stove responded with a smokey belch! Well with no experience with this stove and in fear of overfireing I just disengaged the cat and adjusted the fire with the prinary damper and things settled down and so did I. Now I did some homework on this site and some general study on cats and I am currently in my second cat burn.
This time I started off slower, I built a fire and let it build a medium bed of coals then I added a couple of 4" sticks of split hickory and then let the wood heat a little. When my door temp reached 400deg and my flu probe was at 600 and my cat probe was at 400deg I closed down the primary air inlet to about 1/2 and then I closed off the damper to divert heat through the cat. Then I opened the cat air flow 1/2 turn and closed the primary air flow to about 1/4 open and my cat temp probe slowly but surely climbed to a max temp of about 1000deg. The fire box stayed at around 450 the flue at around 600 this burn lasted about 2-3 hours and when all the gas was out of the wood the fire box dropped to about 400 the flue to 500 and the cat to 800 The wood sticks were still intact but chared black, just coals now so I opened the damper and added two 6" pieces of wood and let them warm and off any moisture for about 5-10 min then I closed the damper and back in to cat mode we went!
I had pretty much the same results except larger wood equals a hotter cat temp! This time it read fire box 450 flue 600 cat 1200deg. then after about 4 hours we are dropping all temps again and will soon need wood. I have noticed that the cat really likes the wood gasses to glow red but once the wood has off gassed the cat drops temp to around 700-800 and the box and flu drop also but the wood is still intact but chared black and will fall to coals if more wood is added. I have also noticed that when new wood is added the stove burns pretty steadly then right as the wood is giving up its last gasses the stove will get this erie blue/red glow in the fire box that will whisp from bottom to top the linger around the top. At this point in the burn the cat reaches it max temp of about 1200 deg in this case and I have noticed the interior cast iron ring around the cat will glow red?? Then after about 30-45 min the cat drops temp and all settles down until the next wood is added.
I am burning at pretty much the lowest setting I can and I am wondering what will happen if I load several large sticks of wood?? and what if I open the air flows a little more! Will I over fire the stove?? Am I overfireing the cat by the interior cast glowing red?? I really want to have a night burn of around 8 hours and I am not sure how to achieve this without loading a full box of wood but I am nervous about doing this right yet! Did I mention that I really like this stove! And I really like looking up at the stack and seeing only a little steam or nothing at all comming out of the stack! I really like knowing that no smoke equals no CREASOTE! Any advice or feedback would be greatly appriciated
