Got it!

[Crank shaft]

Hi all, I posted a few months back on the buck model 80 and could not control the flames, hot cat temps etc. I called Buck stove and told them I wanted my money back due to my selling dealer going out of business and not having no support. That struck a nerve. They got intouch with a dealer about 100 miles away from me. They in turn found an installer in my area. The installer came out and found the gasket on the ash pan not sealing just like someone on this forum pointed out. He went on to build a fire and told me to control it like a none cat stove by balancing my air with the bypass. I don't think he knew much about catalyst stoves. I called Buck and finally talked to a tech. He told me to build my fire that shut off all of the lower left and right controls than open them 1/8 of an inch just like I learned here. After some practice I can keep my cat between 1000 and 1400 and maintain some control. I had a fire going all weekend and did not have time to recharge it in the morning. Low and behold I had hot ash when I got home from work. I'm still learning but it's a lot easier now. Thanks for all of the help. I like my stove now! You were right Woody!

 

[HisTreeNut]

Sweet! Good for you...glad it is working for you. I have a 94NC and it is a great heater.

 

[Crank shaft]

I had some issues but slowly getting up to speed. Woody told me once I got used to it I would love it. He's right! This site is great. I really like being a member .

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Glad to hear it's going well with you. I almost bought a Buck 81, but due to job changes etc, couldn't swing it at the time.

But in my decision process, I called Buck to ask some questions. Not only did a human answer the phone, I was transferred directly to another human with deep technical knowledge who answered all of my questions immediately. I was very impressed with that phone call myself. They seem to be a quality company. Here in SC they are very well thought of.

Unfortunately by the time I could get a wood stove, preferences had changed within the household about removing a mantle etc to get the stove clearances, so we got a Jotul. But I liked the Buck and the stove seller here really seems to like them. It's their best selling brand by far according to them.

 

[Woody Stover]

I called Buck and finally talked to a tech. He told me to build my fire that shut off all of the lower left and right controls than open them 1/8 of an inch just like I learned here. After some practice I can keep my cat between 1000 and 1400 and maintain some control....still learning but it's a lot easier now.

Great, that's right in the sweet spot as far as cat temps. Glad to hear you are getting the hang of it, and that Buck got you the help you needed. Tell me if I'm way off base here; It sounds to me that with the sliders pretty much closed when starting a new load and using the shotgun air more instead, the fire stays in the center more, instead of spreading and getting too much wood gassing? Or maybe it was mainly fixing the ash pan gasket leak that made the fire easier for you to control? What do you think?
Did the tech show you what the problem was with the ash pan gasket? If the ash pan setup is the same as mine, I don't think that a gap would have had time to develop where the ends of the rope gasket meet, so maybe the gasket wasn't making good enough contact with the ash pan housing along the top edge? On the 91 I really had to get that gasket high, almost on the part of the pan where it curves out to form the handle.
If you feel you would still like to be able to shut the air down further when needed, check and see what the gap is between the slider plates and the air inlet holes (I think you said .060" earlier.) I had more than that, in this pic I posted before:


WranglerBowman did something else to adjust the gaps between the slider plates and the air inlets, which I think would work well. He removed the plates, then he could slide the rod out and bend it up a little bit so that the plates would seal tighter against the stove and air inlets. You just have to go easy and don't over-bend the rods, or there will be too much friction and the rods won't slide easily. Here is WranglerBowman's post, and a link to that thread:

The rod slides on 2 guides at either end of the stove and metal plates slide and hit those guides at full open and fully shut so once you remove the metal plates over the are intake the rod can just slide out Then just slightly bend it till you have a slight upward bend, run it back through the guides and reattach the metal plates. It worked really well for me.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/too-hot-cat-temp.158662/

 

[Woody Stover]

I called Buck to ask some questions....I was transferred directly to another human with deep technical knowledge who answered all of my questions immediately. I was very impressed with that phone call myself. They seem to be a quality company. Here in SC they are very well thought of.

Yeah, I got to talk to a knowledgeable guy when I called out there. Crank shaft didn't get as good a response the first time he called them, but this time he got through to someone with some good advice for him.

Unfortunately by the time I could get a wood stove, preferences had changed within the household about removing a mantle etc to get the stove clearances, so we got a Jotul.

Hey, you have 2 fireplaces, you need to get the Buck in the other one and report back on how it's working!

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

I already checked. The second fireplaces has much closer trim/mantle. Couldn't even consider the Buck for it. Now we're moving most likely (new job, new city), so maybe the next house though. We'll see - unless I take the little Jotul with us somehow.

 

[jetsam]

I already checked. The second fireplaces has much closer trim/mantle. Couldn't even consider the Buck for it. Now we're moving most likely (new job, new city), so maybe the next house though. We'll see - unless I take the little Jotul with us somehow.

I don't know if you should do that... If you move out of state to a house with zero, one, or 3+ fireplaces, your username will be wrong TWICE.

 

[Crank shaft]

I did tighten up the shot gun hole and it helped. The tech found someting in the back of the stove that wouldn't allow the ash door to close all the way. So far it seems to be working ok. Buck stove told me to get my fire going then add wood N-S and close down all of the doors. Oh yea he said only use the shotgun to get the fire going when I build it. He went on to say when I add wood to close down the doors to 1/8 of an inch on both sides, when I did that I had way to much smoke in the stove. I ended up opening up the door to about 1/4 to 1/2 to get it rolling. Once going I cut back to an eighth. I really don't see alot of out gassing this way but I have been burning a mixture of cherry and locust. I'm going to try a load of oak sometime this week and see how the out gassing is. I did have alot when I built my first fire after talking to buc. My cat temp ran at 1400 and I could see the cat glowing. I called buc. Back and I was told that is normal. I haven't seen that since.

 

[Crank shaft]

I will as wrong. Lots of out gassing tonight. I forgot to mention. Buck also told me to use larger peices. Only thing that sucks is I cut alot of wood to put in E-W. Now I have to cut 4 inches of of each peice.

 

[georgepds]

"..After some practice I can keep my cat between 1000 and 1400 and maintain some control..."

Ok.. How did you measure the cat temperature?

I have a cat stove (WPH) an would like to measure the exhaust gas temp in the stove. I have a thermostat on the flue, and one on the stove, but neither are near 1000F ( more like 250/500)

 

[Crank shaft]

"..After some practice I can keep my cat between 1000 and 1400 and maintain some control..."

Ok.. How did you measure the cat temperature?

I have a cat stove (WPH) an would like to measure the exhaust gas temp in the stove. I have a thermostat on the flue, and one on the stove, but neither are near 1000F ( more like 250/500)

I just look at the Condar gauge on the front of the stove and it tells me how hot my catalyst is

 

[Woody Stover]

Ok.. How did you measure the cat temperature?
I have a cat stove (WPH) an would like to measure the exhaust gas temp in the stove. I have a thermostat on the flue, and one on the stove, but neither are near 1000F ( more like 250/500)

I just look at the Condar gauge on the front of the stove and it tells me how hot my catalyst is

The Bucks have a catalytic probe thermometer. The end of the probe extends over the top of the combustor and reads the exhaust temp. Some of the Woodstocks also have a port where you can put in a cat probe but on my Keystone and on the Fireview, the probe tip doesn't extend over the edge of the cat, so it won't give you the true cat temp. I recently installed a longer probe in the Keystone that extends over the edge of the cat but I'm still not getting a true reading. I know damn well from my other cat stoves that when the cat is glowing, the probe should be reading in the 1000-1400 range, like Crank shaft is seeing. I think that probe length becomes a factor...the 9" probe length I've got is probably just too long to accurately transmit the true cat temp all the way to the dial. The Buck probes are 6" long, which seems to work.
I don't think your PH has provision for a cat probe. To get the cat temp on the PH or on my Keystone, I think an aftermarket thermocouple would be needed. But there are a couple guys that have Keystones and drilled through the soapstone top above the cat and dropped a 2" probe in there, which gave them accurate readings. You could look at some of the PH threads...hover over the "forums" button at the top of the page, then select "search forums." Or you could create a thread asking about "measuring cat temp in a PH" or something like that.
The cat isn't visible in the PH, is it? In the Keystone, Fireview, my Dutchwest and the Bucks you can see the cat glowing...some take more work than others to see.