Absolute Steel Owners, Please Help Me Learn How To Run This damm Thing!

I've made some modifications this past summer and fall. I had my chimney lined with a preinsulated liner (outside chimney about 25 feet), and I recently installed a direct air intake. My stove was repaired this summer. The owner of Woodstock told me that when I reload the stove on a hot bed of coals, as long as the thermometer on the top of the stove reads at least 250, I should engage the cat essentially immediately. He said, if you want to, I could wait a minute or two and then engage the cat. And he said if I want a long burn, I can shut the air control right down to 1.5.
I've tried this. What ends up happening is the temps stay where they are (pipe 200 or even below, stove top 250-300), or the temps even drop down, sometimes the stove top drops below 250. And the temps stay there for quite a long time before coming up and I have to keep the air control open to about the 3 mark until they come up. Then the temp eventually come up to 550-600 on the stove top and 325-350 on the pipe.
But the problem is that when I run it like this, it seems like I'm clogging up the cat. After running it like this 1 or 2 times, I'm getting strong backpuffing. I'm giving it a vinegar and water bath for the second time now today, and when I turn it over I can hear fly ash or whatever inside it before I clean it.
And the other thing is, I feel like I should be able to achieve a lower peak stove top temp, like 450-500 for a longer time, but I'm not able to when I'm running it this way. It always peaks at 550, even 600 the other night.
I feel like maybe the owner of Woodstock's advice is maybe not so good advice?

 

Sounds like your stalling the cat. I did this a lot when I first installed our IS. Member here helped me out. I run my temp up higher than recommended before engaging the cat and have no back puffing or any problems at all. Hope you figure it out. BTW what was repaired on your stove?

 

If someone would be able to help me with some more specific advice, that would be great. Particularly on a reload. My instinct says that when I reload the stove, I should keep the cat disengaged and keep the air control open all the way at first until the temp on the top of the stove starts to rise a little? Then I can engage the cat, even if the pipe temp is still below 250, as long as the stove top temp is above 250? Then if I want a long burn, I can close the air control to 3 or just a few ticks below, then eventually 1.5; and if i want a long slow burn then when I engage the cat I can immediately close the air control to 1.5? Am I on the right track? Usually my instincts are terrible.
The repair was for the gasket channel around the flap that comes down to engage the cat. It broke in the corner. So, I'm trying to be careful and am afraid to burn the stove open for too long.

 

We are starting our 3rd year with the AS. We found giving more air for longer, until all the wood is charred, then going to 2-1/2, then working down to 1-1/2 is working better for us this year. Can’t help with the hot reload, as we can’t do that here…. It would be 110* inside if we did…. May have a slight bed of coals to restart with.
Starting routine…..
3 small splits, air full open, ash pan open, side door cracked
5 ish minutes in, 2 more splits, ash door closed,
Cat temp to 600 ish, close side door, engage cat
When stove gets up to about 400 start closing air… cat will typically start raising and so does stove temp. this usually is about an hour time frame.

 

This was an hour in on 4 small oak splits yesterday…. All we burnt all day long. I’m

 

Go outside and check for smoke a few minutes after closing the bypass.

I do not like closing the bypass that soon, for the same reasons you describe.

The deeper the bed of coals, the harder it is for me to keep the peak STT low. This is not an issue in cold weather, as I need a lot of heat. This time of year I let the coals burn down quite a bit, and I do a lot of half loads.

 

We never had good luck with low stove temps .. dirty and smoky

 

Thanks for everyone’s input. I think I’m going to go back to the way I used to operate the stove, which is consistent with the manual. On reloads, wait until the pipe temp comes up to 250 and engage the cat. Then I’ll try immediately closing the air to 1.5 for a low burn or leave at 3 until eventually closing to 1.5, and I’ll see what happens. I’m just cautious because this was the second time the top area where the cat sits needed repair and I want to make sure it’s nothing I’m doing wrong.
Just curious, are people getting for pipe temps when they get like 550-600 on stove top. I’m getting like 340 sometimes which is higher than Woodstock says it should be. They say you should get half the temp on the pipe roughly than the temp on the top of stove. I don’t really care if I get a higher temp on the pipe per say. Just wondering if this is an over draft or something. I have a key damper in the pipe, but when I’ve experimented with this in the past, it brings the pipe temp up, not down.

 

“Then the temp eventually come up to 550-600 on the stove top and 325-350 on the pipe. ”

How long did it take to get to this temp? No WS owner but sounds to me like to reach your desired goal all you need to do is cut this time in half. That is, however how long it took to get to the temps above, make your adjustments at half the time...or roughly half the temp.

 

My experience has been that many/most appliances will run hot on a 25' chimney unless there is some sort of chimney damper...and it makes no sense that the pipe temp would go up when closing the damper...you sure the damper key isn't twisted or something?

 

Well it didn’t make sense to me either when I experimented with it with my old set up. I even moved the pipe thermometer upstream more. As it stands now, the thermometer is just above the key damper (short section of straight pipe, then 90 degree elbow, then going horizontal into the thimble). I can experiment with it again. But I don’t really understand when to engage the key damper in the process.

 

I'd say that adjustment is made last...after everything else is tweaked and settled in...

 

Mostly I would agree but that has not always been my experience with older wood stoves or coal stoves, but whatever. Haven’t run any EPA stoves and you guys have, so I’ll leave it there...as you are likely getting some good info regarding epa stoves...at least others experience.

Besides, I thought he was not only talking about when to engage a CAT, but also an mpd or manual pipe damper. Maybe I read too much into it.

Everyone’s experience is different and no two stove set-ups are the same. You’re doing the right thing by experimenting...it’s what it takes to learn your system.

 

I have the IS is big brother in the AS. Part of what your saying is I close cat and and air and stove temps rise..

Yes this is what happens with the stoves. Think about it when you kill the air you’re causing more smoldering smoke. That smoke is fuel for the cat. The cat therefore burns it and that’s stovetop temperature rises. This is all perfectly normal.

I also have a strong drafting a 30 foot chimney. Would not touch the key damper until last

 

Thanks everyone. I understand that every set up is different, and I need to continue to experiment. I am specifically interested in two things.

1. on a reload on a hot bed of coals, when the stove top temp is between 250-300, and the pipe is like 200, I’ve found that I cannot engage the cat right away, it stalls out, but in people’s experience, is it okay to engage the cat when the fire has actively re-engaged even though the pipe hasn’t quite reached 250? Or do I need to wait until the pipe gets back up to 250? Last night it took quite a while for the pipe temp to get to 250, but the fire was fully engaged for a while.

2. when I put a full load in the stove on a reload, what are people getting for pipe temps at peak temps of 550-600. I’m getting sometimes 340-350. That’s why I’m wondering about using the key damper to bring this temp down.

I’m wondering about these things and fine tuning because I don’t want the stove to damage again and I want to make sure I’m not doing anything that would cause it.

 

Not sure if this was covered, but it might help to clarify.

Are you using double wall or single wall stove pipe?

Magnet or probe thermometer?

Just to make sure you’re on the same page with those who have similar stoves.

 

Sure. Single wall. Magnet thermometer.

 

You should never see single wall surface temperatures exceeding 500. That’s too hot.

Don’t you have a catalyst temperature gauge on this cat stove? They seem to be standard equipment on all the other epa cat stoves.