Stove just put in am a little confused

[CTwith3]

I had a new VC Encore installed. I did 4 smallish fires as directed to get the etove ready for hotter burns.
I have 3-4" of embers of bed and waited until the stove reached 600 degrees and then put it in cat mode. It seems that my wood burned too quickly. Should I keep the air control wide open during cat mode or keep adjusting it to remain a little over 600 or should I make the air control closed during cat mode?
Thanks for your help!

 

[webby3650]

You will definitely want to reduce the air, otherwise it burns lots of wood.

 

[CTwith3]

keep adjusting air control to keep at 600? It seems like if I maintain 600 I will go through the wood fast any way, or do I just need to acieve 600 to engage the cat and then it can go down to 400?

 

[weatherguy]

Turn it down as low as low as you can, the cat will stay hot by eating the smoke, see how low you can put it before the temp drops.

 

[CTwith3]

Let it go down to 400? 500? after the cat ignites at 600 can I bring the stove down to 450?What do you folk mean by "Turn it down as low as low as you can, the cat will stay hot by eating the smoke, see how low you can put it before the temp drops?" Do you mean cut the air feed to the point wher it will just keep it at a specific temperature of 600?

 

[weatherguy]

Let it go down to 400? 500? after the cat ignites at 600 can I bring the stove down to 450?What do you folk mean by "Turn it down as low as low as you can, the cat will stay hot by eating the smoke, see how low you can put it before the temp drops?" Do you mean cut the air feed to the point wher it will just keep it at a specific temperature of 600?

Yes, these stoves are made to burn most effectively and efficiently when turned way down, if your worried about the cat going out don't. Try it and play around with it to find the sweet spot.

 

[Charles1981]

It is pretty subjective running this stove without a cat probe. I SHOULD have one but just haven't. Laziness? Probably. There is a spot to place a catalyst probe in the back of the stove that would give you more accurate results.

However as most of us that have a similar model either encore or defiant still go by the griddle top temperature as you are.

For me

1) have the left bypass damper open when starting a fire or reloading.
2) Allow stove griddle to get to 550-600
3) close left bypass damper
4) wait 10-15 minutes you don't want to see the flames die out nor the temperature really drop drastical with the bypass damper closed and the right secondary air control valve open completely (pulled forwards towards you).
5) You will likely see the cat engage unless the stove is packed to the brim (a thin slit of glowing behind the removable refractory sheild, but not necessary. I often have the stove packed to the brim and can't see it, but I know if my stove is maintaining 550-600 stove top it is maintaining and active.
6) start to incrementally close the right secondary air control in 1/4 to 1/3 steps every 5-10 minutes (pushing it away from you towards back of stove.)
7) Ensure you have at least some minor whispy slow burning flames. You don't want the firebox to go completely black as you will likely experience a buildup of smoke gas and can experience back-buffing where it will suddenly WHOOOSH into combustion in the main chamber and not in the catalyst area and smoke can push up out the top loading plate.
8) You should see the stove back down in temperature as you close it down. I wouldn't go below the 400 range. For me with dry seasoned wood and the stove either almost completely close (3/4) or all the way closed..I don't really want the griddle temp below 450-400. Below that I can tell the stove is putting out the heat it should and the cat may have stalled.

Another possibility if you close the stove down and it drops to 400 or below is that the wood is wet and not seasoned properly. This can be a real bugger to deal with all winter as it will result in less heat output, increased smoke production, increased risk of back puffing, and increased risk of catalyst damage from steam production, as well as increased creosote production.

If by chance you have a stove that continues to climb past 600 degrees closed down completely this is a real problem as it means gaskets may be loose, there may be an air leak, the doors may not be closing properly ect and will cause over firing. We have at least one member here who has experienced continued climbing temperatures on his encore 2n1 and it has compromised the use of the stove. I don't think or at least hope it isn't that common.

 

[CTwith3]

My installer and the instructions say get to 600 to use the cat, but does not say what to do after that, so I assumed that you had to keep the stove at 600 all the time to keep in cat mode. The Ecore 2040 has no adjustable secondary is what I was told and what the instructions say.

 

[BrotherBart]

After the cat lights off it should stay active down to 250 stove top temp.

 

[Charles1981]

Cat mode is engaged by closing the bypass damper (the left handle).

There is an air control on the right to slowly close off air supply but you can never cut off 100% of air supply to the stove because there are intakes that stay open all the time.

You do not want to operate the stove above 600 degrees without closing the bypass damper on the left. This is what engages "cat mode" or basically forces the smoke to pass into the combustion chamber in the rear of the stove. When the bypass is open the flames and gas just shoot straight up the chimney.

 

[Charles1981]

The stove can run in "non-cat" mode but this means you remove the catalyst from the combustion chamber, but still operate the stove in the same fashion.

 

[CTwith3]

Stays active down to 250? So if I load it up as much as possible around 12 AM It will burn all night until around 6-7 AM? That won't damage the cat?

 

[BrotherBart]

Not with dry wood.

If I had a stove that wouldn't heat for seven hours it would be at the scrap yard.

 

[begreen]

Isn't this stove still thermostatic in operation? If so the thermostat gets set according to comfortable room temp and then it should be hands off for the rest of burn.

 

[BrotherBart]

The OP is confusing the fact that the cat burns at 600 or over. About 300 stove top temp. The manual says to get the stove up to at least 450 so the cat can light off. Add air below 350.

 

[CTwith3]

The manual states:
"If the combustor is at least 600F it wil begin to burn the smoke."
The manual continues to explain how the combustor works, followed by a section explaining andirons. Nowhere does it inform the user that after the stove has reached the temperature has reached 600F you can start closing the primary air source and the cat/"combustor" will keep working at stove top temperatures below 600F. Gotta love those people writing these manuals, heaven forbid an engineer should proof it by using the directions to try and operate a stove to see how informative the instructions really are.
Everyone's help here is really appreciated.

 

[BrotherBart]

Look at page 22.

 

[CTwith3]

So I am confusing the mention of 600F for the combustor with the stove top temp? I can see how the combustor temp is not reflected by the stove top- I hadn't considered that because I only know the temp of the stove top, it states that "it may be time to close the damper" (and I didn't eant to guess) and was blindly folliwing that 600F in the book and as instructed by the installer.
I had the installer check my firewood and he said it was excellent after knocking pieces together and listening to the sound they projected. The wood came from 2 huge maples and 1/2 an oak tree that were fell April 2013, then split and stacked.

 

[CTwith3]

So, Brother Bart, your statement that I will be good down to a stove top temp of 250F is due to the fact that the cat will be hotter, I get that now. Any idea how much hotter the cat would be than the stove top?

 

[Excavator]

Bart is correct. With dry wood I get stove top temps to about 400 and I close the bypass and then I watch my digital cat probe climb to about 1200 and close down air all the way. Stove top temps will continue up for half hour or so and then slowly drop and cat is just working away. at the smoke. I dont care if stove top is down as long as the cat is working. It takes a bit of learning curve to find sweet spot but just ask
Here is pic of my cat probe temp after the bypass was closed and with in 4 minutes the cat hits 1200 ,then I close air down. Sometimes if I dont close the air down soon enough I get cat temps that keep climbing and will hit 1700 so I have to pay attention when I close bypass as temps can climb very fast.

 

[NHcpa]

Can't beat a digital cat probe, but I use a simple Rutland gauge about 18" or so on my stack pipe just above my stove. Once the temp hits 600', I close the damper to engage the cat. Once engaged, the stack temp settles about 300' after I reduce air flow to about half. If temp falls below 300', I will adjust the air flow to increase temp. If I had a temp gauge on top of the stove for actual stove temp (not stack pipe), it runs anywhere from 400 to 700'.

Yours is a good question and others have properly given advice. I just add my own experiance. After reading my own response, it sounds lke a lot of work, but it really isn't.

 

[BrotherBart]

So, Brother Bart, your statement that I will be good down to a stove top temp of 250F is due to the fact that the cat will be hotter, I get that now. Any idea how much hotter the cat would be than the stove top?

A reasonable working number is that the stove interior temp is approximately twice what the stove top temp is a the time.

 

[CTwith3]

Thanks everyone.
I guess I should get a probe for my cat and not guess and hope?
Recommendations for a cat probe for an Encore 2040? Which model aren't you folks happy with?