Decided to take a pic from last nights burn early on in the cycle, running at .75. The cat was seriously chewing smoke and it turned the stainless almost opaque. Funny thing was the cat did not hit over 1500 degrees. I decided to sit back and observe what would happen. 20 minutes later flames came back and the cat temp dropped. I figured I would let it go into self clean mode like an oven =). Anyone else have this happen? It has before and no observable damage has been done to the scoop and or cat. I know the older cast ones had a habit of burning through or sagging over time.
How do you monitor you cat temps on the Fireview? Just curious.. When I had my Fireview at times it looked like a night light was on in the stove with no flames and just the cat glowing with no lights on in the room,,, pretty neat!
How did you probe your cat! I just ordered a cable type probe from Omega and meter that I want to install on my PH, so I can watch my cat temps,,, mainly when it lights off... I think this allows one to get to know their stove better... nice to also know that cat's on it's way out too.
The fire view has a screw covering a hole downstream from the cat. It's not the most ideal location for a probe, but it gives a pretty good ball park. Todd has posted in the past his Keystone mod for a probe which is pretty slick.
Now I remember that screw... If I'm not mistaking wasn't a really long probe needed to get near the cat?
Yes, I see it quite often. Flames snuff out, cat temp rises to a certain point then ignite the fire box full of flame. One time I hit 1580 CT and 710 STT before she settled back down. Other times I get that fire inside the scoop.
Yeah, I need a longer probe than I can find anywhere! The stock probe doesn't reach far enough to get over the cat. Only reads about 1100 tops. Same readings with bypass open or closed, so it's not a cat probe, but a firebox probe. Cruising with no flame and the cat glowing, it's usually reading 900 or so. With the cat glowing similarly in the Buck, that probe is reading 1300-1500. I've seen 1800 a couple times if I got too much of the load gassing early. The Ks/Fv probe is still useful, but it's no cat probe. With the Buck or Dutchwest probe, I can tell if the cat has lit off, even if it's not glowing.
My cabled probe from Omega has been shipped for the PH... 12 inch probe... Thinking I will just lay it on the stove surface in front of the cat exhaust path,,,, or I might go to the metal shop I use and see if they can build me a little stainless stand with a hole at each end to support the probe in the air ,,, leaving it about an inch away from the cat... Not sure if that will get me better readings over laying it on the stove surface just in front of the cat...
You mean outside the firebox? If you want the actual cat temp, the probe tip is going to have to be 1/4-1/2" from the surface of the cat to read that radiation.
No ,, inside the firebox up on the smoke path shelf.. Yes I can get as close as I need to the cat with the probe... Remove a bolt from the back oh the PH , either side in the back that was planned for a probe entry by Woodstock... Then I just HT silicone the bolt hole shut around the wire... Woodstock is working on a cat probe set up for the PH, but it will be down the road... I was told maybe like a dashboard gauge set up, thus it telling you when to engage the cat, etc.. Knowing Woodstock,,, they will make something nice.. For now I'll have something... I might try to drill the center of the bolt once I see the wire size and just run the wire through the bolt with a little silicone at the wire exit point... That should be a neat job...
