Over-draft situation?

550-600° is normal STT depending on the weather.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that cat probe is off by several hundred degrees.

 

As am I retired from HVAC!

So, I guess we're both accustomed to blowing hot air?

I don't know your location. I assume you listed it the way you did for privacy reasons? (Just wondering if you are in a northern climate)

 

Yes sir, bunch of blowing hot air experience from me! I was wondering if you had a background in HVAC by your post so I tried to be respectful to that in my response. I will say, sidewall termination only works for houses that have flat ceilings and a way to realistically do a side wall termination. Won’t work if you have to do a 90 round down to a rectangle into wall then a hard rectangle 90 out of the wall. Darn Equivalent Length, velocity, throw, and just a bunch of extra work complicate things. Funny thing, this house had a supply for the master bath but NO supply for the master bedroom…. Crazy stuff. I can go on and on about all the odd things about this place.

I am in the North West Arkansas area. Not really north but we do get Cold for a few months. It has been around 10* every morning last few days.

Back on Topic: I just picked up another stove top temp gauge and will put on front. I have noticed that as the burn starts dwindling down low my draft will lower so I end up needing to open draft back up.

 

Currently a bit into a reload.
Past 1700* on cat probe,
695* on new burn indicator,
500 on pipe probe,
395* Stove top.
Air is between 4th and 5th mark from closed. Damper is 75-85% closed.
Draft is -0.8

 

1/2 full firebox about an hour in. Smaller splits than what I have been using. Lots of secondary action and heat out of glass.

past 1700*on cat probe
715 on new burn indicator.
515 pipe probe
420 Stove top
Air is on 5th mark from closed.
Damper is 90-95% closed.
Draft -0.6
24* outside. 75* inside.

edit: I will load up full in the morning if I wake up early. What temp should I be getting or staying within on new burn indicator?

 

Let’s see.

way past 1700*on cat probe
825 on new burn indicator.
715 pipe probe
490 Stove top
Air is on 4th mark from closed.
Damper is 95% closed.
Draft -0.7
40* outside. 79* inside.

Had a decent amount of live coals in the stove for the reload. Maybe filled 65-70% with larger splits and a few smaller. Stove is a Lot warmer than I want but I’m tired so I am going to my sleep.

 

2.5-3 hours after cold-ish re-load with loose 3/4 fill.
Way Past 1700* on cat probe,
900* on new burn indicator,
660 on pipe probe,
485* Stove top.
Air is between 4th and 5th mark from closed. Damper is 95% closed.
Draft is -0.7.

getting secondary action with occasional flairups. Nothing to violent but I can smell it after it happens.

New roof isn’t up b/c of weather so I still have not added new class A pipe.

 

snaple4, are you comfortable with those temperatures? Is there a reason you don't turn the air down more, like a notch or two?

 

Not really, I feel like the temperature is on the high side but to be honest I don’t know exactly how high I can regularly go. I do turn it down some but if I go much lower I will soot up the box/glass if I don’t adjust it after a few hours.

 

It looks like your temps are close to mine with a similar air setting, gave up on the cat probe which woodstock seemed to agree with.
That extra 8 feet of pipe is gonna make it interesting. My stove is an IS.

 

I have started to only use cat probe for engagement.What happens when you have the air past 1/4 open on a full load?

 

Well i have discovered if i reduce the air in stages and not too fast it works just fine, if i get in a hurry it can do the back puff dance. Thats with a fire hot enought to sustain a good flames.
I cant trust my cat probe for engagement, condar is on the way, hopeful it puts me in the ballpark plus its easier to read for these old eyes.

 

oldspark, what brand is your current cat prove, the one you don't trust?

 

Not sure, no name on front but says made in USA, i read somewhere they were condar but IDK. The one i ordered is bigger and easier to read.
My probe (from Woodstock) arrived all funked up, it read several hundred degrees on a cold stove.

 

So it came with the stove from Woodstock?

 

Yes

 

Interesting burn temps, I am slightly astonished, especially with you having a damper on chimney pipe. If I had temps on the stove pipe and just to the front right of cat probe that you have, I would be cooling the stove down. But I have 8’ of single wall and another 18’ of triple wall insulated through second floor and above roof. Massive draw. The way I do cooling may seem contrary but I open air all the way, disengage cat, then crack the door, and the rush of cool air drops my single wall pipe temp from 450 back down to my preferred range of 300-350, then I reset cat,

My long term running settings is 1-2 tiny notches of air, cat activated, stove pipe temp of 300-350, stove top of 400-500 and the area just to right of probe hole cruises in the 550-600 range. This has me with a black box and occasional secondaries, and I do get a bit of window black in corners after a few days, but easily cleaned off. Usually will heat for 8 hours+ Good heat and coals for longer.

My highest spot just right of probe ever was 675-725 once.

I use an IR gun and a stove pipe magnetic probe. Pics to show temp gauge location, but usually use my IR gun.

 

I run an IS with about 18 feet of pipe. I have no problems with excess draft when using a damper. 20 feet should be no problem. A few comments…

First: There is little chance your cat is 1700 plus with stove top temps below 700. At least not for long! If the cat runs away like that, the STT and the chimney temps go up quite high as well. That cat probe is simply wrong.

Second: If the stove is running hotter than you like, don’t be afraid to turn it WAY down. Sometimes I run with the chimney damper full closed, and the air intake maybe a 1/4” from fully closed. The biggest issue is the glass will tend to get dirty when you turn it way down, but cutting the airflow back has never failed to bring my temps down into the acceptable range. Also, other than startup or after a reload, my intake is rarely at 1/4 open, usually 1/8 or less once it gets going. The cat has its own air supply so you don’t need a lot of primary and secondary air coming in to stay very warm.

I have PACKED the stove full of compressed wood bricks and while I can’t run it “cool” when I do so, even then it has been able to stay under control with cat below 1500 and STT below 700. If you are not familiar, the bricks have a higher BTU density than splits, plus you can pack more in there due to the shape. It will run 30+ hours on a full load, which I definitely can’t do with my normal wood supply.