WHOA! Ideal Steel WOOOOMF

Folks,

This one had me checking my underwear. I loaded the IS this morning with well-seasoned oak, got things up to temp and engaged the Cat. After 20 minutes the Cat had stalled and temp on the Cat probe had dropped. I disengaged the Cat, turned the air supply lever to full-open and was waiting for the flame to re-ignite and come back up to temp. I hear a loud WOOOOMF ......the stove lid has been blown open and the lid gasket is hanging outside the stove. Thankfully there is always a pair of welders gloves near the stove so I put them on, re-seated the gasket and closed the lid. Major smoke spillage into room. Perhaps open the door in that situation instead of opening the air supply? This was pretty freaky.

 

Wow.

I've wondered if this was possible given the numerous smaller woomfs I see quite often. Wonder how bad it can get?

 

I have not had that bad of a back draft. Maybe, the lid lifted a bit and a puff of smoke, but never that bad.

 

I would contact Woodstock with your experience and see what they have to say..

 

This was pretty bad as far as "wooomfs" go as it blew the lid open. The stove pipe and chimney were swept about three weeks ago so it's highly unlikely that there is a blockage in the venting system. I have some gasket cement inbound and will re-seat the gasket along with giving the stove a thorough cleaning and inspection. There have been a multiple prior "wooomfs" that were just sudden bursts of flame in the firebox. This one was on a totally different level.

 

+1 on calling them. Definitely interested in hearing how this turns out for you. Also- sorry you had to go through that.

 

Yikes. I get the whoof in the AS, and wondered how much bigger they could be.

 

What would make the cat stall out in that situation, I do tend to run my IS fairly hot (always have flames) as I am heating a large area.
After i learned what i could add couldn't do I've had zero issues with the flames going out.
That sounds very scary.

 

oldspark , what kind of burn times do you 'usually get when you keep some flame in the box? Do you always/typically do full loads?

 

Must be an AS thing. I also get the whoofing. I have added more air and have reduced incoming air. Doesn't seem to matter. It is going to shoot until it gets it out of its system. Never had a whoof as big as OP described.

 

Yeah I've never had that either thank goodness. Usually they're a pretty show and can hear it real good....and have made me wonder how big it 'could' go. Good thing golf66 was home at the time!

 

Its WOOOMFING, not whoofing. In all seriousness, here are some action items:

-Get a new CAT Probe as the one I have is 8+ years old and may reading incorrect temps.
-Buy a complete new set of gaskets from Woodstock and install them.

 

I haven't had a big one but I've had a few where a hint of smoke came through the gaskets. I would blame all the times I've gotten it on turning the air down too soon. I haven't had the cat stall in that situation. My experiences were where the flames went out and the cat temp kept climbing on a fresh load. Once the cat got to about 1200f the gases in the box reignited.

After the biggest puff I experienced, I made sure to not turn the air down too quick. Always making sure there were at least small flames for the first couple hours of a load.

 

I can get 10 to 12 hours (coals left to reload) with out too much trouble. I load the stove according to the conditions so many times not a full load.

 

Bingo!

 

My stove was brand new when it did it so gaskets wouldn't help in that situation, the varibles have to be learned for your own set up.

 

On a BK stove this is a classic characteristic of reducing the primary air to far, to soon on a vigorously burning fresh load, post Cat engagement. Flame is quickly reduced or mostly snuffed. New load is still off gassing heavily. Happy active cat obliges by igniting the gas rich environment. BOOM. WOOF. damm......... Yikes!

Really cool when its repeating at a mild level!

 

Totally agree with that assessment, plus the op was using oak, with it's density could contribute to the problem.

 

I've had a Whooomph! As well. Non cat quadrafire insert. It's definitely due to shutting the air down too early.