Likes/dislikes with my insert (Sirocco 25)

[crstrode]

Smoke rolling out of the door when the bypass is open indicates poor draft.

If the stove burns out, it's not a problem that the cat gets inactive.

Dial down time depends on fuel dryness. To start, 30 minutes, 4 steps 8 mins apart.

I usually turn the T-stat down faster, however, I have found that if I am in too much of a hurry, the fire will die down and the cat will de-activate. This can happen even if the wood is mostly charred. When that happens, cranking the t-stat full open for a bit will get things running correctly again.

Sometimes the hurrier I go the behinder I get.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, I have done that too.
I now dial down quite faster, because my wood is so dry (4.5+ years old this year).
Pine and spruce go down way faster too.

 

[Tron]

I usually turn the T-stat down faster, however, I have found that if I am in too much of a hurry, the fire will die down and the cat will de-activate.

I turn the thermostat down fast, too, but know about at which position I need to set it to prevent the cat from stalling.
Usually the cat temperature even rises due to the outgassing of the fresh load.

 

[ajzzara]

Thanks! Calibration could be an issue. I have never seen it stay in the active temp zone longer than about 4 hours. My Sirocco manual says of the catalytic thermometer, "for calibration instructions refer to the MAINTENANCE section." But in the maintenance section, there is no mention of it. Great.

As someone commented above, following the operating instructions to the letter seems important. Unfortunately, they're just not that clear on some things.

For example, is it OK to leave the cat engaged overnight? As above, there's no way my fires will stay in the active zone overnight. When I wake up, the thermometer always reads inactive. So either I potentially damage the cat by running it too low before I wake up, or I lose the benefit of a low-slow clean burn overnight if I open the bypass door before bed.

Another example: the instructions for lighting the fire state that once the fire is well established, "gradually turn the thermostat down to the desired heat output setting." There is no guidance on what "gradually" means. Over a period of 5 seconds? 10 seconds? 1 minute? 10 minutes? 30 minutes? All at once, or little by little with time in between?

I don't think there's a major draft issue. I see plenty of smoke rolling out of the chimney when the bypass is open. When the loading door is cracked open, the draft is very visible in the flames. But when I open the door wide enough to get wood in, smoke tends to come out. I may have a more sensitive nose than some. But then the whole house smells like smoke for hours.

I think having smaller wood will help the smoke issue while reloading. First, it will allow me to pack the firebox fuller to begin with, so reloading will be less frequent. Second, wood should be drier and burn hotter. Third, when I do reload, I won't have to work so hard to fit the pieces in the firebox, so the door won't be open as long.

If anyone has recommended videos demonstrating the whole process on a Blaze King stove/insert, let me know. Sometimes one or two little tricks can make a huge difference.

Until you figure out the issue with the stove, why not open a window close to the stove before opening the door to reload? The code air will create a stack effect and keep the smoke from rolling back in. Also helps to turn off the blower and turn any fans off in the room the stove is in if you have one on. if this was covered in this thread, or you are already doing all that.....apologies for being redundant.