I think Dad either plugged or killed the cat... smoke and backpuffing...

[Dustin92]

I think my Dad either plugged the cat in our Englander insert with creosote or killed it completely. Today being Christmas eve, we were going across town for a family dinner and then church tonight, and I went over about noon to help prepare the meal; I came back about 4 to pick up my Mom and Dad (no sense in driving two vehicles, plus my car is better on gas) and asked Dad if the fire was fixed. He said yes, I just added wood. I thought ok, it was going when I left, and I dont see any smoke from the chimney. I didnt actually check it, but the house was warm. We left, had a great dinner, went to a great candlelight church service, and got home about 10. I figured the fire would be out, but was not prepared for what I found... I had noticed the house smelled a bit smoky, but that happens sometimes if the wind is going right, it blows into the attic. I opened the stove, and was greeted with a pile of large smoldering logs, and the entire stove was dripping in creosote. I opened the bypass and it immediately took off. I let it catch good, and then started closing the bypass. I got it closed, and the stove started smoking around the door and backpuffing around the air intakes. I repeated it with the same result. I am now running it with the bypass damper slightly open, just so we can heat the house. Maybe the creosote will burn off of the cat, but being the original cat in a 21 year old stove, I think he probably killed it.

 

[HotCoals]

21 years on the same cat!
Just goes to show that theses cats will never do their job if the wood is not charred good to begin with and the cat temp needs to be brought up.
Buy him a new cat for Christmas!

 

[BrotherBart]

If he has been burning in that stove for 21 years I think he knows how to do it just fine. Just time for a new cat for that stove. A 21 year old cat owes you nothing. One in a stove or one with four legs for that matter.

 

[Dustin92]

This is the first cat stove we have used, I get my info on here, but my Dad wont hear of it, he has burned wood all his life and he knows how to burn a stove blah blah blah... he throws in sopping wet logs on coals, slams the bypass shut, closes down the air control and walks away. Not to mention he bought about 20 cords of freshly cut wood- none is ready to burn, in my opinion. (he hasnt burned this stove for 21 years, the stove was put in in 1991, we moved in this August)

 

[corey21]

Wow a 21 year old cat.

 

[HotCoals]

This is the first cat stove we have used, I get my info on here, but my Dad wont hear of it, he has burned wood all his life and he knows how to burn a stove blah blah blah... he throws in sopping wet logs on coals, slams the bypass shut, closes down the air control and walks away. Not to mention he bought about 20 cords of freshly cut wood- none is ready to burn, in my opinion. (he hasnt burned this stove for 21 years, the stove was put in in 1991, we moved in this August)

The stove sat idle since 1991?

 

[Dustin92]

No, it was very infrequently used (a few fires per winter) until last winter, it was used all winter, and we plan on using it for primary heat.

 

[BrotherBart]

I hear ya. My father in law spent a couple of weeks here years ago. I came home one night and he told me that he had figured out how to get the stove to burn longer and not get so hot. He had dragged up some wet wood from the woods.

I called a restaurant in town and gave them my credit card number and sent the inlaws out for a nice dinner, stripped off my suit and tie and headed for the roof. I had a 7x11 chimney completely plugged with ash. Completely.

Grabbed the brushes and went to work and by the time they got back a nice fire was burning. And my wife explained to them that she really liked to run the stove and would handle it from then on.

 

[ddddddden]

. . .I called a restaurant in town and gave them my credit card number and sent the inlaws out for a nice dinner, stripped off my suit and tie and headed for the roof. I had a 7x11 chimney completely plugged with ash. Completely. . .

And we have a winner for the Hearth.com Christmas Story of 2012!


A fine example of grace under pressure, BB. . .dunno if I could've maintained.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow! That definitely sounds like freshly cut wood. I'd try to clean the cat but I'd be even more interested in cleaning the chimney right away. Soon! Fast! That cat might even be all crumbled when you take it out. It may fall out in pieces. New cat for Christmas!

 

[Dustin92]

I threw in 3 scoops of powdered creosote remover last night- you are supposed to use 2 tablespoons, and my scoop is about 2 tablespoons, so about a triple dose. Dad gave in and is planning on cleaning the cat tomorrow, I will look at the chimney then. I saw on another site that you can boil the cat in vinegar water- can you actually do that and does it help? Unless the cat is crumbling, it is going to have to last the winter, finances are tight.

 

[Woody Stover]

New cat for Christmas!

Just make sure you buy it with his money; He will destroy the new one in a matter of months...

 

[Dustin92]

If I could give him set directions on what to do and what not to do, it would be ok. I am new at this as well, and I'm just. going by what I have read on here. I usually just get the fire roaring and gradually close the bypass, I dont really even know if the cat has lit off or not. When it really gets burning good, it puts out an insane amount of heat, but anymore, that happens pretty rarely. My Dad doesnt get the idea of running a cat stove, and if the fire isnt burning well enough, he partially opens the bypass. I know that for the cat to light off and function properly, the damper needs to be closed, but I havent completely figured out the air controls though.

 

[BrotherBart]

I am still trying to figure out which model that thing is. It looks older than the 24-IC and 28-IC cat stoves they made back in the late eighties up till 1992. When ya drag it out for the chimney cleaning get the model number off of the plate on the back.

 

[Dustin92]

It is a model 28-jc, installed in 1991.

 

[Woody Stover]

Do you have the manual for the stove (I'm assuming not.) Do you know the model stove it is or did you get any paperwork with it? If so, you can probably find a manual at the EnglandStoveWorks site. That will tell you how to run the stove.
There are instructions here for cleaning combustors but if yours in 21 years old, I wouldn't hold out much hope for that working. Do you know how much the combustor is? Might be pretty reasonable..
(broken link removed to http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/Cleaning_your_combustor.html)

 

[Dustin92]

No, we dont have the manual or any paperwork for it. I just tried to move it a bit, and couldnt budge it. Not even a quarter of an inch. Hopefully the chimney can be cleaned without moving it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If I could give him set directions on what to do and what not to do, it would be ok. I am new at this as well, and I'm just. going by what I have read on here. I usually just get the fire roaring and gradually close the bypass, I dont really even know if the cat has lit off or not. When it really gets burning good, it puts out an insane amount of heat, but anymore, that happens pretty rarely. My Dad doesnt get the idea of running a cat stove, and if the fire isnt burning well enough, he partially opens the bypass. I know that for the cat to light off and function properly, the damper needs to be closed, but I havent completely figured out the air controls though.

I don't understand the idea of gradually closing the bypass but perhaps your stove is different. On our cat stove we have 2 controls. The bypass and the draft. We do sometimes gradually close the draft but the bypass is either open or closed. There should be no reason to partially open or close that. With a cat stove you also want to get the fire going good before engaging. You at least want to get the wood charred good before engaging the cat. This might take anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on your wood. If you have really good wood you might engage that cat in 5 minutes but not many can do that. If in doubt, leave it a bit longer before engaging but know that before you engage the catalyst most of the heat will be going up the chimney and the stove top will not heat up very fast at all. Once you engage and dial down that draft, then the stovetop temperature will rise much faster. In addition, when starting a cold stove, once the fire gets started good and the flue temperature comes up a bit we will cut the draft to 50%. This will heat the stove up much faster than leaving the draft open full which will mean you get more useable heat from your wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

These guys have the cat for a 28-JC for $97. Which would give that old dog a whole new lease on life.

 

[Dustin92]

I thought I needed to close the bypass gradually to pre heat the cat. I downloaded a manual for a 24-jc, and it just says to close it completely. I followed the instructions to the letter today and the fire is going great. The cat was almost completely stuffed with ash again. It only had a little damage, but seems pretty ok.