Catalyst Thermometer Calibration
- Thread starter chadhamre
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With a new stove/cat the cat temp can be really high. If you had a Condar gauge instead of the stock BK gauge that reading would still be in the normal operating range most likely.
Dieselhead
Minister of Fire
While mine looks slightly different than yours, that first “tick” mark is where mine sits when it’s stone cold. I agree with dons post above, more than likely after a few weeks will settle in to the 12-300 range on the cat gage.
My temp probe is the same at the OP's, and the tick mark sits exactly where the OP's is at when the stove is cold/at room temp temp/70F. (I actually removed the CAT probe and let it sit at room temp for many hours and it settles at it's lowest point at the same place as the OP's and the ambient temp was 68F-70F confirmed with a thermometer in the room and an infrared temp gun.
Issue I'm having my stove is about a year old now, purchased last March, and have been using the stove non-stop as my primary heat source here this winter in Southern Oregon and have gone through several cords of juniper by now (about 4 cords). My gauge still almost does a full 360 degrees around the dial every time. I know I'm not over-firing the stove. In many cases I'll come home from work and the gauge still reads that it's still in the active zone, but when I use an infrared thermometer gun, it's reading well below what the active zone is, just now reading anywhere from 150F-260F. I've even removed the probe and shot the infrared probe laser down into the probe hole and it's nowhere near the active zone, despite the probe saying it is.
Issue I'm having my stove is about a year old now, purchased last March, and have been using the stove non-stop as my primary heat source here this winter in Southern Oregon and have gone through several cords of juniper by now (about 4 cords). My gauge still almost does a full 360 degrees around the dial every time. I know I'm not over-firing the stove. In many cases I'll come home from work and the gauge still reads that it's still in the active zone, but when I use an infrared thermometer gun, it's reading well below what the active zone is, just now reading anywhere from 150F-260F. I've even removed the probe and shot the infrared probe laser down into the probe hole and it's nowhere near the active zone, despite the probe saying it is.
The stove top temperature (measured with IR) is not at all representative of the cat exhaust temp measured by the probe.
Shooting the laser down the hole is not useful as its field of view is far larger than the diameter of the hole, so you're measuring the colder tube and stove top as well when you do that.
Shooting the laser down the hole is not useful as its field of view is far larger than the diameter of the hole, so you're measuring the colder tube and stove top as well when you do that.
Any idea why my probe still acts like the OP's probe with the ticker almost doing a full 360 despite using the stove non-stop all winter with 4 cords of wood through it?
No, that is indeed strange. Never heard of that. Generally within a cord the cat settles down, that is we see the probe not doing that anymore.
I can get my probe to the end of the white bar if I run the stove high but no longer beyond that.
I would buy another probe, e.g. One with numbers from Condar (make sure the length is correct) and see what that one says
I can get my probe to the end of the white bar if I run the stove high but no longer beyond that.
I would buy another probe, e.g. One with numbers from Condar (make sure the length is correct) and see what that one says
Understood.
Around here where I am it’s pretty much juniper or pine. Also some Doug fir, but the majority of the time it’s the first two. Options
Burned/burning juniper exclusively this winter and next winter will be whatever juniper is left over and the four cords of pine I got from a large tree I had professionally cut down that was leaning over the house. I needed up splitting that myself. Have about 10 more much smaller trees that did come down or need to be cut down after a big snow and ice storm we had several weeks ago, and all those are pine as well.
Is there a digital probe available for as a cat thermometer? My oem BK unit only lasted 1.5 yrs so I replaced it last winter with a Condar. Now the Condar, looks like the OP's photo when the stove is out. I tried to calibrate it and its all over the place with each burn. I reached out to Condar since its under warranty without success. I'd rather go with a digital like an Auber is available.
Auber would be the source for nice digital stuff that looks like it’s from a lab.
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