Lots of Questions, Lots of Pics (sweeping, roof, catalyst issues)

[Charles1981]

So I had to shovel 17 inches of snow off my roof yesterday as over the next few days there is going to be some thawing and freezing going on and the slope of my roof is such that unlike many of my neighbors, the snow just sits there. The gutters are filled with ice, and one corner of the house already had some decent icicle formation so as much as I didn’t want to I still got up there and got 17 inches off.. Took over 2 hours and was kind of dangerous…

There was also some significant snow meltage AROUND the chimney itself which seemed excessive..

Regardless I got up there and noticed the chimney cap was sure a lot uglier up close than from far away or with binoculars (real black shiny tar like stuff). So I ended up taking that off and then taking a peek down the chimney. Looked pretty dirty to me (but mostly brown flaky creosote, unlike the black tar stuck to the chimney cap) maybe 1/4inch buildup?

So now I went to home depot as I had just been having a sweep service the chimney and since this is year two it was only services once this past summer and he never really said anything about it being terrible but he did get about 48 ounces of laky creosote out (1 and ½ big coffee containers full he said it was about average for 1 year buildup.

Anyway I am determined to keep the chimney in better shape and I guess save 150 dollars a year as well so I went to home depot and got my own sweep kit (needed to sets of extension rods (apparently my chimney is officially 26 feet tall). I got about 20 oz of fine flaky creosote from the sweep. I got close to 8-10oz of chunky shiny black crap off the cap alone. So in 3 months I got about 30oz or so.

Well with the stove cold I took the time to clean it out as well best I can. I checked the CAT just before thanksgiving because there was a warm spell that came through. The CAT looked brand new then. NOW the CAT is warped and cracked but still in mostly normal shape. This is only about 8 weeks since I checked it I over fired the stove twice before thanksgiving but that was the reason I checked it before thanks giving was to examine the cat after these two over fires and no obvious damage.

So thank you for reading all that (hopefully) now the questions…

1) Creosote buildup seem normal for cap and chimney for 3 months burning (Early October to Now)?

2) Does the snow meltage around the chimney itself (before shoveling) seem odd or excessive to you?

3) Think the CAT is shot? Or still life left in it, just shortened life span? Should I take these photos to the dealer and get it switched out on warranty? I think 75% covered at this point maybe 50%. Regardless I don’t want to GIVE them the cat and wait for a new one even though the stove technically should be able to run without it (being the 2 in 1 system).

• Also that little bar that goes down the middle of the cat was DEFINITELY not warped 8 weeks ago either….

5) More reasons to get a cat probe eh? The stove top thermometer isn’t registering an overfire but I MUST be getting to hot in the burn chamber then….correct?

6) Do you shovel the snow off your roof when you get massive accumulations all at once?

• I don’t have significant dam accumulation yet but I didn’t really want to find out. Some other houses in the area have serious problems (icicles 10 feet long around the entire perimeter of the roof). It seems most newer build houses have steeper sloped roofs? At least in the subdivisions and the snow just blows or falls off them with ease.

7) There is also a photo of what appear to be ventilation or air delivery holes below the burn chamber. The left sides are open, the right side are plugged with fly ash. I took a paper clipped and cleared out the right sides. Coincidentally the left side is the same side that had the warped and cracked catalyst parts. Do you think this could be at all related? What are those holes for? They seem to head into the 2nd burn chamber somehow.

Anyway, Thanks for taking a look and answering my questions. Any and all comments and concerns are welcome!

Charles

 

[Charles1981]

Pictures are kind of out of order... there is an after cleaning shot of the cap resting on the ladder there.

And the images of the holes leading to the burn chamber aren't as clear reduced in size.. but hopefully you can still make them out.

 

[mellow]

Plain and simple you need a cat probe. That cat has been cooked, only putting it in and trying to run it with a cat probe will tell you if it is toast or not, the outer shell needs to be replaced and the interim gasket as well, not sure if that is available separate or not.

That is a lot of crud for such a short time period.

I usually run from the VC threads

 

[Charles1981]

I have a fire going now and its behaving as usual and the cat is definitely fired off on both sides...but yea just can't tell the temperature back there other than monitoring stove top. But again I had two over fires (stove top 800+) before thanks giving and cat was fine after checking. Now I've been running much lower / normal temps and no observed over fires and now 8 weeks later the CAT popped. Sucks.

 

[Diabel]

Not looking too good....
Not sure if it is the wood or you are chocking the fire too early, or it is just the way these beasts are designed. Is the cat still under warranty?

 

[Charles1981]

Yea bought stove 1.5 years ago. Second season burning. It was brand new at the time. The cat is pro-rated I believe so covered at either 75 or 50 percent i think ill have to look it up again.

 

[Charles1981]

Not looking too good....
Not sure if it is the wood or you are chocking the fire too early, or it is just the way these beasts are designed. Is the cat still under warranty?

I did have a thread about my wife no matter how much i tell her to wait for the stove to come up to temperature, she habitually closes the stove very very early. If I let her run the stove the house stays colder and I find the stove packed full smoldering at 350 or so instead of 500. I tried to show her the manual, and eek it basically is more along the lines with how she runs the stove than how I have learned on here. The manual unfortunately is very misleading as far as proper stove operation. But this was already discussed in another thread...I know its a problem but regardless the CAT made it through last year and half of this year just fine (same wood as last year, but an extra year seasoned over the more green stuff i was burning last year...from the same delivery).

But yes, the wife chokes the fire down very very early and as much as I have tried to get through to her about it she doesn't want to listen to what I think is reason (especially after getting burned trying to show her the manual's instructions...which support how she has been doing it).

 

[Charles1981]

Here is a link to that thread if you have any interest in reading it...

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-wife-regarding-the-stove-and-loading.120051/

 

[Diabel]

Here is a link to that thread if you have any interest in reading it...

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-wife-regarding-the-stove-and-loading.120051/

Yeah, I looked at that thread. I work from home so I am the only one feeding the stove. I remember once, I went skiing on a Sat. and was gone good 10 hrs. My wife thought she would impress me by adding wood to a dying fire. We all know the results......
I politely said "do not touch my stove"! She was more than happy not to ever approach it again..... This was years ago. From then on all I hear from her regarding he stove "honey I am cold....do something about it..."

It looks like chocking the fire produced the results with the excessive creo.
As for the cat, at the end of the season try to get it exchanged (pro rated) and get yourself a spare one at the same time.

 

[Charles1981]

So you do think that is excessive creosote for 13 weeks (little over 3 months now) of regular burning?

Only the cap had the black tar stuff which i though could be normal being the coldest part of the system. The stuff lining the chimney was very brown, light, and flaky.

 

[Diabel]

So you do think that is excessive creosote for 13 weeks (little over 3 months now) of regular burning?

Only the cap had the black tar stuff which i though could be normal being the coldest part of the system. The stuff lining the chimney was very brown, light, and flaky.

Excessive, maybe it was not the right word. The flue pics looked like there was quite a bit of build up. Maybe it was just the pics.
My cap is filthy...with black creo. I plan to clean my flue this Sat. Since the heat wave is coming +8*C !
Will shoot few pics down the pipe then we'll compare. I have been burning since mid-Oct. five weeks of bone dry pine and spruce, then from last week of Nov to the end of Dec. not so good maple and beech 25% MC. But I had to get rid of it since it was blocking by good stuff and I did not want to move it and restack it.
The only reason why I will run the brush through the pipe is because of that crappy maple and beech. Normally, I only clean once at the end of the season.

 

[Charles1981]

Well thanks for the input! I look forward to seeing your photos to compare to.

 

[Charles1981]

I don't really want to be that guy that bumps his own thread, but I still have quite a few questions i was hoping for input back on.

If the thread falls to the way side again I won't bump again (to admins)...hopefully you don't mind.

And thanks for any additional input anyone can give.

 

[Diabel]

I don't really want to be that guy that bumps his own thread, but I still have quite a few questions i was hoping for input back on.

If the thread falls to the way side again I won't bump again (to admins)...hopefully you don't mind.

And thanks for any additional input anyone can give.

I did not get a chance to sweep this weekend. It rained pretty much non-stop.
Here is a bump for you.

 

[begreen]

Is the liner insulated? If not, I would install a damper blockoff plate and pour some vermiculite or perlite around it.

 

[Charles1981]

I have roxul stuffed from the top down to around where the roof starts, I also have roxul stuffed from the bottom up a few feet. The stove is free standing, and the liner goes about 4 feet horizontal through an insulated plate where the fire place used to be, then makes a 90 degree turn upwards. There is no block off plate but The chimney being interior and insulated as well as possible at the top and then again at the bottom and then being located 4 feet away from where it stretches vertical it is not insulated along its entire length....but again is almost completely dead center interior to my house.

Do you think full insulation and a block off plate is really necessary in my setup? I don't believe to much heat loss is occuring up the chimney especially with the bypass closed, the distance from the vertical run, the insulation at top and bottom, and interior chimney.... maybe not though?