Ideal Steel first curing fire!

Just remember, it's not cold yet, and you're kinda' up there in the northern stratosphere. I do think you should burn less though, so that's a plus.

 

Oh yeah, that Catalytic unit does make the unit burn slower and warmer too. It's an awesome feature. Why I want the progress stove!

 

yup I wanted Progress for looks, wife wanted custom art of IS, make wife happy save 1200 dollars that's a win- win

 

It's a lot of fun isn't it!?

The good news is that 14 cords will last you a lot longer than you thought, bad news is your going to need a lot more rum and coke watching those lazy secondary flames..... Wood went directly to the 3 year plan and the rum went directly to the 1 month plan.......

 

Uma what can I say wooo hoooo! !

 

OK guy curing better be set cause the wife just told me "honey it's cold in here " high of 50 all day going down to 37 tonight and rain all day! 25 MPhil wind from north west. Furnace will not be turned on to Dec 1, soooo.. So a pic for papadave, cause it's gooder! Jack and coke tonight

 

Oh come on man, put some real firewood in that cavern.

 

Put some wood in it! At this rate, that 14 cords will last for many, many years.

I'm sure your good to go.... and we need to see the secondary lazy flame pics.

 

OK Ok.. it's was kindling it had been lit 2 minutes. here's a half load.. will throw cat when up to temperature .. All ugliest maple and apple. experimenting with east west and north south on top...

 

Ok, that's gooder.
I can calm down now.

 

OK how do you tell if you stall a cat? OK flames just came back.. I waited til thermostat on single wall pipe, 1 foot up reads three hundred. the wood is dry but not all split I mean little rounds diameter less than 2 inches. just checked one on meter meter 13 percent I will try to do a video..

no video the extension is wrong so a pic...

 

I'm not sure on the temp for a single wall stack. I use 350 for a stove top temp to the right of the stack on top the stove. Looks like you have a hot fire going.

Looks like your close. you will figure it out, if you have smoke coming out the chimney, just wait 5 or ten minutes and see if it clears up. Cut the air to 25% or even lower. Cat, should easily engage at low air settings after a few minutes if your hot enough and have enough fuel that's gassing off. Little more wood might be needed if your light on fuel.

 

Cutting the air down actually can help engage the cat..... Not sure where you have it set.

If the air is set higher, you end up burning the secondaries which consumes a lot of the fuel (gas) for the cat to burn.

 

oh OK it's half and I got draft.. when it went dark for while got nervous.. I will put it down to 1/3 and see what happens. thanks Fanatical1

 

Keep taking it down, until the you have a black firebox and see what happens, might be closer to 10% air or less. I often have it set to about 5% plus or minus.

Interesting to watch when it looks like you put the fire out and then all the gas hits the cat and your stove starts getting really hot with a black firebox.

If you put your temp magnet on the front of the stove just to the right or left of the little cat probe hole, you can easily see when the cat engages as the temp will climb quickly and dramatically in that area as the cat engages. I often leave my magnet there just to see what's happening with the cat as I usually run the stove at low air just using the cat during the winter. I think it burns most efficiently that way and still produces a ton of heat.

By cutting the air and engaging the cat (if you have enough gassing fuel) this stove will burn hotter at low air settings. When the cats burning with a good fuel supply at really low air settings I often have a completely, or almost completely dark firebox and a stove that's running really hot with almost no fire.

 

from what I read in the manual let it get to 250 engauge cat and let it get to abt 400-500 and turn down flu to about half and air down to abt a "CH" and it should burn fine.

 

hold on let me quote the manual... and wouldn't you know it, the Ideal's manual is not online... grrrr....

Here' the operation section for the progress hybrid:

Starting a Fire And Establishing Proper Draft

1. Open the catalytic bypass. Turn the bypass handle clockwise to open the bypass door. It will stop when the bypass is
fully open. (Fig. 1)

2. Open the combustion air damper by raising the damper lever to the fully vertical position. With the lever in the
upright position, maximum air is allowed into the firebox. (Fig. 2)

3. Always confirm there is adequate draft before lighting the fire. Hold a lit match or light a
small piece of newspaper in the top of the firebox, where smoke exits. If the flame is drawn out
of the firebox, toward the flue, proceed with lighting the fire. If the flame stands still or is
pushed away from the flue exit, you must establish a good draft before lighting a fire. A hair
dryer or heat gun pointed at the flue exit is a good way to establish draft without creating a lot
of smoke. After you think you have draft, re-test with a match.

4. Once good draft has been established, build a fire on the floor of the firebox. Do not use
additional grates, andirons or any other methods to support the fuel in the firebox. Start with crumpled newspaper
and dry kindling.

5. Add small splits of firewood once the kindling has ignited. This will establish a bed of hot coals.

6. Add small to medium splits onto the hot coals. Assuming the wood is dry, the fire should spread through the wood.
After about 10 minutes, close the air damper down about half way between fully open
(vertical) and fully closed (horizontal, pointing to the front of the stove).

7. After the stove top temperature reaches 250°F or your single wall pipe temperature
reaches 300-350°F, close the bypass by turning the handle counter clockwise into the
closed position. It will stop when the bypass is fully closed. All of the smoke from the
firebox will now pass through the catalytic combustor. The combustor will generate a
substantial amount of heat as it “burns” the smoke passing through it.

8. Adjust the air control damper to a lower setting. Rotate the lever toward the loading
door. The closer the lever is to horizontal, the lower the burn rate, as less air is entering
the firebox. The final damper setting will be determined by the desired heat output from
the stove, the condition of the wood being burned, and the draft through the chimney
system.

Engaging the Catalytic Combustor

The catalytic combustor will start to burn the gases and particles in the smoke when the
temperature of the smoke reaches approximately 500ºF, or after about 10-15 minutes of
establishing a strong fire. Each stove comes with a surface thermometer. Use the surface
thermometer to monitor your stove temperatures. The temperature on top of the stove is
approximately 1/2 the temperature inside the stove, so when the thermometer on the stove
top reads 250ºF, it is 500ºF inside. You will find that after the combustor is engaged, surface
temperatures will often rise considerably- evidence that the combustor is producing lots of
heat!

The amount of combustion air available in the firebox is controlled by the
damper lever. (Fig 2) Use your bypass handle to engage or
disengage your catalytic combustor.
(Fig 1)
13

Engage the combustor by turning the bypass handle (front of the stove) counter clockwise until it clicks into its
position. Then reduce the air damper to achieve the desired burn rate. Make fine adjustments to your air control
damper by moving it slightly up or down. You may find that you can achieve the longest burn when the damper is fully
closed or only slightly open. In the Progress Hybrid, allowance is made for a small amount of primary and secondary
air to enter the stove even when the damper is fully closed, and the stainless steel catalyst will work efficiently at low to
moderate firing rates, thus preventing creosote formation or excessive smoke from your chimney.

Low & Overnight Burning

These instructions are intended as a guide to operating your wood stove. Your timing
and final damper settings will vary depending on chimney draft, type of wood, moisture
content of the wood and size of the splits. The Progress Hybrid is simply designed and
intended to be user friendly, but it will take some practice to get used to it.

1. Before you open the loading door, you must fully open the catalytic bypass and the air
damper. Wait a minute or so for a strong draft to be established to prevent smoke from
spilling back into the room.

2. Stir up the hot coals. If necessary, excess ash should be removed before reloading the
firebox. If your stove has the optional ash pan, simply rake the hot coals back and forth
in the firebox to allow the loose ash to fall through the grate into the ash pan. If your stove does not have an ash pan,
push the hot coals to one side and shovel the loose ash into a non-combustible ash container with a tight fitting lid.
Dispose of the ash properly.
Never put an ash container on a combustible surface, like a wood floor.

3. Place several small splits on top of the hot coals and allow them to ignite.

4. Load the firebox to capacity leaving space for secondary combustion, with a mix of larger and smaller splits. Close
the loading door.

5. Adjust the air damper to its lowest setting by rotating the lever toward the loading door.

6. Close the catalytic bypass, by turning the handle counter-clockwise until it stops.

7. Initially the fire may appear to die out. This may cause a small amount of soot to collect on the glass. Any buildup on
the glass should go away with higher temperature burns.

Never burn the stove with the air damper fully open except when kindling a fire or reloading the firebox.

Never build a roaring fire in a cold stove. It takes at least 30 minutes to heat the soapstone panels of the Progress.

Attempts to reach high temperatures very quickly could result in damage to the cast iron or soapstone parts.
Burning for Higher Heat Output

These instructions are intended as a guide to operating your wood stove. Your timing and final damper settings will
vary. The Progress Hybrid is simply designed and intended to be user friendly, but it will take some practice to get used
to it.

1. Before you open the loading door, you must fully open the catalytic bypass and the air damper. Wait a minute or so
to establish a strong draft. This will help to keep smoke from spilling into the room.

2. Stir up the coals and remove excess ash as needed.

3. Place several small splits on top of the hot coals and allow them to ignite.

4. Load the firebox to capacity leaving space for secondary combustion, with a mix of larger and smaller splits. Close
the loading door.

5. Allow the fresh wood to become involved in the fire. With dry wood this may take 5-10 minutes. Rotate the air
damper toward the loading door and close approximately half way.

6. Close the catalytic bypass by turning the bypass handle counterclockwise
until it stops.

7. You should see the flames from secondary combustion at the top rear of
the firebox becoming more active. Adjust the air damper to approximately
one quarter open​

Hope this helps.

 

Holy crap

 

just trying to help.