Keystone 18 hour "burn"

I just reloaded, trying for a 24 hr burn. I wish I had used larger splits, but we will see.
Engaged cat at 300F stove top, burning clean.

 

Received a UPS shipping notification today, should be here Friday.

 

Anywhere from 200 to 350 depending on the loading schedule. Ive seen the stock probe temp go as high as 1500-1600, there is an increase on the downstream probe when the cat does light. I agree it isn't the perfect place to measure but is a decent ball park figure. I usually go more by how the fire looks, stack temp and how charred the wood is.

Todd, I am still not convinced even the new stainless cat is the best. I know we have had long threads in years past on this issue but my gen 2 cat still does not seem to hold as long of an active burn as the ceramic. I have a beat up ceramic cat in holder, gen 1 cat in a holder and the gen 2 stainless. I think I need some time to flip clop cats around again and see.

I think my fireview is in order for a complete tear down. Not sure if I got the seams perfect the last time around or it has just taken a beating from 24/7 burning but I was in the belly of the beast doing some cement patching to get by in the mean time.

 

On a side note it seems the IS guys have been washing the cat in a warm water bath. I know the "official" tech article called for using distilled water as final rinse. Wonder if the salts, minerals, iron and chlorine have any long term interaction with the cat? Seems like they are finding good results initially....

 

You had it all torn down last time? How long ago was that? I'm gonna take a look at the Keystone in the next couple days; Still messing with SIL's Dutchwest. Ran it last night, and now that the leaks are mostly sealed, a front seam is leaking and torching the entire right side of the load. I can see that cast panel is warped at the bottom. I'm gonna just silicone the outside of that seam until I can look at it closer in the off season. The seam was hard to get to on the inside, and I'm hoping I can take off the airwash duct without taking anything else apart. So how did you determine that your Fireview seams were leaking? Running warm like my Keystone (500?) As I mentioned earlier, on the Keystone I can see a thin white line next to the leaking seam, where the creo is burned away.

 

Hmm maybe 5 years ago? I bought it used, owner of the stove had no idea how to run it and ran it in bypass a few times and gave up. I fixed a few warped parts, tore it down and did all the gaskets.

I have some cement that falls out of the seams that I keep patching and now I had a hole in the cement near the air duct cover that let out a puff of smoke when I slammed the door shut. I have noticed some clean lines on the seams too. I think it will just be easier to do a full tear down, clean up and re gasket to make sure everything is right again.

Real strong draft will show any weakness in a stove.

Call me fussy but I am with my equipment, and if it saves a bit of wood its a lot less time for a tube of cement and few gaskets than hunting down more wood!

 

I woke up at 20.5hrs and checked the stove. 2 nice chunks of very chared wood, I didn't stir the ash to check for coals but I think it's gonna make it.

 

Huh. I never saw the probe over 1100 on the Fireview or Keystone, and it didn't really move up at all when the bypass was closed and the cat was blazing.

That's what they say here...chemicals in tap water may harm it. http://www.condar.com/combustorcleaningmanual.pdf
I did my SIL's Dutchwest ceramic the other day and it lit off good, but I only ran one load and saw I had a big leak still to deal with...I'll try lighting it off at a little lower temp today when I run the stove. Lit at about 350 on the probe. I didn't run the stove before that so I can't say how much improvement the simmer-out yielded. I figured as long as I had the top off the stove, the simmer could only help...

 

http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/threads/keystone-24-hour-burn.10120/

 

Last winter I was burning full loads of well seasoned Iron Wood during the high wind polar vortex, I was running 1700 on the back probe and a 600 + stove top with 400-500 side temps.

The cat is currently running 1250 after an hour into the burn running at .6 with a full load of oak and ash. I purchased the probe from woodstock and is in the stock location.

 

When did you get the probe? I wonder if they've got a longer one now? Mine is 8", just the actual probe element, without the magnet on it.

 

It comes pretty close to the back of the cat. Got it 3 or 4 years ago I would say.

 

Probably the same as mine, then. Mine comes "Close to the Edge" also. This is intriguing; I wonder what is making the difference?