New to stove ownership Catalytic Combuster quest.

[reeffreak]

Hi all,

I just bought a used VC Intrepid 2 1308 to heat our kitchen. The stove seems to work beautifully, however, I am not sure the CC is working. I have a thermo on the stove top and a flue magnet. The stove top will get to 450-500 and the flu is at maybe 400 when i close the damper. The instructions say work off the stove top temp. Anyway, the fire will slow and continue to burn. The stove does get hot. My problem is the smoke, I get more smoke from my chiminey it seems with the damper closed then with it open and the color is unchanged. Does it sound like the combuster is working. It does make heat and not having used it brand new i am not sure if it is working right. I inspected it when I first got the stove and it looked ok no physical damage. Hard to tell if it is good or not. Any suggestions or comments?


Thanks,

Mike

 

[3fordasho]

Hi all,

I just bought a used VC Intrepid 2 1308 to heat our kitchen. The stove seems to work beautifully, however, I am not sure the CC is working. I have a thermo on the stove top and a flue magnet. The stove top will get to 450-500 and the flu is at maybe 400 when i close the damper. The instructions say work off the stove top temp. Anyway, the fire will slow and continue to burn. The stove does get hot. My problem is the smoke, I get more smoke from my chiminey it seems with the damper closed then with it open and the color is unchanged. Does it sound like the combuster is working. It does make heat and not having used it brand new i am not sure if it is working right. I inspected it when I first got the stove and it looked ok no physical damage. Hard to tell if it is good or not. Any suggestions or comments?


Thanks,

Mike

With my woodstock fireview, once up to temp and I close the bypass (engage the cat) the flue temps will drop and there will be no smoke. On cold days there will be white steam but no blue smoke.

 

[STOVEGUY11]

Check the catalyst again, make sure there are no large cracks or chunks missing out of it. Clean it and also the refractory package(white box its held in). Do you know when the last time the cat was changed? Check the gaskets on the stove and make sure there are no warped parts.

 

[moondoggy]

you using good, dry, 1yr+ seasoned wood right?
also i'm finding cats- even inthe same model seem to light off at slightly different temps.... and again i think some of that it has to do with type and quality of what you're burning.
i swear mine doesnt light off unit i'm OVER 500-550. i would smoke if I did it at 400. my wood was seasnoned but little punky, perhaps that made a difference.

i wonder if i did a fire of say pallet wood, would i be able to get a sooner light off.

But like was said- if you didnt chk the cat. vaccumm and recheck.

 

[reeffreak]

Hey guys,

My wood is over a year seasoned. Still punky though. I did check it thoroughly and found no defects. The refractory pack looked ok I will recheck. I don;t know when it was changed last (the cat that is) i suspect a long time ago. It is very clean though. Last night I damped at 550 on the griddle. Still not sure it fired . Can you hear it? See it? Would I notice it in the Flue Temp?

Mike

 

[cd64133]

Maybe that is a reason they sold it. Either it never worked for them or they found out it needed work and decided to sell it.

 

[STOVEGUY11]

When you damper it down, what does the temperature do?

 

[moondoggy]

Hey guys,

My wood is over a year seasoned. Still punky though. I did check it thoroughly and found no defects. The refractory pack looked ok I will recheck. I don;t know when it was changed last (the cat that is) i suspect a long time ago. It is very clean though. Last night I damped at 550 on the griddle. Still not sure it fired . Can you hear it? See it? Would I notice it in the Flue Temp?

Mike

a few minutes after you engage the cat. you should see
-die down slightly in flames
-increase in griddle temps
-decease in flue temp
-little to no smoke from the stack.
you should after 15+ minuts or so throttle down on the air- the combuster likes the gas and smoke more then a roaring blaze... and your drawing out the burn time- 4 splits for me last ~4-5 hrs.(and fyi i love to refuel my stove think an 8hr burner would bore me.)
i rarely ever hear mine roar/kick in +no you cant see it. but the back half of our stove will really start to heat up
(ie 400-450 is eh noticeable, 550-575 feels like a 100 degree increase cause now the whole back of your stove is = with the rest of it. 600 and we gotta start opening windows. I am told the stove can run without issue above that... scares the crud out of me)

if i were you, i would let it get up nicely over 500 and engage.
wait 2 minutes check the chimney and watch the stuff above
if nothing goes to plan... i'd look to replace the cat.

 

[reeffreak]

Ok thanks everyone. The stove is great. I think the cat may just be old. I am going to try your suggestions I will let you know.

Mike

 

[elmoleaf]

If you need a replacement cat, try Applied Ceramics or Condar. I'd avoid ClearSkies, even though it's less expensive.
While you're doing maintenance, you might also check the stove seams to make sure it's still airtight. When a used stove gets moved around and hefted by lifting at the door openings, it tends to break airtight seal between the castings.