Do you have to open the bypass when the cat temp drops below active?

[Fiddlerbob]

I have a Princess Insert and love the thing. However, I'm plagued by the build up of burning coals to the point where I can't load enough wood in to make it through the night. The next morning the cat temp is in the inactive zone with the bypass closed.
1) Does letting the fire die out with the bypass closed damage the catalyst? It's not generating smoke at that point...
2) I've read on this site about digging out the ash but leaving the burning coals behind. I have tried this but can't seem to make that happen. I usually just wind up chucking out the burning coals which seems wasteful. What's your trick?

I burn maple and ash, both quite dry.

Thanks, Bob

 

[stoveliker]

No. Keep the bypass closed is fine.

I use a metal kitty poop scooper to scoop coals and deposit them in a corner so I can shovel out the ashes.
It's your choice whether scooping out coals (wood that you processed) is wasteful...

 

[Montanalocal]

I cut my wood so that I can load it North/South, that is, laying from the front to the back of the stove. Since the air comes into my stove ( a 40) from the front, it burns the front part of the wood to ash sooner. That way, I can scoop the ash out of the front crosswise and leave the coals in the back, which I can then rake forward to get a level coal bed for the next load.

 

[moresnow]

Have you tried burning at a higher rate to ensure the fuel load is consumed overnight? A thought.
An excessive pile of coals can be melted/controlled prior to reloading by placing a single dry split on top of the piled coals and running wide open throttle on the stat. Naturally close the bypass as usual etc. Takes some planning ahead.
Prefer using Pine or another quick burning dry softwood for this routine.
By chance are you tossing a split or two on the fire every few hours?

 

[Tron]

An excessive pile of coals can be melted/controlled prior to reloading by placing a single dry split on top of the piled coals and running wide open throttle on the stat.

I'm always unsure if that really speeds up the process or extends it. I also oftentimes have a large bed of coals that need to burn down before I can reload, and just running the stove wide open for half an hour to an hour usually does the trick.

 

[stoveliker]

My experience is that it burns down the coals but does so with a higher heat output than if one just runs with the air open and the coals at the front.

So whether it is quicker or not I don't know, but it helps limit a cool down of the home when significant heat is needed. (When less heat is needed I don't bother to add a split of pine or so, then I just coast until reload - but even if I reload on top of coals, it's fine that there's less new fuel in it box (due to coals being there) because I am not pushing it anyway.)

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

If you keep some dry bark around that's great for burning down a coal bed.

 

[Fiddlerbob]

Thanks to all. A bunch of ideas here that I will be trying out. I had the stove running for several days last week but we are back to 60dF today so I have been letting it die right out .

@stoveliker, I have been using an antique coal scooper but it doesn't work too well. I'll be buying the cat litter scooper. Looks like it has much finer mesh to it than my scoop. Thanks...
@Montanalocal, I also load North/South. I had noticed more ash in the front so my first reaction was always to rake the back forward. So, duh, I'll see if I can scoop ash out before the raking begins.

As far as putting a split on top and running full blast it would just seem to me I'd be making more coals but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

When I get down to just coals I open the air all the way and even open the bypass but I don't seem to burn the coals faster or get more heat. I would think that the 'extra' heat I get doing that just goes up the chimney...

 

[Tron]

My experience is that it burns down the coals but does so with a higher heat output than if one just runs with the air open and the coals at the front.

That makes sense. Since our heat demand is usually not that high down here, just setting the thermostat to wide open provides enough heat from the coals, at least for me.
But sure, if that's not enough, an additional split will help here.

 

[Tron]

When I get down to just coals I open the air all the way and even open the bypass but I don't seem to burn the coals faster or get more heat. I would think that the 'extra' heat I get doing that just goes up the chimney...

If the cat's still active, don't open the bypass. The coals emit a lot of carbon monoxide that gets burned up in the cat and provides heat.