reload on cat stove

[crater22]

What is the best/recommended temperature on the problem, to do a reload? I have been waiting until it drops to under 600 on the probe, and then waiting till it get to about 900 before closing the damper. Is that about the right way to do it or can I do it sooner?

The stove is a Buck 91.

Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been asked before.

 

[lsucet]

Are you talking about flue temp or stove top temp? the title says RELOADS. anyway. if going by flue probe i i recommend to follow manufacture specs. Cat stoves, most of them goes for 500df of cat temp but it is you manufacture specs the one telling you which to use as reference point. ( cat probe or flue probe.) Either way 900 is too much to closed bypass. Maybe i am wrong. Reloads, always open bypass and give a few minutes before open the door. if hot reload you can closed bypass after reload and door shut.

 

[ksmobile1]

What is the best/recommended temperature on the problem, to do a reload? I have been waiting until it drops to under 600 on the probe, and then waiting till it get to about 900 before closing the damper. Is that about the right way to do it or can I do it sooner?

The stove is a Buck 91.

Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been asked before.

I have a buck 91 as well and I would say that that is in the parameters. I don't pay too much attention to the exact temperature I would say that I'm in the for to 500 range and then about 800 closing the damper. What type of cat cartridge do you have. Ceramic or the stainless steel? I am in the market to replace mine and I'm trying to find the best one as these things are freaking expensive $324 so far to replace it

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[crater22]

Are you talking about flue temp or stove top temp? the title says RELOADS. anyway. if going by flue probe i i recommend to follow manufacture specs. Cat stoves, most of them goes for 500df of cat temp but it is you manufacture specs the one telling you which to use as reference point. ( cat probe or flue probe.) Either way 900 is too much to closed bypass. Maybe i am wrong. Reloads, always open bypass and give a few minutes before open the door. if hot reload you can closed bypass after reload and door shut.

Yeah, I kind of made an error the way I headed the title. Should have been Reload a cat stove. anyway, appreciate the input.

 

[crater22]

I have a buck 91 as well and I would say that that is in the parameters. I don't pay too much attention to the exact temperature I would say that I'm in the for to 500 range and then about 800 closing the damper. What type of cat cartridge do you have. Ceramic or the stainless steel? I am in the market to replace mine and I'm trying to find the best one as these things are freaking expensive $324 so far to replace it

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I have got the ceramic one. Looks like I will be in the market for one for next season as well. Also thanks for the confirmation that I seem to be doing it close to the correct way. Will fine tune my habits and see what happens. Thanks again

 

[Woody Stover]

made an error the way I headed the title. Should have been Reload a cat stove.

If you put "Buck 91" in the title you might get comments from some of the other 91 guys.
I was loading the 91 at my MIL's twice a day, and many times the cat probe would be reading 250 or so. Of course, it takes longer to get back up to the 700-900 recommended in the manual, from 250. Sometimes I would leave some flame going in the box to help light the cat, if the probe wasn't at 900 yet. I wanted to see the cat temp rising to 1100 and over not too long after I closed the bypass, and I considered 1500 to be about perfect cruising temp. If you are reloading at 600, it should be pretty easy to get the cat strongly lit, once you have enough of the new wood burning and gassing. I recall some of the guys saying that they closed the bypass lower than what was called for in the manual. Experiment a bit and see what works best for your setup.

 

[crater22]

If you put "Buck 91" in the title you might get comments from some of the other 91 guys.
I was loading the 91 at my MIL's twice a day, and many times the cat probe would be reading 250 or so. Of course, it takes longer to get back up to the 700-900 recommended in the manual, from 250. Sometimes I would leave some flame going in the box to help light the cat, if the probe wasn't at 900 yet. I wanted to see the cat temp rising to 1100 and over not too long after I closed the bypass, and I considered 1500 to be about perfect cruising temp. If you are reloading at 600, it should be pretty easy to get the cat strongly lit, once you have enough of the new wood burning and gassing. I recall some of the guys saying that they closed the bypass lower than what was called for in the manual. Experiment a bit and see what works best for your setup.

Thanks Woody. Are you saying that when I reach my desired cruising temp, I should completely close the primary air control? I always thought that you should have some flame (small) at all times. Maybe I have learned something else today. Thanks again.

 

[Mark N MO]

A few cut and pastes from the Buck 91 manual:

1. "Once your fire is burning well, and probe has reached 600ºF, close bypass damper completely (push in). Gradually close primary air controls (push in). You will have to experiment with primary air controls to accommodate your draft. If you close them to soon, your fire may die down to quickly and go out. Close them gradually, a little at a time, until you can close completely."

2. "Wood Loading: During refueling, open (pull out) bypass damper to allow smoke in the firebox to escape - wait a few seconds, slowly add wood. Immediately close door and bypass damper. Open primary air control wide open for 2 minutes to charge wood."

3. "Build a fire for maximum efficiency. This model burns wood and extracts heat so efficiently, a large fire is not necessary. A large fire not only wastes energy, it usually results in home being too warm for comfort."

I will fudge the temp a little, closing the bypass when the CAT probe shows ~450°+. That would be for a reload or a cold start-up. Most of the time, the shotgun air control (left side) is closed, and the primary air control (right side) is about 1/2 way open until the temp gets up. After the bypass is closed, I adjust the primary for the desired burn rate. Overnight, the primary air is within a 1/4" or so of being closed. This produces no visible flame, but keeps CAT probe temps upwards of 900°. In the morning, I open the bypass, rake the coals forward, reload the stove, and can usually shut the bypass as the temp is still within recommendations. The link below is for the 91 PDF manual from the Buck website. Hope this helps.



https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/feab5fd5-59f3-4766-9ab0-8865ab9d825f/downloads/1blqfnt63_429061.pdf

 

[Woody Stover]

Woody. Are you saying that when I reach my desired cruising temp, I should completely close the primary air control? I always thought that you should have some flame (small) at all times. Maybe I have learned something else today. Thanks again.

You can run with no flame, nothing wrong with that, or a little flame is fine too. The cat may run hotter with no flame because then the cat will burn all the smoke, the flame won't be helping burn that smoke. Have your cat temps been under control (under 1800?)
With my little Keystone, if I run some flame in the box, the sides of the stove get hotter and I can raise room temp faster.

A few cut and pastes from the Buck 91 manual:
2. "Wood Loading: During refueling, open (pull out) bypass damper to allow smoke in the firebox to escape - wait a few seconds, slowly add wood.

I will fudge the temp a little, closing the bypass when the CAT probe shows ~450°+.

Yeah, if I was loading a stove and the cat probe was at 450 or 500, I had luck closing the bypass fairly quickly once I had burned in the new load a bit, and had some wood burning and gassing. With a cold start, I had to run the cat probe up around 800-900, for whatever reason. Like I said, I wanted to see that cat probe climbing up over 1100 not too long after I closed the bypass. I even had the cat crash on me if I tried to close the bypass and air too soon, and the cat probe would fall to 800 or under, and I had smoke out the stack. Not good in the crowded neighborhood where my MIL lived..