Hello all. My wife and I just purchased a resale here in TN. It has a Yotul Firelight 12 mfgr in '94 (data tag). I was able to get the manual from their site and I have been reading your site and others. I have some questions: The manual says to let the fire burn about 10 minutes then flip the bypass to direct gasses to the catalyst. Others say the temp of the stove must reach about 500° before doing this or it won't work properly. I have a stove top magnetic temp indicator (located on the front right corner) and last night (first fire ever) the temp never got above 300°. I even left the bypass in bypass and the front air lever to MAX to get as much air/heat(?) into the stove to get the temp up. Never did. One thread I found says to double the reading of the thermometer so my 300 was in reality 600. Another says no it doesn't work that way. One video says NOT to load the stove up with wood another says to load the heck out of it. As the gaskets were not in very good shape I went ahead and changed them out (before this burn) and also removed the catalyst per the manual. It looked in good shape not cracked but it says "Corning Long Life" stamped on the metal frame. As there is NO date code on it I can only assume it is the original. I am thinking of just changing it out for the metal type (as some people have had trouble with the ceramic model with the expanding gasket). I was thinking of getting one of the digital thermometers and inserting the probe in the back access port provided by the mfgr (IF you all believe it is money well spent). No matter what I do IF I CANNOT get that temp up high enough I am spending money for naught. So, I am going to assume my first issue is getting the temp of the stove UP to light off the catalyst - how?? Without looking at a thermometer how would one know if/when the catalyst finally lights off and is actually working? As mine is behind a metal shield a visual indicator is not possible. Secondly, I read about some people that load 5 or 6 logs and it lasts all day. I started about 9:30 am and ran til about 8 pm and used about 9 or 10 various sized logs. Is this o.k. or am I wasting wood because the stove isn't operating at its max? I have also read others turn their air intake lever down to reduce the air yet when I tried it the logs just glowed with little to no flames. When I turned back to full the flames came back. Was this o.k.? Any other info you wish to offer to this newbe will certainly be appreciated. Sorry for all the questions but one can drive themselves nuts reading everything on the web and from people that truly know to those that haven't got a clue but SOUND like they know. This forum seemed like the best place to come to and get help. THANKS TO ALL that respond.
New to Wood Stoves - Catalyst Temp Questions..
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NewStoveGuy
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I just started burning with a cat stove and have found that:
1. A laser thermometer is exceptionally handy. The magnetic stove/pipe coil type thermometers are very vague indicators of the actual temperature, mine can only be trusted to within about 100 degrees of the actual temp read via laser. A fancy internal probe would be even more accurate of course, but I'm not that tweaked out... yet.
2. My stove manufacturer suggests doubling the reading from stovetop to approximate the internal temp, and suggests engaging the cat at 250+ for a soapstone stove. I usually wait until I have a well lit load (of varying size) at 300 and immediately turn the airflow down as low as I can and still get small primary flames. Within a couple of minutes I have had plenty of good secondary, with a much reduced flue temp and rapidly elevating stovetop temp. The stovetop will then run up to 500-600 fairly quickly and give me long burn times on small amounts of wood, whereas with everything open it is more difficult to get it past 350 or so and it chews though wood like children through Halloween candy. Again, I'm new to this and this represents limited experience with my stove, YMMV.
3. In my stove I can see the cat when craning at the correct angle and it glows bright orange when engaged. A more fun to watch indicator are the rolling flames that float down from the top of the stove instead of up from the wood. If you walk outside you should see no smoke coming out of your chimney if the cat is engaged and working. When mine is going you can't tell that there's a fire burning from outside. And the best feeling indicator is the significant drop in flue temps and rise in stovetop temps.
4. When I bought the stove (used) it had the old style ceramic cat, which was crumbling. I replaced it with the new style metal version immediately.
5. It does behoove one to get a moisture meter and be sure that the wood you're burning is reading 20% or lower on a fresh split.
1. A laser thermometer is exceptionally handy. The magnetic stove/pipe coil type thermometers are very vague indicators of the actual temperature, mine can only be trusted to within about 100 degrees of the actual temp read via laser. A fancy internal probe would be even more accurate of course, but I'm not that tweaked out... yet.
2. My stove manufacturer suggests doubling the reading from stovetop to approximate the internal temp, and suggests engaging the cat at 250+ for a soapstone stove. I usually wait until I have a well lit load (of varying size) at 300 and immediately turn the airflow down as low as I can and still get small primary flames. Within a couple of minutes I have had plenty of good secondary, with a much reduced flue temp and rapidly elevating stovetop temp. The stovetop will then run up to 500-600 fairly quickly and give me long burn times on small amounts of wood, whereas with everything open it is more difficult to get it past 350 or so and it chews though wood like children through Halloween candy. Again, I'm new to this and this represents limited experience with my stove, YMMV.
3. In my stove I can see the cat when craning at the correct angle and it glows bright orange when engaged. A more fun to watch indicator are the rolling flames that float down from the top of the stove instead of up from the wood. If you walk outside you should see no smoke coming out of your chimney if the cat is engaged and working. When mine is going you can't tell that there's a fire burning from outside. And the best feeling indicator is the significant drop in flue temps and rise in stovetop temps.
4. When I bought the stove (used) it had the old style ceramic cat, which was crumbling. I replaced it with the new style metal version immediately.
5. It does behoove one to get a moisture meter and be sure that the wood you're burning is reading 20% or lower on a fresh split.
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