Uncontrollable Dutchwest - possible solution

[jotul8e2]

For many years now I have been burning (and fighting) an old Dutchwest large (FA264), one of the first Dutchwest catalytic stoves. It has never been satisfactory for my application, but the final straw was when it simply became impossible to control. I knew there was an air management problem somewhere, but I could not see anything wrong, and did not want to do a total rebuild.

I may have discovered the source of the problem. I pulled out the Dutchwest last night to install a new Englander 30 NC in its place. Looking down through the flue opening I noticed the gasket under the cat bypass damper had detached itself and was no longer under the rear of the damper at all. Effectively, the bypass damper has been partly open directly under the flue!

This is an easy fix, and should apply to later Dutchwest products as well.

 

[webby3650]

That missing gasket would not have made it uncontrollable, it would just burn less efficient. It was still leaking air, I assume through most of the joints due to its age.

 

[Woody Stover]

I may have discovered the source of the problem. I pulled out the Dutchwest last night to install a new Englander 30 NC in its place. Looking down through the flue opening I noticed the gasket under the cat bypass damper had detached itself and was no longer under the rear of the damper at all. Effectively, the bypass damper has been partly open directly under the flue!

It's possible that fixing the bypass gasket will result in less air to the box since there is less resistance to flow through the bypass, as opposed to the air having to go through the cat. But yeah, there looks to be a ton of seams around the bottom plate of the stove...plenty of leak potential there. But I guess you didn't get a chance to see if the gasket fix worked, as the 30 was already in place? So how is the 30 working out?

 

[jotul8e2]

It's possible that fixing the bypass gasket will result in less air to the box since there is less resistance to flow through the bypass, as opposed to the air having to go through the cat. But yeah, there looks to be a ton of seams around the bottom plate of the stove...plenty of leak potential there. But I guess you didn't get a chance to see if the gasket fix worked, as the 30 was already in place? So how is the 30 working out?

The new Englander is working just fine, but the combination of the shop building design and a good size stove is working even better than I had hoped. It is still early days, but I last built a fire 48 hours ago, and will not start another until tonight, and it is still 60 degrees inside! Insulation and thermal mass make a wonderful combination.