Agreed! This one was just barely shy of 16lbs. and was one about a dozen over 10lbs. All went back into the water except for that one big one, by that guys choice. Me, I would have taken pics, girth measurements and would have released this one as well. I don’t blame the guy for wanting to keep it. It’s the biggest walleye I’ve ever had the pleasure of netting.
The only thing I can add: Early on when I first owned the PH, I had to go on a business trip and my girlfriend, who had non cat wood stove experience, ran into problems. When I returned I took out the cat. It was completely black. Since then, a few times over the years, the cat didn't take off and over time I could tell, by smell, something is amiss. In my case it has always been a clogged cat that caused my smoke smell issues. A clogged cat can also be light grey ash that has built up, but that in my experience takes a few month to accumulate. Black on the other hand takes basically one bad burn. I got about 4 years from my first cat.
Hey Lakeside, Any update with that test door? I had two loads today with quite a bit of smoke smell. I noticed it's particularly bad with some hickory with some delayed start in the flames...but also when the flames start quickly with the door open. So strange because all the flame and ash nicely vacuum up into the fbox exit. Also much worse loading above 350⁰F STT. That sounds similar? I cleaned my cat recently. It certainly keeps the flow moving through the stove but not necessarily any change to the house smoke symptoms.
By the way, I may have contained my PH reloading problems! I close the air intake most of the way just as I'm opening the loading door, then slowly open the air intake after the door is closed. It's reduced the reloading smoke 75-90%. It seems that could have been a lot of my issue as I don't smell much afterwards mid-burn. I've been running several larger loads with little to no smoke. I think it would linger around afterwards for up to an hour. Hope you can try and see if that helps you at all lakeside? If it only starts way into the burn it could be a different problem... Let us know if you have any updates.
When you close those air intakes, the door opening becomes the intake. Smoke has nowhere else to go but up.
Yes, possibly for me somewhere when the door is cracked open the air intake maybe is blowing some firebox air out the door as the main intake starts up/is still flowing? I also talked to Woodstock (Penny) and they are sending me a gasket for around the air intake which could also not be sealing between intake and exit. Reducing the air intake could be directing the exhaust up instead to leaking into air intake, which is not pulling vacuum with the loading door wide open. My other problem that is somewhat controllable is trying to get the flame started quickly when loading the box full. It seems to smother the coals and smolders a bit before lighting up. WS recommends throwing some type of kindling on the fire first but I'm worried about starting up the flame with the door open... Hopefully can figure a good routine with some practice.
I’m confused as to which gasket this is. ? Are they having you unbolt the air control on the rear of the stove and replace the gasket where the secondary air enters?
Ok, not too bad of a job. The green circle in the first pic is where the gasket is (in the inset part). Green is secondary airflow, and the blue is primary. You won’t be seeing it from the top, like in the second picture, but gives you a sense of how the top of the firebox connects to (through) the back of the stove. Note in the second pic where the green arrow lines start. That is the seam you will be gasketing from the backside.
Looking down into the stove with all the internals out. The area I’ve circled is the hole where the secondary air comes in. Sorry I don’t have a better picture.
Not sure when I'll get a chance to replace that intake gasket but I highly doubt it will fix my issues. I just had a little bit of smoke reloading the past couple times really. It smolders for a couple seconds before the new kindling and logs light up and there will be some light smoke blown out. It really just seems to be because of the aggressive smoke exit, several cat designs have the smoke go straight up when the bypass is engaged, this one has to curve back through the front then all the way to the back of the stove before the smoke can exits. It's too much resistance unless you have a 30ft straight chimney. In that case you have internal pressure too high and blowing smoke out some of the crevasses once it get's warmed up like Lakeview's issue.
If your chimney has decent draft you shouldn’t get any smell no matter what you do. If you’re leaking around the griddle gasket you should see smoke stains bypassing the gasket. Only time I get smoke smell is if I shut down the air too soon and you get the catalytic “puff”. Would imagine you would notice that tho. Can’t miss it as for the door. I havent yet taken mine apart but will soon when temps rise outside. Getting tired of replacing compressed gaskets all the time. I’m thinking there may be a way to add a set of thin washers behind the frame that holds the stone in. For all I know those four screws are “ trapped” and that whole plate can be adjusted just by turning the screws. That would be a sweet design and if they aren’t they should be PS, I always run my PH with air fully shut. My particular set up just works best that way.
Interesting to hear about these smoke issues. I've had a PH since 2015 IIR (w/ OAK installed in 2016) and never had an issue.... until last year. Now I'm getting smoke leakage on reloading and the fire almost completely smothers when I shut the door... unless its really hot. I ordered the maintenance kit from WS so I'm going to replace all the gaskets, clean all the insides, and see if I can revive it. I'll let you all know what I find. I think this process might be enlightening, since this is a new issue for me.
With the bypass open and the door open, smoke leakage while reloading is purely a stovepipe/chimney issue, not gaskets or anything in the stove. I’ve noticed my burning habits in late Spring and early Fall are a bit lax, and I’ve been surprised at the amount of powder creosote I get from brushing now (the top two feet of liner, where it is coolest).
Then, with the door closed, these same conditions can result in anemic draft and a slow start. I run a brush up and eliminate that possibility before I start replacing gaskets.
Off the subject does anyone know the inside firebox dimensions for the progress? I can’t seem to find them.
Standard 10" Legs HxWxD: 33.5"x30.5"x25" Short Legs HxWxD: 28.5"x30.5"x25" (no ash pan) Firebox Size: 2.8 Cu. ft.
Thanks, I found that info. That’s the outside measurements. I have around 16 cord of wood cut at 16” length. Curious what the inside measurement of fire box is.
