I have had my hearthstone heritage for about 6 weeks now. Do any of you find that it’s easy to get the stove hovering close to the hot range on the catalyst probe or right on the line of the too hot range without having high stone temps or even lots of wood in the stove. Also I was consistently getting the center stone temp to 400 or 450 then all of a sudden three days ago it’s like it’s not pumping as much heat from the top anymore. The side of the stove is hotter. Takes a while to even get to 300 then just hovers there. My wood is seasoned and i monitor the temps closely. Only once it went into the hot zone for about 10 mins then I opened the bypass. That was the day before I’ve been getting the reduced temps. I got a flashlight and checked the catalysts. Don’t see anything obvious. A bit of ash maybe. Checked outside today when bypass closed and no smoke coming from chimney. So just wondering if anyone has any ideas. Did I damage it that easily - it was hardly burning at the time it said it was too hot. Thanks.
New hearthstone heritage question
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If the bypass is closed and the stove is running hot enough to activate the cat, there should be little, if any smoke.
No smoke outside but it says that it’s about to go into the too hot zone and it’s 400 on the top now but when I temp gun the side with the bypass handle it says 550. The one side only is getting way hotter than the top. Is the catalyst probe supposed to be pushed all the way in. One poster said to pull it out 1/8” and if I do that it doesn’t read as hot but not sure what the correct position is supposed to be. Also ever since I got the stove the cat on the left glows bright red but the one on the left doesn’t. I read that it’s still activated if it’s not glowing but I would think they both would. I may have to contact hearthstone….I have lots of questions 
A new cat is going to run on the hot side. Try to keep it out of the too hot zone. The stones are slow to warm up.
The uneven burning sounds a bit odd. Is the firewood load biased toward the hotter side?
The uneven burning sounds a bit odd. Is the firewood load biased toward the hotter side?
I try to load it pretty even but it does seem to always burn more on that one side. I’ll try to pay attention in the morning and load it even and see. Even the flames at the top always tend to be on that side also. I looked at the cats and they look normal to me. Nothing crazy. No visible damage or anything I can see.
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I have and door seems good. I did also light some egg carton and checked with smoke also. I have a double walled stove pipe and it does seem like the smoke is going in a bit at the back at this location where it joins with the stove and I do hear some air whooshing from this location. It was installed by the place I bought it.
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If you have a leak there, it would affect overall draft and could be related to not reaching temperature on the stove. But if it's that severe that it affects overall draft, I'd also expect some smoke roll out upon reloading.
My gasket question was related to the uneven cat heating.
Is there another possibility for a leak somewhere? (I don't know these stoves, and if the stone is seeing fire and should seal, or whether there is a steel box inside).
My gasket question was related to the uneven cat heating.
Is there another possibility for a leak somewhere? (I don't know these stoves, and if the stone is seeing fire and should seal, or whether there is a steel box inside).
Doesn’t burn like there is a draft problem. I have to be careful or I would get smoke rollout just at the beginning of lighting the fire but my house is super tight. It’s an insulated concrete form house. I tried to light the fire evenly today as best as a could and both cats seem to be better today. I also vacuumed them the other day when I saw soot on them which also helped. I taped a garden hose section to a Dyson. Worked great. No real leak possibility any other place. A stone would have to be cracked. They manufacturer should book a phone consult when people buy cat stoves to go over everything since they are soooo different. I’ve been burning wood my entire life but in an old fisher woodstove. This is a big learning curve. I like it though. Very even heat. Thanks for your help. Appreciate all of it.
it must have been that only one cat was engaged because now the side of the stove is the same temp as the top and it’s at 400 on the center stone. Strange because for days it was unevenly heated and low reading on the top. The only other difference is that it’s colder outside today.
Interesting. Good that it seems all is working well.
I sometimes have some uneven cat glowing, but that is generally directly related to where there is (or was last) flame.
If I dial down a lot, I do see that there will be uneven consumption of fuel, i.e. the "burn" (smolder) happens on one side, as apparently there is not enough oxygen then to have it burn all over the front (and slowly to the back), leading to a more sideways progression.
I sometimes have some uneven cat glowing, but that is generally directly related to where there is (or was last) flame.
If I dial down a lot, I do see that there will be uneven consumption of fuel, i.e. the "burn" (smolder) happens on one side, as apparently there is not enough oxygen then to have it burn all over the front (and slowly to the back), leading to a more sideways progression.
Does the amount of charring before your air is turned down make a difference?
You may be right. Sometime I may not be letting it char long enough. When I see lots of flames I naturally want to turn down the air. Today I left it open longer than normal and it seems to have run much better this time. Then I turned it down and all the flames were at the top burning nice and both cats were glowing this time with even heat on the top and the side.