First fire in the Keystone

Finished up the install and the inspector out today so tonight I lit it for the first time. A question for those with more cat experience then I, how do you judge when to engage the cat with pipe temperature vs stove temps? I engaged it when the stove was just over 200 and the pipe was getting close to 700. It lite off immediately making me think I probably could have engaged it sooner. Is that just because it's a new steel cat or do the flu temps give me a better indication of what's going on?

 

Very nice. Looks good. Like the backsplash and the hearth.

 

Good looking hearth and stove, wfournier. I've settled on when to engage the cat through experiment. Kept closing it a little sooner each time until it failed to light the combustor (smoke from chimney that wouldn't clear after 8 minutes, cat 'stall'). It is true that new steel cats are very reactive for awhile. I rather take the stove operator manual instructions as a guide and then experiment. If your stove has a cat probe, that makes it easy. My neighbors: What's with Gark running outside in the snow looking at his chimney?

 

is it single wall or double wall pipe going up. on single wall I engage cat at 300.. which should be 600 inside so what I've read smoke burns in cat at 500 degrees I like a 100 of cushion. ..

 

This is pretty much what I did, before I got a cat probe. I stay under 600F on single wall pipe. When it gets to 24/7 temps its a non-issue, no cold starts.

As the cat gets some use it will lose its hyperactivity and glow less, don't worry about it. It can be very active and be dark (900+F). Just check the chimney for smoke when in doubt.

 

I would of done a few small break in fires first. Youll probably be ok as long as you dont over do it. You may see some sweat on the stones on the first fire as the moisture escapes.

I have found with my cat probe I can lite off pretty quick with stove top temps in the 100-150 range. I usually engage around #2 to let the fire get going good for 15 min or so then adjust down from there.

I use my pipe temp as well, its a good indicator if too much heat is going up the flue. During start ups or reloads I like to keep it under 500, it helps the stove and cat heat up faster.

 

I'll play with it some and see when it seems best to engage the cat. It's single wall pipe going up to the class A chimney, about 4' of stove pipe and 13' of class A.

I didn't mention it here but it's a used stove, I've always thought used stoves didn't need to be broken in but I suppose the stone could pick up some moisture from sitting over the summer.

 

Did you buy it from Woodstock or private? Woodstock would probably redo the stove and it would need a break in but if from someone private probably not.
Nice looking set up you have there.

 

Private party.

Well last night was really not the night to run the stove with it warming up to the mid sixties out over night but I'm thinking this stove is going to work out great. After about 11 hours things have cooled down to about 200 on the stove top but there are still plenty of coals for an easy reload if I wanted to. With the F3 I would be looking at a cold pile of ash so I'm pretty happy with this. Definitely kept the house warm last night, I ended up opening windows to cool it off. The real test will be when we have highs in the single digits.

 

looks real nice

 

Yes even used soapstone should be fired gently after it's been sitting for long periods but it's not the end of the world.
I've never seen temps like that on my pipes. I engage when the pipe hits 300. Sometimes earlier but usually I wait till 300.

 

Yeah temps climbed last night LOL. I had to open the French doors and let the wind and rain in to cool off.

 

Oh, OK, you should be OK but I still like to do a small break in at the beginning of each season just to drive out any possible moisture.

Nice looking setup you have there, I'm sure you'll love the stove. My Keystone has served me well for my 1200 sq ft in WI.

 

I'll keep that in mind for next year, everything seems to be ok but in the future better safe than sorry.

I'm only heating about 1000 sq ft, insulation could be better but I already think this is a big step up from the F3 and it will only get better as we work on tightening up the house.

 

oh and in case anyone is wondering the slate on the wall behind the stove (on durock spaced out on 20g metal studs) is cheep "multicolor" slate tiles from lowes that I cut down. I was looking for a stone veneer type look and this works for me and only cost about $1.50 a sq foot compared to the $6-15 a sq ft I was being quoted for the stone veneer. It's a little less irregular but I think it get's close enough and my wallet is much happier.

 

So you just bought 12" square slate tiles, sliced them up into strips, and set them on the wall with no grout gap? Awesome! It looks like only two widths, a skinny and a fat. Is that right?

 

Looks really good wfournier !

Defiantly do a small fire at the beginning of the burning season or if the stove has been unused for a long period of time. You don't want to be cracking that pretty rock.

 

Real nice set up there, cozy corner