Do I need to get the cataylst temp back to 500 degress when reloading the stove? From what I understand once the CAT is activated it still works even at lower temperatures. If you hit 500 degress on the initial load (and then activate CAT) do you need to do this again for each reload?
Reloading Stove w/ a Cataylst
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It depends. If there is a decent coal bed then sometimes the cat will stay lit but the inrush of cold air when reloading can quench the cat. When in doubt, run it with the bypass open for a bit until sure the cat is firing.
I assume you have a cat probe..
If the probe is in the active range, I close the bypass immediately after reloading.
If it is not, I keep it open until it is - just like on a cold start. It'll get there quickly anyway when the stove is still warm.
If the probe is not in the active range anymore, I've burned down the coals so far that it takes a while for the load to catch anyway - so I almost never reload when it's not in the active range anymore.
If the probe is in the active range, I close the bypass immediately after reloading.
If it is not, I keep it open until it is - just like on a cold start. It'll get there quickly anyway when the stove is still warm.
If the probe is not in the active range anymore, I've burned down the coals so far that it takes a while for the load to catch anyway - so I almost never reload when it's not in the active range anymore.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Remember, the cat probe is not telling you the present temperature of the cat, they can have enormous time lag.
When reloading on coals, I always let the stove run on bypass 5 minutes after closing the door. This lets the cat recover from the cold thermal shock of having the door open wide. If after 5 minutes, the wood is going pretty well an probe is showing active, I close the bypass. But if probe is indicating inactive, then I wait until either load is fully charred or probe returns to active (whichever happens first), before closing bypass.
The manuals say to wait until cat probe is active, as a way to prevent beginners from making false starts. But after you've got several dozens (or hundreds) of loads through the stove, you'll know exactly how early you can close it and get fast light-off. Too early, and it you stall the process, causing it to take much longer than wanted to get going and reach active. Too late, and you're just baking your flue and bypass damper. I figure I've done about 600 loads per year for 11 years, perhaps 6600 loads thru a pair of cat stoves, so I'd guess I've done "wrong" every possible way by now.
If you run a cat stove, or probably any stove, Siri is your savior. My wife hears me three times per day, "Siri, set a timer for five minutes", lest I get distracted and accidentally leave one of the stoves running on bypass longer than intended. After closing the bypass, it's a similar, "Siri, set a timer for 20 minutes".
When reloading on coals, I always let the stove run on bypass 5 minutes after closing the door. This lets the cat recover from the cold thermal shock of having the door open wide. If after 5 minutes, the wood is going pretty well an probe is showing active, I close the bypass. But if probe is indicating inactive, then I wait until either load is fully charred or probe returns to active (whichever happens first), before closing bypass.
The manuals say to wait until cat probe is active, as a way to prevent beginners from making false starts. But after you've got several dozens (or hundreds) of loads through the stove, you'll know exactly how early you can close it and get fast light-off. Too early, and it you stall the process, causing it to take much longer than wanted to get going and reach active. Too late, and you're just baking your flue and bypass damper. I figure I've done about 600 loads per year for 11 years, perhaps 6600 loads thru a pair of cat stoves, so I'd guess I've done "wrong" every possible way by now.
If you run a cat stove, or probably any stove, Siri is your savior. My wife hears me three times per day, "Siri, set a timer for five minutes", lest I get distracted and accidentally leave one of the stoves running on bypass longer than intended. After closing the bypass, it's a similar, "Siri, set a timer for 20 minutes".
The experts can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the cat continues to work if it cools below 500F. You can safely leave it engaged through the coaling phase because there's not much smoke being given off, so even though the cat becomes inactive it won't get clogged. Which is to say, yes, you should disengage it during a reload until the flue temps get back up to 500F. Also quick side note - cat is short for catalytic converter, it's not an acronym (CAT). Not relevant to your question, but may be helpful if you're doing any googling in the future.
Isn't it technically a catalytic combustor? A catalytic converter is what people cut off of your tailpipe lol.
That's the same thing. The converter converts the gases by oxidizing them, which is (for most intents and purposes) burning, hence combustor.
Cool thanks I did not know that. I thought they were 2 different things! My gearhead son gave me the look when I told him my catalytic combustor uses palladium instead of platinum. So I assumed they were different.
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