Yes. It's good. Soon there should be no smoke out of the chimney....If you have lots of flames in the firebox, you might want to cut the air back a bit more. How far have you shut it down?
VT 0028, Engage Cat, Fire Dies
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Yes. It's good. Soon there should be no smoke out of the chimney....If you have lots of flames in the firebox, you might want to cut the air back a bit more. How far have you shut it down?
Right now its maybe 1/2 way shut down, but not much flame. It was up to 600 so I turned it down.
OK. Don't hesitate to turn it down. As long as you continue to have fire activity in there (red coals, no smoke) you have a cat burn going. Don't need lots of flames...the less the better. With the Woodstock we have no flames off the wood usually...some dancing flames around the firebox from gases burning, until they are all burned off. Then just the coals burning.
When you want to go to bed, just be sure you have the stove turned down enough so the temps aren't rising. With my stove, once you have the cat fire going you can close the air all the way down, then just crack it open a bit. But, as I said, I'm not familiar with your stove.
Very glad to see you are getting a good burn in cat mode. Nice when solutions are simple. Really glad you didn't dismantle your stove....
When you want to go to bed, just be sure you have the stove turned down enough so the temps aren't rising. With my stove, once you have the cat fire going you can close the air all the way down, then just crack it open a bit. But, as I said, I'm not familiar with your stove.
Very glad to see you are getting a good burn in cat mode. Nice when solutions are simple. Really glad you didn't dismantle your stove....
Is it ok to turn it down so much that I only see the glow of embers?? And how long do u guys normally wait to engage the cat after reloading??
Thanks for the input rideau! I'm still trying to get the hang of this whole cat thing. I kinda hope browningBAR chimes in a little bit cuz I know he burns the same model I am.
Thanks for the input rideau! I'm still trying to get the hang of this whole cat thing. I kinda hope browningBAR chimes in a little bit cuz I know he burns the same model I am.
I'm hitting the sack after this post... Sounds like you have your fire going nicely.
Upon reload of a warm stove, you can engage the cat on reload as soon as the wood is burning well. What you want to do is burn off most of the residual 20 % or so of water in the dry wood before engaging the cat, so you don't put too much steam through the cat....Anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on the stove, normally. You'll get to know your stove, and BrowningBar will be able to give you good advice here.
I thought that Browning Bar said something about the flame in this stove earlier in the post, so I read back. He states that in this stove you will get (need to maintain) some flame in cat mode...the flame gets slow and thick looking like a liquid according to him. And he would know.
However, once the wood has burned down to large coals, you'll continue in cat mode flameless with glowing coals, and don't need to disengage the cat until you are ready to reload, regardless of stovetop temperature. If you get to coals and want the fire to burn down more quickly at that point, to get a smaller coal bed before reloading, you can open up the air supply, as long as you aren't heading off to bed. If you are, unless it is cold, you can just let the fire die down overnight. (Specifically, here, I am referring to shoulder season nights like tonight)
I don't know how much wood you put in, or what stage your fire is at, but unless you want the house toasty in the morning and it is cold out, maybe you should just let this fire die down and be pleased with your success, and get a good night's rest. If you reload at this hour you are going to be up for a while, worrying, and watching. The rest of us may be asleep. BB is on the west coast, so maybe he'll be up...
You can send a message to BB by going to your page, hitting "start a conversation", and typing his name in. He'll answer you.
Hope you get many years of enjoyment out of your stove.
Upon reload of a warm stove, you can engage the cat on reload as soon as the wood is burning well. What you want to do is burn off most of the residual 20 % or so of water in the dry wood before engaging the cat, so you don't put too much steam through the cat....Anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on the stove, normally. You'll get to know your stove, and BrowningBar will be able to give you good advice here.
I thought that Browning Bar said something about the flame in this stove earlier in the post, so I read back. He states that in this stove you will get (need to maintain) some flame in cat mode...the flame gets slow and thick looking like a liquid according to him. And he would know.
However, once the wood has burned down to large coals, you'll continue in cat mode flameless with glowing coals, and don't need to disengage the cat until you are ready to reload, regardless of stovetop temperature. If you get to coals and want the fire to burn down more quickly at that point, to get a smaller coal bed before reloading, you can open up the air supply, as long as you aren't heading off to bed. If you are, unless it is cold, you can just let the fire die down overnight. (Specifically, here, I am referring to shoulder season nights like tonight)
I don't know how much wood you put in, or what stage your fire is at, but unless you want the house toasty in the morning and it is cold out, maybe you should just let this fire die down and be pleased with your success, and get a good night's rest. If you reload at this hour you are going to be up for a while, worrying, and watching. The rest of us may be asleep. BB is on the west coast, so maybe he'll be up...
You can send a message to BB by going to your page, hitting "start a conversation", and typing his name in. He'll answer you.
Hope you get many years of enjoyment out of your stove.
FWIW I find that on my Encore (later model than you have) I very rarely ever burn with the air control much more than 1/4 open once Ive got a good established burn. And that's on very cold days. For slow overnight burns its typically closed completely - at that point all we see is sporadic wisps of purple flame in the box .
But you definitely should not see the flame immediately extinguished by closing the damper if the air control is wide open.
But you definitely should not see the flame immediately extinguished by closing the damper if the air control is wide open.
More stupid questions: Are you sure that the draft control actually makes the "flap" open?
It's possible that the 2ndary air gate is not open when it should be, have you checked that?
Is the catalyst oriented properly? I've seen people install them 90 degrees from their correct position. Gasses should be able to flow through vertically (not horizontally)
My money is still on draft or wood.
It's possible that the 2ndary air gate is not open when it should be, have you checked that?
Is the catalyst oriented properly? I've seen people install them 90 degrees from their correct position. Gasses should be able to flow through vertically (not horizontally)
My money is still on draft or wood.
Defiant3, I'm sure the air is working properly. The secondary seems to be working properly but my next fire will be the real check. Yes, my cat is installed properly, it will only fit one way.
I only paid 800 for it. I feel its a good deal since the previous owner spent more than that rebuilding it.
As rideau said, I got a nice burn last night. It was in the 50's. Once its really cold I'm sure it will only burn better
I only paid 800 for it. I feel its a good deal since the previous owner spent more than that rebuilding it.
As rideau said, I got a nice burn last night. It was in the 50's. Once its really cold I'm sure it will only burn better
This is correct. With the VC stoves, the cat systems aren't as good as the Woodstock or Blaze King systems. You will always have flame unless you are unto the coaling stage. The flame on a VC Encore when the cat is engaged looks thick and moves slow. Kind of like a liquid.
Actually, I'm on the east coast. I just have an odd and short sleeping schedule.
I'll answer anything I can. I'm not always right, but I can share what I've experienced.
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