Ke40 cat baffle

[circle_burner]

Is there supposed to be a steel baffle behind the cat on the ke 40?

I stumbled upon the stoves EPA certification documents and saw a drawing that looks like it has one.

I attached a picture from the flue looking back at the cat and I see what I'm assuming is the bypass door stop.

The stove was never working as others described on here. It worked ok but if i left it on high the cat would go thermo nuclear.

I found and repaired air leaks in the connections from stove to flue from a poor installation and it was a night and day difference the stove barely broke 1600 on the condor guage. Draft is .06-08 low flue and .15 high Temps

A week later at morning load time the flame guard was on the stove floor and a section of the cat was out of pplace.i pushed it back up with a welding glove and started troubleshooting.

 

[Highbeam]

Well you're overdrafting for one by around double what the stove is spec'd for. That can do some odd things.

 

[circle_burner]

Your absolutely right. When I use the key damper it settles around .06 - .08

I run it open till flue temperature is over 400f on the probe thermometer.

for anyone wondering as per this more reliable sketch it looks like the stove is not supposed to have a steel baffle

I'm guessing that the 2 years of intermittent 1700+ temperatures damaged the combustor.

 

[Highbeam]

I can see the baffle in that schematic. It’s a hinged hanging plate about a quarter the size of the cat. On my older princess it’s welded in place.

 

[circle_burner]

Oh. All I have behind my cat is a small plate that stops the bypass door from opening into the cat. The plate is significantly smaller than 1/4 of the cat and is welded in place.

It's captured in my cat picture in the first post.

 

[kennyp2339]

I assume you figured out the draft spec, incase anyone else is reading, all draft measurements are taken only while the stove is running on high, so your looking for .05"wc while the stove is loaded and full flames.

 

[circle_burner]

Thanks for the spec. This stove is very sensitive to draft and air leaks into the flue you can literally see where the air leaks start because the creosote buld up starts right above.

I did some math and this cat has over 13000 hours on it. I start burning in October and it's 24/7 November to May. it's due for replacement.

Even with these issues this is the easiest stove I have ever run. I havnt found a different stove that can CONSISTENTLY deliver 24 hour burn times with zero operator intervention and I have coals left over.