Well, I've only done it a few times, but it hasn't seemed to make any difference to the cat. Don't do it if you have a roaring fire going on, just to be safe. It's probably not real accurate either. Sometimes the cat is working without glowing.
Ok, I didn't think from when I had looked in the stove and the way things line up, that I'd be able to see the cat through the glass. Exhaust is telling me I'm getting the cat to light. Thanks for the tip about the lid, but I think I'm gonna take a pass at lifting it off during a burn... Just starting to get comfortable with the stove. Have had awesome secondaries today, and rolling ghost flames that start slow and then fill the box. Today is the 'longest' amount of burning I've done. I do see where it's easier and faster to get up to cat when the stoves already been running....
Yes. Plenty of heat for this room. 7 year old is down to her drawers in here. Hasn't worked for the wife yet. She's colder natured, if she gets to that stage, it wouldn't do me any good anyway cause I'd be at heat stroke mode. We haven't done much with fans yet to try to move more further in the house. But after sitting in here for a bit, it feels great to walk back towards the bedrooms.... The glass cleaning though....that's gonna be an often needed thing it looks like, and a pain.
You will get used to the dirty glass…. At least we have. It just has a nice tint to it most of the time…..
My glass gets a haze on it that I clean every 10 days or so as long as the stove gets cool enough, comes off easily. Glad to hear your house is warm, enjoy!
I never had that problem with my Fireview but I usually burned it pretty hot because my house isn’t insulated.
Didn't stoke the fire this morning before church, due to time and the room still being warm. Stove was still warm and putting out a bit of heat, but stt were only a little over 200. Cleaned the glass a bit ago, could feel warmth in the box. Stirred the ash a bit when getting some on the wet newspaper for cleaning, and some red coals rolled up. I thi k that's pretty impressive. Stirred the ash and got coals together, probably would have been 2 or 3 handfuls. Started putting a bit of newspaper and kindling in, and the papers started smoking and igniting before inwas even ready. Have my kindling fire going now.... So as silly as this may sound, I don't know know what "pretty hot" means. I'm still trying to figure out what size/how much fire is needed to slowly raise the stove temps (of a cold stove/soapstone) , and then build it up. So I don't know how hot a fire is needed to keep the glass clean. And then how do you go to cat mode and keep it hot enough for clean glass?
Seems like I had to fight it a bit tonight adding wood...think I tried to rush it instead of putting in small splits and building the coals like I probably should have. But finally got going, cat lit, and the secondaries were firing like crazy. Had the door open a bit (doors about 8-10 ft from stove) cause of a bit of smoke I got in earlier. Would that make the secondaries fire more?
I wouldn't say this house is tight. My wife would definitely say it's not. But it's not old farmhouse drafty.
Oldhippie, Nitrodave ...or anyone else with an AS..... Starting with a cold stove, how long does it typically take to build up a fire to when you engage the cat? Still have the shroud on, so no cat thermometer in. Trying to figure out if I can/should be flipping the cat sooner. Does it hurt anything if you flip the cat too soon? Would love to know what this helicopter sound is......it just started it again as I type this. I tried to get the sound on a vid the other day, but it didn't come through (not that I have a method to post a vid anyway....).
So, kindling fire, then a few smallish splits of oak, maybe little bigger than a baseball size. Those got going and calmed down a bit (not a huge pile of coals though, last pieces were still "logs")), so I added probably 6 splits, average probably 2x5 in size or so.... Had to keep door cracked to help get them going. Having a bit of a time understanding how you're supposed to totally char the woode in a timely manner, when the fire just starts on those pieces in a certain place or two. I guess it just takes time? Trying to do an overnight burn, and hopefully get it going in the am and set before I have to leave for work, since its supposed to be wet and cool tomrw and the Mrs is working from home. But the time to restart till set-to-cruise is concerning me a bit, if I'll get there in the am's....
I think some of what your dealing with in a reload like this, after a long overnight burn, depends upon a couple of factors. The heat of the stove, and also the, of course, the quality of the wood. That and how cold it is outside and how strong your draft is. But with good wood, I wouldn't worry too much about "fully" charged before you close the loading door and engage the cat. If you've got a good fire going in the box and the STT is above 250 you can close the door. If you want it completely set for the wife, leave the door open longer, let it get up to 350 on the STT, close the door, engage the Cat and then before you leave the house set the draft for a cruise. I've left the house and just told the wife, "in 30 minutes set the draft for 1". Either that or get up earlier.
It doesn't hurt to close the cat too soon, all it does is choke out the fire, and it might not even to that if you still keep the draft wide open. You possibly could get some blowback puffing into the house or something. But it isn't going to hurt the stove. I suppose it might cause the cat to need cleaning a bit sooner, but it's my guess that wouldn't make any big deal.
Well, it worked. Got up 30 minutes earlier than normal.thisnam since I didn't have an idea of timing. Stove was still good and warm, nice coals. Disengaged cat, opened air for a few minutes, coals got more active. By the time I was ready to attempt reload, had a few very very small flames on some coals. Threw a small handful of kindling and a very small split (almost kindling) in. Let that work for a bit with door cracked, then when I thought timing/fire looked right, put the splits in. Was able get the load to where I could turn down the air to 1 before I left. Wife sent me a pic while ago, I told her to go 2 more notches down (I think there's 5-6 notches between the numbers). And the glass stayed mostly clean, which is a first, and awesome!
