First fire in Progress Hybrid Need a little help with Cat

[fespo]

To night we decided to have the fire of the season in out new/ used Hybrid. Well I feel like I never owned a stove before. As I was trying to light a fire, for some reason smoke was coming out the air intake in the back of the stove. Smoke every where. Ok, so now I have a strong draft going, add some more wood. Next,waiting for the stove top to reach 250* so I can engage the cat, once it does, I flip the lever and I guess I did it right. Now I didn't make a big fire but once I engaged, the secondary's kick in, then fire slows down a little and it's back up and running strong, secondary's are kicking in again. Stove top right now is at 350 nice little fire but How do I know if the brand new cat is working? Thanks for any help Fespo

 

[toddnic]

Fespo, you will thoroughly enjoy your Progress Hybrid. Regarding the cat, you normally can hear the top of the stove (cooktop) start to warm up when the catalytic combustor is running properly. Also, you should be able to look at the top of your chimney and see no smoke coming out of it. I think that some have figured out how to put a thermometer into the cat to check the temp but I have never done that. Also, I normally don't engage the cat until the stove reaches 300 to 350 degrees. I just installed a new cat so hopefully it will start working at a lower temp.

 

[bfitz3]

When you engage the cat, listen for "clinking" in the cat. If I don't hear it, I close the cat and wait a bit more for the temp to rise enough for the cat to take off.

After this, I wait a bit to close the air part way, then wait a bit longer and close it all the way. The whole process takes 30 minutes or so from a cold start.

 

[jetsam]

You may want to evaluate your install for poor draft. Too many 90s, unsloped horizontal runs, and short flues are all potential issues.

 

[fespo]

You may want to evaluate your install for poor draft. Too many 90s, unsloped horizontal runs, and short flues are all potential issues.

I have one hell of a draft, over 22' all inside, when I had the lopi I had to put in a flue damper. Thanks

 

[kennyp2339]

I have one hell of a draft, over 22' all inside, when I had the lopi I had to put in a flue damper. Thanks

It is not normal to have smoke coming out of the stove lol, but in all seriousness burn the stove a little bit hotter before engaging the cat, make sure your fuel is fully dry and load her up. Those Progress stoves are works of art and proven work horses, I wish you the best of luck.

 

[branchburner]

With my IS, after I close the bypass and shut the air back a good way, if the cat is burning smoke I see a pretty quick and good rise in stove top temp (but sometimes that rise is confined to a small area just to the rear of the cat chamber) and I will see the flue temp drop.

I like to check the IS surface with an IR gun... I have noticed quite a bit of temp variation in different spots of the stove top depending on the size of the load and how far back I've closed the air. (The highest temps I saw with it last season were on the front of the stove, right above the door, when the burn-tube manifold was cranking.)

 

[trguitar]

250 is too low to engage the cat. I wait until at least 300, often 350. Also, make sure the primary air is all the way open when you cold start. You probably did, but it is a good check. Once when I was doing a cold start, I forgot to move the primary air back to open from the previous run. I couldn't figure out why the wood wasn't catching...