Hi,
So this is my first post so I apologize if I am not as educated as some members here. I recently got a dutchwest 2461 with a converter in it. It is used but was used for ambiance only with minimal wear and tear. Its a very clean stove. This is my 1st year of burning with it. I've done a lot of research and talked to a lot of people on how to's and how not to's. When I first bought the stove I took it apart just to get a look at inspect everything. From what I could see everything looked good seals and ropes all tight nothing bent or warped. When I took the "cat" out and inspected it I made sure to clean it of any debris and the gasket that was around it was suspect and seemed to be degrading some bit. It wasn't complete and some portions of it were missing.
When I first got it I made sure to read up on how to properly fire it warm it up prior to engaging the "cat". I had the stove running around 5 or 600 degrees and once it was good and hot I would close the damper and engage the cat and it seemed to continue to heat up and the cat would reach temps of 1200 degrees or so.
My wood is dry seasoned and as soon as it hits the coals ignites. When the stove hits 4 or 500 I close the damper to try to engage the cat. I try to leave the primary air cracked and the secondary air open a 1/4 to 3/4 of a turn. Now what seems to happen is that the once I do this, the fire dims down, the temp starts to drop and the cat temp doesn't get up over 800 degrees. Its not getting nearly as hot as it did for the first two weeks that I had it fired up.
If I close the cat and open the damper again and provide some air via cracking the door or opening the ash pan door it will heat back up again but then its burning through wood pretty quickly.
Any suggestions? Ideas, stuff I should be looking for etc?
Thanks
JM
So this is my first post so I apologize if I am not as educated as some members here. I recently got a dutchwest 2461 with a converter in it. It is used but was used for ambiance only with minimal wear and tear. Its a very clean stove. This is my 1st year of burning with it. I've done a lot of research and talked to a lot of people on how to's and how not to's. When I first bought the stove I took it apart just to get a look at inspect everything. From what I could see everything looked good seals and ropes all tight nothing bent or warped. When I took the "cat" out and inspected it I made sure to clean it of any debris and the gasket that was around it was suspect and seemed to be degrading some bit. It wasn't complete and some portions of it were missing.
When I first got it I made sure to read up on how to properly fire it warm it up prior to engaging the "cat". I had the stove running around 5 or 600 degrees and once it was good and hot I would close the damper and engage the cat and it seemed to continue to heat up and the cat would reach temps of 1200 degrees or so.
My wood is dry seasoned and as soon as it hits the coals ignites. When the stove hits 4 or 500 I close the damper to try to engage the cat. I try to leave the primary air cracked and the secondary air open a 1/4 to 3/4 of a turn. Now what seems to happen is that the once I do this, the fire dims down, the temp starts to drop and the cat temp doesn't get up over 800 degrees. Its not getting nearly as hot as it did for the first two weeks that I had it fired up.
If I close the cat and open the damper again and provide some air via cracking the door or opening the ash pan door it will heat back up again but then its burning through wood pretty quickly.
Any suggestions? Ideas, stuff I should be looking for etc?
Thanks
JM
