Late Season Revelation - Smoke Dragon Alert...

[Peter B.]

Some of you may recall that I introduced an improved secondary air supply and replaced the catalyst in my museum piece parlor stove this past winter.

After replacing the cat, I pretty much 'reverted' to cat stove tending habits... as different from NON-cat ways... engaging the catalyst as soon as it was likely to light off, and closing the stove down tight not long after. Nice extended burns, but kind of ho hum, all in all.

The catalyst moves on a slide... and every now and then, when I'm late to engage the cat and things git purty hot, the catalyst slide jams nearly solid and can't easily be forced.

Tonight, with a 3 split load of oak burning bright, the catalyst slide jammed in the bypass position... and I opted to leave it be... let the fire burn for a while, then closed the manual drafts and tightened up the flue damper.

At the peak of the burn, I saw 525* on the (rather conservative) flue probe, and a corresponding 1300* stovetop INTERNAL (using another probe thermometer)... WITHOUT the catalyst.

The surprise is that those temperatures closely parallel temps with the catalyst engaged.

Through the peep hole that's blocked when the catalyst IS engaged, I could see a nice 'plasma' effect... flames at least two feet removed from the solid fuel... raging through the baffle.

I love this job.

Peter B.

-----

 

[BrotherBart]

That "plasma" burn happens in a non-cat around 900 degrees stove top temp. The designer of the 30-NC told me that. I don't wanna try it to see for myself.

Used to do it in my old insert all the time around 1000 degrees on the top plate. Until it popped a weld.

 

[Peter B.]

That "plasma" burn happens in a non-cat around 900 degrees stove top temp. The designer of the 30-NC told me that. I don't wanna try it to see for myself.

Used to do it in my old insert all the time around 1000 degrees on the top plate. Until it popped a weld.

I'm all cast, riveted, and cold rolled steel, and again, I've seen the same temps fairly routinely with the catalyst engaged.

One of the great beauties of messing around with an older stove, dialing it in and spending umpteen years with it is that you overcome a lot of fears... but I still don't burn as clean as I'd like, and could still risk a chimney fire if I wasn't sitting right next to the stove most of the time.

Definitely not recommended for the faint of heart.

Peter B.

-----