okay. With magnetic thermometers, the internal temperature is about twice the surface temperature.
What was the surface reading?
And indeed cat stoves can run with much cooler exhaust, especially if you're running at low heat output.
Moreover, the first weeks (months?) on a new cat, it will be hyperactive, so it will run very hot. This is normal and it will settle down (it should have settled down after burning a cord of wood).
So. maybe you're not burning all that hot (low flue temps), but your cat is in its unconstrained "teenage" behavior period.
I don't know Kuuma stoves from personal experience, but generally, I don't think it's smart to run a cat stove based on the cat gauge. Run the stove so your heat demand is satisfied while having proper flue temps, with only as boundary conditions (not primary control parameter) that the cat gauge should not indicate that it's inactive, and (after the initial hyperactive phase is over) that the cat gauge should not indicate it's too hot. Other than that, just let the cat do what it does.
What was the surface reading?
And indeed cat stoves can run with much cooler exhaust, especially if you're running at low heat output.
Moreover, the first weeks (months?) on a new cat, it will be hyperactive, so it will run very hot. This is normal and it will settle down (it should have settled down after burning a cord of wood).
So. maybe you're not burning all that hot (low flue temps), but your cat is in its unconstrained "teenage" behavior period.
I don't know Kuuma stoves from personal experience, but generally, I don't think it's smart to run a cat stove based on the cat gauge. Run the stove so your heat demand is satisfied while having proper flue temps, with only as boundary conditions (not primary control parameter) that the cat gauge should not indicate that it's inactive, and (after the initial hyperactive phase is over) that the cat gauge should not indicate it's too hot. Other than that, just let the cat do what it does.
