Green Mountain 60- Start Up Fire- Is this OK?

[JDeere19]

Is this ok for the start up fire while the cat gets up to temp or is this at risk of runaway and too much fire?

Also, does anyone have any video of an ideal burn is supposed to look like?

 

[begreen]

I'm surprised that the cat is not up to temperature at that stage of the burn. The wood looks nicely charred. What was the cat temp?

 

[JDeere19]

I engaged cat shortly after this video. I like to make sure I'm a 1/3 of the way in cat range before engaging. I don't like to do it as soon as I'm in range

 

[begreen]

The cat can be engaged sooner. That may reduce flame impingement.

 

[JDeere19]

But is this fire ok assuming I'm not in range yet? or is it too much

 

[begreen]

Is there a thermometer on the flue? Is so what does it read?
With the bypass open, the flames shouldn't be harmful, though the flue gas temp may be quite high. If so it's a waste of heat and if the flue's internal temperature is high, it adds some stress to the system.

 

[wetwood4life]

I think it looks beautiful. I've been running my Castleton like that to get it up to temp. Usually needs 10+ mins with that strength to get the cats up to temp. If it's really cranking I'll pull back the air to tame the flames a bit before closing the cat, just so the flame don't slam into the catalysts too hard. Then I open the air right back to full after the cats are in line.

 

[MrCampbellAHS]

It looks good to me. In terms of "risk of a runaway" what do you mean? Just worried about flame sneaking up into your flue or overfire?

 

[MrCampbellAHS]

Also, does anyone have any video of an ideal burn is supposed to look like?

Also, I'm no expert by any stretch, but I will say that it seems to me like this video is a pretty solid burn for us. I have also attached a picture of where the cat was when I took this. Very similar to where yours was, but when I fired this last (about 20 minutes prior to video) the cat was around a quarter, maybe a little less.

edit: sorry, video file was too large, so here's a nice picture instead!

 

[JDeere19]

It looks good to me. In terms of "risk of a runaway" what do you mean? Just worried about flame sneaking up into your flue or overfire?

I guess either

 

[MrCampbellAHS]

I wouldn't worry too much about a flue fire unless you've got some serious creosote build up, but I am by no means an expert. In terms of over fire: that's something that I am working through as well, especially for overnight burns. I take caution to make sure that the catalyst is not heating up super fast before we go to bed, but even then, I can't guarantee that it doesn't end up in the "overfire" zone on the gauge. A lot of that depends on how the coals are before I pack it: getting the coals to the front keeps the fire at the front and doesn't cause the cats to heat up super fast. I've found that tough though. No matter what I do, it seems like once my stack catches, it really catches and the cat gauge skyrockets. The last couple of nights I've had to shut it all the way back for a bit and even open the bypass to slow things down before I feel comfortable going to bed. I'm not sure if my problem is splits that are too small and burn too fast and hot, or if it's because of the species of wood I'm burning (primarily White Ash) or a combination of both, but it is tricky. That said, the original video you posted shouldn't get you near the over fire range.