All of a sudden I can’t get my hearthstone heritage center stone gauge past 300 degrees. Even if I burn seasoned oak. I also used to have a really high draft and it just slowed down all of a sudden. I cleaned out the stove and vacuumed the cats which I usually do every month. Still the same. This is the third year with the stove. I noticed last night the left cat was glowing red and the right one was not red at all. I know it says this doesn’t mean anything usually but the flame was a steady secondary burn all across the top so I would think they both would be glowing. I also checked the bypass door. Looks like it’s closing properly. Here are some pics I took while I was vacuuming them. Any ideas.
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- Thread starter Northern21
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I had an issue with my Castleton last year where the cats got clogged at the back. I kept vacuuming the fronts and they looked good. You might need to check both sides. If you take them out, you might need to replace that white gasket material (it's like fiberglass or a cotton ball, and might be single use).
Also, dumb question, but does the stove/room actually feel cooler? What if your stone gauge is just busted?
Also, dumb question, but does the stove/room actually feel cooler? What if your stone gauge is just busted?
Does your stove have a cat thermometer? If so do they seem to be running where they need to be?
Stoveliker and wetwood are most likely on it. Do you see smoke rollout from the door? That would also indicate the draft being lower.
ETA
Something just crossed my mind while watching a cold start take hold. It's your main air inlet clean into the fire box? Mine is front and center and can get blocked by ash build up. Someone said recently they had to vacuum theirs out because ash had gotten inside it.
Stoveliker and wetwood are most likely on it. Do you see smoke rollout from the door? That would also indicate the draft being lower.
ETA
Something just crossed my mind while watching a cold start take hold. It's your main air inlet clean into the fire box? Mine is front and center and can get blocked by ash build up. Someone said recently they had to vacuum theirs out because ash had gotten inside it.
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I do feel like this is probably the issue. I read that some people have to take them out around the three year mark. I’ll get some gasket material. Is it hard removing them? No the room doesn’t feel cooler but I have and insulated concrete form house with in floor heating so the temp is pretty constant and doesn’t take much to heat. I’ll use my heat gun and shoot the top. Good point with the gauge being broken. I’ll check this first.
Yes the cat thermometer seems to be running normal. It was almost in the top hot zone yesterday and the stove top was only reading 300. Someone else said maybe the stove top thermometer is broken. I’ll test that tomorrow with a heat gun and see. No smoke rolling. It’s still high draft but it was very high draft before. To the point of being out of control sometimes. Now it’s completely different. I was going to put a key damper then it just stoped being as bad . Very odd. I did take my vaccume and stick it against that hole as well as all the holes on the tubes at the top. Didn’t seem like anything came out.
