I Drilled The Soapstone For A Probe

Now at ~12 1/2 hr burn. I increased the draft from .7 to 2 a couple of hours ago to burnd down the coals. The CT has held at 580F, STT still at 290F

Just reloaded.

 

This morning experiment:

I let the fire go aout this morning, stove is still slightly warm. Reloaded with three medium/small splits of Red Oak and three 1x2 splits of Red Oak

STT (Stove Top Temp)-125F
CP (Cat Probe)-125F
PT (Single wall Pipe surface Temp)-<100F

20 min: Engaged the cat, set the draft to 2, FB full of flame
STT- 125F
CP- 500F
PT- 550F

23 min:
STT 160F
CP 800F
PT 425
Lowered draft to 1.5

33 min:
STT 310F
CP 100F
PT 340F
Flame in the box on the wood but not fully involved inferno.
Drop draft to .75

43 min:
STT 360F
CP 1050F
PT 300F
Its settling in for today's 10 hr burn.

With the old cat, I never dropped the draft in stages- reload in the morning, get the STT up to about 250F, engage the cat, set the draft to zero (usually) and go to work. This year I started getting cat stalls. The new SS cat is working great so far, I'm going to stop dropping the draft in stages and I expect no problems. Getting my WS cat confidence back up to where it used to be.

 

50 min;
STT 425F
CP 1100F
PT 250F
FB is mostly dark, cat is solid orange.

 

FB seconds after cat engaged.

 

Good info, it's been awhile since I've done a cold start but yeah, you can definitely light off in 20 min with a STT under the recommended 250.

I always engage at 1.5 and always drop my draft in stages. According to WS and Applied ceramics the cat needs at least 20 min of 500+ heat directed on it to maintain light off. If I engaged the cat and dropped the draft directly down to <.5 I'd stall but maybe your draft is stronger.

 

This mornings reload.

OAT- 0F
House- 70F
STT- 200F
CP- 400F

9:15 am Reloaded on medium bed of coals. 1 larger split, 1 med, 1 small---Red Oak. Maintained 400F or less surface PT during burn in.

9:30: STT 200F CP 600F PT 400F---Engaged cat, set draft to 1.

9:35: STT 240F CP 820F PT 340F

 

Nice to know that cat takes right off with the stove top under 250...

 

9:43- STT305F CP 910F PT 255F
50% of the cat at a dull glow

 

30 min since reload. If I were going by STT, the STT would still be at 200F because I wouldn't have engaged the cat yet.
Maybe it's worse on the Keystone than the FV or PH, but I've always disliked the time lag between FB temp and STT. Too many layers of stainless and stone to see changes in FB temp anytime soon. Of course all those soaked up BTU's will come back at the end of the burn, leveling off the temp swings, but the probe, to me, hurries everything along, saves BTU's and creosote from going up the chimney, and tells me what's going on now (5 min ago) instead of what was going on 35 mins ago.

 

10:00 (45 min after reload): Without the probe, I'd probably be up to 250F now and engage the cat.

STT 400F
CP- Has been up to 1110 on the high temp indicator, FB is flaming now- burning some of the smoke. So, CP dropped off the paperclip down to 1090.
PT 250F

Cat is 90% lit at a medium orange, heat radiating from the glass nicely.

 

I'm waiting on my probe from Omega.. Already have my meter.. Going to be nice to see what the PH cat is doing... I can hear when the cat is heating up in the PH.. I usually get my SST to 275 then engage the cat, close the draft only 1/2 way and leave it there until I see an internal flue gas temp of 450-550 on my stove pipe, then close it down 100%... Seems like with the PH over my previous Fireview,,,, you need to heat the cat up before closing the draft down to zero or open just a hair... I'm thinking the longer S pattern ,,,that the smoke path has to travel before reaching the cat,, is making a difference.. Probing the cat on the PH will be very interesting for me.. maybe allowing a much quicker cat engagement also..

 

Keep us posted, I bet you will find you can engage a little sooner than normal and the probe should help you fine tune your burn.

 

I couldn't agree more about fine tuning the stove... I think any cat stove should come with a cat probe as standard equipment... You have a STT gauge, a chimney pipe temp gauge, well why not a cat gauge... All things that I would think any serious wood burner would want to have.. Even my 2 stroke paramotor I fly , I'm installing an exhaust temp probe with an alarm as to catch an air leak from a bad crank seal, head gasket, etc... thus seeing an increase in temps I know there is an issue and to look into things instead of flying blind until I have a sudden engine out situation seizure from a leaned out fuel situation... Cat is kind of the same thing,,, we want to know what it's doing...

 

Charlie did you get your probe yet?

 

No probe yet... it's been shipped... I knew from my order that it stated it was a week out on shipping.. With this cold weather , who knows when I'll get a chance to shut the stove down.. Guess as long as it's luke warm I can get it done.. Should only be a 5 minute install... Jamie @ Woodstock said the bolt that you remove in the rear for the probe wire feed is only like a 1/4 x20 bolt... I'll just use some HT silicone to seal the wire as it exits... If it was a 3/8ths bolt I was going to drill the center so as to slide the wire through, then reinstall the bolt for a neat job with a dab of silicone around the wire where it exits the bolt,,, being small the bolt will just be left out.. If a mechanical probe would work,, I'd almost like to drill the stone and steel cook top for a drop in probe... I worry on a slow burn if a smoke smell would come out of the probe hole in the top..

 

I don't think so but heck, you could stuff a bit of interam gasket around the probe to seal it....

 

I'm not worrying about the stone leaking smoke smell , it would be the steel cooktop maybe emitting smoke underneath the stones , thus coming out around the stone edges.. I know the stone on top you could seal , but no way to seal the steel hole, once the stone is put back in place to insert the probe... I'll see how the K type probe works first.. that's an easy non invasive install..

 

@charlie did you get the probe installed?

 

Charlie died suddenly the day after his last post. Very sad.

 

Thanks Dave. I got a PM of Charlie's passing, very sad. I don't know how I missed the thread.
RIP Charlie and God be with your family.