My new CAT insert rocks!!!

[fattyfat1]

I put two splits in before bed, still had two splits when I woke up. My wife used TWO pieces of wood all day, I just got home from work, the WHOLE house is cozy, and Ill probably add two more splits before bed. 6 pieces of wood in twenty four hours? is this for real? :wow: the Lopi would eat that much in four hours, with a total of 6 to 8 hours of heat.

couple of ?'s.

my overnight burns are turning my glass black. yes my wood is seasoned and dry. yes a good hot fire during startup burns it off. is this normal?

the manual says to not make sudden adjustments with the thermostat, can you go from high during startup, all the way to medium low? if I go in smaller increments like the manual says, we get absolutely COOKED out of the house before I can get to low in 20 min. increments.

are you guys using the low setting at all for overnight burns? to me it seems if it is all the way low the cat will drop into the inactive zone. if this happens when there is still wood left, does it gunk up the cat? this seems like it would be the same as engageing the cat too early.

after you add a new load, even though the cat is still reading well into "active", do you need to leave the bypass plate open for awile, or can you close it right away?

seems like we will be running it always on medium or med/low. How often should i get a real cooker going to clean the glass, cat, stovepipe?


thanks, Trev

 

[Todd]

I put two splits in before bed, still had two splits when I woke up. My wife used TWO pieces of wood all day, I just got home from work, the WHOLE house is cozy, and Ill probably add two more splits before bed. 6 pieces of wood in twenty four hours? is this for real? :wow: the Lopi would eat that much in four hours, with a total of 6 to 8 hours of heat.

couple of ?'s.

my overnight burns are turning my glass black. yes my wood is seasoned and dry. yes a good hot fire during startup burns it off. is this normal?

Try a little more air, I like to see a little red in those coals under the splits

the manual says to not make sudden adjustments with the thermostat, can you go from high during startup, all the way to medium low? if I go in smaller increments like the manual says, we get absolutely COOKED out of the house before I can get to low in 20 min. increments.

Try reloading with the bypass open on high for about 5 minutes then turn it down to a lower setting 5 minutes before engaging the cat. You shouldn't engage the cat at a high air setting, the smoke will just cruise through the cat and have little time to burn.The fire may seem like its going out and you will want to give it more air, but be patient and it will come back in a couple minutes

are you guys using the low setting at all for overnight burns? to me it seems if it is all the way low the cat will drop into the inactive zone. if this happens when there is still wood left, does it gunk up the cat? this seems like it would be the same as engageing the cat too early.

Yes, I always use a low setting for long overnight burns. I will turn it down til the flame slows way down to a trickle or gostly bursts. But this is after about 5-10 minutes after engaging with a little more air.

after you add a new load, even though the cat is still reading well into "active", do you need to leave the bypass plate open for awile, or can you close it right away?

Yes, give it 10 minutes to cook out any moisture in the wood and get it charred good.

seems like we will be running it always on medium or med/low. How often should i get a real cooker going to clean the glass, cat, stovepipe?

Your going to have a learning curve to see what works best for your stove. I think cats run best with a full load and letting it burn down to coals and repeat.

thanks, Trev

 

[Todd]

Here is a really good site on cat stove ops. This guy knows everything there is to know about cats.
http://firecatcombustors.blogspot.c...-max=2009-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max;-results=9

 

[bfunk13]

Sounds like you are doing just fine.
Must be burning hardwood?
I suppose it differs with wood type, all we have is the DREADED PINE.
If i get a good bed of coals and char the new load fairly well, i can turn the air down to about 25%.
The only time ive been able to turn it way down is when just a hot bed of coals are left.
The CAT stays active for quite a long time after this. I can still get a couple hours of good heat this way.
Fan on low and radiant heat. Usually by this time i am ready to cool off the place anyways.
If your glass cleans up after start up, i am guessing its just a bit of smoke on the glass. Sounds good to me.

Brad

 

[begreen]

Trev, it's still in the 50s here during the daytime. This has been a warm November. I think you'll have more fire and will be able to do a more gradual slowdown when winter arrives. That should clear up the glass.

During the shoulder seasons burn the lightweight wood like pine. Save the fir for when it gets colder.

 

[fattyfat1]

thanks, everyone! I realize I'm not gonna be an expert with a cat stove after 4 days, but I've been searching and reading everything I can find on the subject, and I think that might be part of the problem. too much info and I get confused :gulp:
I would consider myself an expert on non-cat stoves, I've been running them since my dad let me take over fire duties when i was 8yo. this is different. much different. the manual pretty much just covers "your first fire" so everything learned has come from here.

 

[fattyfat1]

oh, I almost forgot. the wood I have is maple and alder. I have very little fir, and it is mixed in so sparsely, maybe one in fifty pieces. never saw a reason to separate species in the woodshed.

 

[RedRanger]

oh, I almost forgot. the wood I have is maple and alder. I have very little fir, and it is mixed in so sparsely, maybe one in fifty pieces. never saw a reason to separate species in the woodshed.

Congrats on an excellent choice..

Just think, now as a softwood burner, you will actually achieve much,much, longer burn times than those whiney, little whiney, boys back East with all that wood to burn that we don`t have.====no hardwoods, = no problem, with that awesome wood burning machine.

You see, you-unlike most of us softwood burners, had the common sense to buy something that actually works in this enviroment.

How the heck did you ever get the "better half" to spring for the extra bucks??

I couldn`t manage- so just envious :bug:

 

[fattyfat1]

How the heck did you ever get the "better half" to spring for the extra bucks??

I couldn`t manage- so just envious :bug:

It wasn't her choice, she did it to herself by shoveling three cords of wood into that god forsaken hole when it was just a "fireplace" last winter. I told her I was going to drag my welding machine into the house and weld the damper shut, or we are going to get something that will go easy on my woodpile. I gather all the wood by myself, my boys are too little to help, and she's too busy with them to help me. so I fell, cut, split, stack, haul, unload, stack again in shed. lotsa sweat goes into my pile. she understands, and is warm, she could have been difficult, and cold! :coolsmirk:

 

[fattyfat1]

ok, another question.

the fan really kicks out the heat, and the manual says match fan speed with thermostat (low therm./low fan. high therm./high fan) it's not required to run the fan if not needed is it? I can see if it is real cold or for overnight I'll usually put it on low, but for most of the day, when the stove is going, it's off. sorry if this seems like a silly ? but it is not really spelled out anywhere and the combined experience here has been very helpful to me. I assume in the dead of winter North of 60 runs his fan alot, it's probably -40 below with wind chill........ but dead of winter where I live is 32 to 35 degrees and raining.

 

[bfunk13]

Tell me if i am wrong here but. .
If my cat is engaged my fan is running.
Even if its on low. I worry about over firing when the fan is off.
One night i forgot to kick the fan on and that sucker was cookin'. Not over fired, but could have been if i left it much longer.
Keeping air movement around the box keeps it a good temp, in my experience.
Plus if i am going to burn a fire, and wood i have slaved over.
I want as much heat as possible out of it.
If i just want to take the chill off i build a small fire.

Brad

 

[begreen]

The easiest way to be sure is to use a thermometer. If the stove temp is below 800 with the fan off, you're fine.

 

[North of 60]

ok, another question.

the fan really kicks out the heat, and the manual says match fan speed with thermostat (low therm./low fan. high therm./high fan) it's not required to run the fan if not needed is it? I can see if it is real cold or for overnight I'll usually put it on low, but for most of the day, when the stove is going, it's off. sorry if this seems like a silly ? but it is not really spelled out anywhere and the combined experience here has been very helpful to me. I assume in the dead of winter North of 60 runs his fan alot, it's probably -40 below with wind chill........ but dead of winter where I live is 32 to 35 degrees and raining.

Been away from home this week and just got back. If my wife catches me on here Im DEAD! >:-( Always load your stove full.
Yes turn your stat down in interval's after its chard the wood. I only disengage the cat between loads. If your wood is dry you can go ahead and engage it a couple minutes after a reload. I run my stove on #1 setting for @ least 4-5 month's a year. Yes the glass gets dirty on the lower corners. My stack stays clean and when we stay in the lower -20s I run it on #2 setting and it always stays completely clean. I run my fan only below -15c and colder and my stat is set just above #1. Over-firing the stove is nearly impossible if your settings on the stat are at 2.5 and lower. No fan needed. Yes you will reach 800 above the cat on a surface therm
but it will read 650 in the other areas. Hope you also get this Bfunk. Gotta go shes coming. :ahhh:
N of 60

 

[fattyfat1]

my cat gauge only says active and inactive, it is not a stove thermometer,(well technically it is, with no numbers on it) so I stuck a magnetic one right in front of it. If I am understanding you guys correctly, it can read 800 on the top of the stove? :bug: It's a rutland, it reads 50 degrees hotter than it should, and the scale says 600+ is too hot or overfire. scale goes to 900.

 

[fattyfat1]

Tell me if i am wrong here but. .
If my cat is engaged my fan is running.
Even if its on low. I worry about over firing when the fan is off.
One night i forgot to kick the fan on and that sucker was cookin'. Not over fired, but could have been if i left it much longer.
Keeping air movement around the box keeps it a good temp, in my experience.
Plus if i am going to burn a fire, and wood i have slaved over.
I want as much heat as possible out of it.
If i just want to take the chill off i build a small fire.

Brad

I have only been using the fan overnight on low. I don't worry about overfire because a fire hot enough to cause that would make my house 150 degrees. I fill the stove, but I only run it on high till the cat is generously up to temp, then i close the bypass, and turn the stove down to med/low to low. If left it on anything above med after that, I would have all the windows and doors open.... :coolsmirk:

 

[North of 60]

You may or may not have room over-top of your cat. Your thermometer was actually meant for single wall stove pipe in reference to stack temps. Just read the #s.
P.S. Welcome to the Ugly stove club. Aint she Beautiful.

 

[fattyfat1]

You may or may not have room over-top of your cat. Your thermometer was actually meant for single wall stove pipe in reference to stack temps. Just read the #s.
P.S. Welcome to the Ugly stove club. Aint she Beautiful.

mine is about 3" in front of cat gauge. won't fit like that unless I remove the stovetop shroud, which would actually be a good idea because I could put a kettle up there also for some humidity.

 

[North of 60]

What temps are you getting?

 

[fattyfat1]

between 450-500 is comfortable without the fan. It's only in the forty's outside though.

 

[North of 60]

Your cat should be well into the active zone. Low settings are designed well for this stove. No need to run the fan. Your t-stat will just keep the damper throttled longer. @ 300 f it will run for many hours on a clean burn. AS long as your CAT was active before the turn down and your wood is dry. Cheers. N of 60

 

[North of 60]

AND remember your stove temp will go up for a few hours after the turn down, even though your flame is out. That extra smoke created is alot of fuel for that cat. You should be able to see your CAT glow for the first 3-5 hrs after turn down. I will read 700f + above the area of the cat @ this time but below 600f every where else.
Hope this helps.

 

[fattyfat1]

perfect! thanks n of 60! I dont see the cat glow for very long, but it remains well into the active range for hours and hours. it only glows for a few minutes, but the gauge is pegged at the upper limit active range. Me thinks that could be because of the different wood we are burning. you are probably burning ALOT hotter and faster than I am with pine. maple is a slow roller, so is alder.

 

[bfunk13]

Thanks North!