Woodstock cat probe, another fail...new theory.

[Woody Stover]

Both the Keystone and Fireview have ports on the back where you can put in a catalyst probe thermometer. It comes in more or less parallel to the face of the cat. The stock probe is 8". When you have the bypass open and are ramping the stove up to temp so you can close the bypass and light off, the probe reading will go to...well, I don't know how high it would go because I always cut the air and level it off at about 1000. After holding there for about 10 min. I close the bypass and the cat will start glowing...but the probe temp falls to under 900. From watching the probes on the Dutchwest and the Buck 91, I know that when the cat is glowing, the probe should be reading 1000-1600. Checking into this, I found that the tip of the 8" probe doesn't quite reach over the edge of the cat. So I called Condar and she told me they had a 9" probe. I said 'Great, I'll take it." Well, they sent me an 11". Fine, whatever, I'll cut it off, even though it will corrode faster without the plating on the end. Installed, it was reaching over the edge of the cat frame and I figured I would get a good reading. I had to bend it slightly to get the tip to sit where I wanted it.

So I fire up the stove, get up to temp, and light the cat. The 9" probe is reading even lower than the 8"! Ay, caramba! Now I'm thinking that when the probe gets that long, it can't transmit the temp at the tip all the way back to the dial. The Buck probe comes in at the same angle, but it's only 6"...works fine. I guess the only way I'm going to get a true cat reading on this stove is to drill through the top and heat shield like @Todd and @fox9988 did, where it comes in at a right angle to the cat face and is only a couple inches long like the Dutchwest, or else figure out how to get a themocouple in there...

 

[edyit]

woody, have you called the folks at woodstock and picked their collective brain over this? maybe they can help you out without having to drill a new hole in your stove?

 

[Woody Stover]

woody, have you called the folks at woodstock and picked their collective brain over this? maybe they can help you out without having to drill a new hole in your stove?

I may call them, but I think a way it could work would be to feed a thermocouple through the cat probe hole that's already in there. I'm pretty sure a thermocouple will work at any length, unlike a standard probe thermometer...

 

[huauqui]

I may call them, but I think a way it could work would be to feed a thermocouple through the cat probe hole that's already in there. I'm pretty sure a thermocouple will work at any length, unlike a standard probe thermometer...

I was going to suggest looking into this too. Please let us know what you figure out as I have always wondered on my Fireview and would love more info when burning it.

 

[Woody Stover]

have you called the folks at woodstock and picked their collective brain over this? maybe they can help you out without having to drill a new hole in your stove?

I have always wondered on my Fireview and would love more info when burning it.

I have been doing OK without a true cat reading, just using the 8" probe to monitor temps around the flue exit, a stove top meter, and then a surface meter lying on the tee snout about 6" behind the flue exit.
From running the other cat stoves, and relating the cat probe readings to how brightly I see the cat glowing, I know roughly about what cat temp I am running on the Keystone. I know, for instance, that if the cat is glowing so brightly that I can no longer see the individual cell walls, that's getting quite hot, maybe 1400 or better.

 

[fire_man]

Why such the need for a cat probe? If you have dry wood and fire up the stove per WS's instructions, it lights off every time. My cats last for years with no problem as long as I clean them.

I fire up stove for about 10 minutes after the stovetop hits 250 (bypass open). Then close the bypass with air 1/4 way for 4-5 minutes. Then lower the draft and the cat lights off.

This was true with my FV, Palladian and Progress.

 

[Woody Stover]

Why such the need for a cat probe? If you have dry wood and fire up the stove per WS's instructions, it lights off every time...I fire up stove for about 10 minutes after the stovetop hits 250 (bypass open). Then close the bypass with air 1/4 way for 4-5 minutes. Then lower the draft and the cat lights off. This was true with my FV, Palladian and Progress.

Yep, that's what I was saying above; With the other three meters, I know everything I need to get a quick, reliable light-off. Actually, I don't use the stove top meter for light-off either. I mainly use it to tell me how hot the stove top is at the peak of cat activity, and to tell me when to open up the air on the coals to keep stove temp up. Here's my usual re-load routine (if it's not real cold and I don't need max heat When the stove is low on coals, I push 'em back and put a couple of splits in the front row (E-W loader,) the top split a flat one. I put shovel a few big coals on top of the flat split, then load a couple splits in the back row. I put a couple tiny tinder slivers or a SuperCedar chunk in with the coals and let that flame up while I finish loading the back. Then I put a couple kindling pieces on the front tinder and close the door. I watch the fire and adjust the air to keep lively, but not roaring, flame in the box. The surface meter on the rear-vent tee, about 6" back, may rise faster than the "flue-exit meter" (cat probe) at this point, depending on the amount of flame in the box, and weather any wood is blocking the path of that flame to the flue exit. My goal is to level the tee meter at 500 or so, and the flue-exit meter at about 1000. Then I cut the air to hold there for about 10-15 min. At that point, even though the stove top meter is reading well below the 250 suggested in the manual, maybe only 150-170, I can close the bypass and get a reliable light-off, with the cat glowing in a minute or less. I may then leave a little flame in the box for a few minutes, depending on how vigorously the cat has lit off. Then I cut the air to my final setting in a couple of steps, somewhere between .5-1.0.