I don’t think those probe temps are accurate, seem low. You will see more much faster accurate cat temps with that AT200.
New Woodstock Keystone install
- Thread starter DBoon
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For sure. I know from the Buck 91 and the Dutchwest that when the cat is glowing in a similar manner, that's 1200* or higher probably.
Those stoves used shorter probes, and my theory is that the 8" probe is just too long for the higher cat temp to be transmitted all the way back to the dial. The long probe might work if just the end that extends over the cat was exposed and the rest of the shaft was insulated. The Dutchwest probe comes in from the top and is 2". The Buck probe might have been 5", and came in parallel to the cat face (from the front,) overhanging it a bit, similar to how it does on the Keystone. When the Buck cat was cranking, I'd sometimes see temps pushing 1500. As it is, the Keystone analog probe is functioning more like a flue probe, displaying the temp around the flue exit, and yeah, it doesn't respond as fast as I expect the digital probe to do. It more or less reads parallel to the stove top meter above the cat.
I'm going to post a White Oak full-load burn later.
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Uh-oh, appears I may also be started down the path to becoming "that guy!" 😮 But I cling to the hope that there's still a chance I can reverse course. 😆
OK, this full-load White Oak burn was yesterday. As you'll see, there were a couple unplanned deviations from the burn plan. 😣
This burn was started with a higher SST and more coals. I stuffed a decent load in there, but still not absolutely packed. I ended up
sticking a couple more small kindling splits in that space in front.
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0:00 Stove 240, Probe 250, Air 1.75
:05 Air +2.5 Opened air, trying to push flame behind the front bottom split. I shoulda had more
coals forward and made a "tunnel of love" trench in the coals to allow air to get
back there. (I'd like to correct my previous statement; begreen holds the
trademark on that expression, not BrotherBart.) 😏
:10 Air -1.9
:15 Air -1.5
:18 220, 300 Air -1.25
:28 225, 400 Close bypass.
:30 230, 410 Cat glows faintly in rear corners.
:37 250, 425 Air -1.1 No glow.
:40 300, 430 Air -1 No glow yet; Do I have enough wood gassing with this dense, slow-catching White?
Tunnel of love mighta been the answer there..
:44 320, 450 Air +1.1
:55 360, 460
1:00 370, 480 Cat starting to glow in the back.
1:10 410, 520
1:30 450, 510 Slowly gaining momentum, cat glow 1/3.
1:45 480, 580 Most of cat glowing.
2:30 600, 720 Air -.5 Whoa! Grabbed something to eat, and did went outside to chip freezing drizzle off the walk, and apparently more of the load finally got to gassing, and there was some flame in the box again. 😳 Probably lost a little burn time there. Cut air.
3:10 575, 600
3:35 570, 580
5:00 430, 430
7:25 325, 340 Air +1.2 I now found out that my wife didn't know I was recording the burn, and almost two hour previous had opened the air to .8. 😮 Lost a bit more burn time there, no doubt. So I opened the air here to keep stove temps up. 7:40 320, 340
8:30 310, 320
9:30 300, 320
10:00 290, 310
11:10 260, 280 Two split in the back stacked vertically, one on top of the other, still retain their shape.
11:25 260, 280 Air -1.0
14:45 260, 260 Man, that White Oak coals forever! 😳 I'll try another White Oak load before too
long, and see if I can pack it better. Plenty coals left to reload on..
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Hi Woody Stover,
That is helpful info to help me compare my burns. I know that you have a shorter chimney than me (ha ha, don't take that the wrong way). I've come to realize that my wood is slightly sub-optimal and that would explain why I sometimes see smoke blow past the cat - its probably a combination of fast exit temperature (tall stack) and also some moisture that is locally cooling portions of the cat and not allowing it to perfectly combust the exhaust.
Good to see someone else has the square split ethos with a small wood stove. That's why I split my own wood. I've got some big 4 x 6" splits that will go in there on my next reload (will take data) in this -1 degree day (going down to -12 F overnight). Will be interesting to see how that does. I'm using my quarter splits on the bottom (straight sides facing bottom and either front or back, leaving a wedge in the middle, filled with another split point side down. Then squared off stuff on top (if I really need to pack the firebox), uglies if it is warmer, and maybe a couple of quarter splits if in-between weather.
The data you show indicates how informative that cat probe could be if, for no other reason, just to indicate a stalled out cat. It beats going outdoors to look at the chimney exhaust. Yeah, I'm anal - I want a clean chimney/burn and don't want to pollute if I don't have to. I'll probably install that probe in the spring when I am done burning. I don't feel like crawling behind the stove and uninstalling the heat shield to get the cat probe in before then.
Routine now is closed the bypass at 250 with air at 4. 3 minutes later turn air down to 1. Then close the pipe damper at 300 degrees F stovetop, and turn air down to 0.5 at 400 degrees. I've had a couple of burns where I've closed the pipe damper at 300 degrees F or so stove top with the air at 1 and it just crawls its way to 400 degrees F stove top over the course of an hour or so. Cat is black, but it is burning clean (visual chimney inspection). Then air gets cut to 0.5 and a half hour later it is 500 degrees F stove top and settles in between 550 and 600 degrees for 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours depending on the wood and the density of the load.
That is helpful info to help me compare my burns. I know that you have a shorter chimney than me (ha ha, don't take that the wrong way). I've come to realize that my wood is slightly sub-optimal and that would explain why I sometimes see smoke blow past the cat - its probably a combination of fast exit temperature (tall stack) and also some moisture that is locally cooling portions of the cat and not allowing it to perfectly combust the exhaust.
Good to see someone else has the square split ethos with a small wood stove. That's why I split my own wood. I've got some big 4 x 6" splits that will go in there on my next reload (will take data) in this -1 degree day (going down to -12 F overnight). Will be interesting to see how that does. I'm using my quarter splits on the bottom (straight sides facing bottom and either front or back, leaving a wedge in the middle, filled with another split point side down. Then squared off stuff on top (if I really need to pack the firebox), uglies if it is warmer, and maybe a couple of quarter splits if in-between weather.
The data you show indicates how informative that cat probe could be if, for no other reason, just to indicate a stalled out cat. It beats going outdoors to look at the chimney exhaust. Yeah, I'm anal - I want a clean chimney/burn and don't want to pollute if I don't have to. I'll probably install that probe in the spring when I am done burning. I don't feel like crawling behind the stove and uninstalling the heat shield to get the cat probe in before then.
Routine now is closed the bypass at 250 with air at 4. 3 minutes later turn air down to 1. Then close the pipe damper at 300 degrees F stovetop, and turn air down to 0.5 at 400 degrees. I've had a couple of burns where I've closed the pipe damper at 300 degrees F or so stove top with the air at 1 and it just crawls its way to 400 degrees F stove top over the course of an hour or so. Cat is black, but it is burning clean (visual chimney inspection). Then air gets cut to 0.5 and a half hour later it is 500 degrees F stove top and settles in between 550 and 600 degrees for 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours depending on the wood and the density of the load.
Burning during some very cold temperatures (-10 to -15 degrees F) was very instructive, but the combination of stove and chimney pipe performed fine and all was very well controlled. I've been putting in some big hickory squared-off splits and closing down earlier to slow the burn rate down and extend the burn in the 400 to 550 degree F stove top sweet spot. It's been very successful. I'm routinely getting 3-1/2 hours above 500 degree F stovetop (if I let it start faster) , and/or 5 hours above 400 degree F stovetop. When its below zero, I turn the air all the way down to 0 at 500 degrees stovetop.
This is a good example of a load from last night (not quite as cold as the previous days, about 10-15 degrees during the burn). More than 5 hours solidly above 400 degrees and no temperature above 600 degrees:
0:00 load on coals at 250 degrees, pipe damper open, bypass open, air at 4.0, didn't need to keep loading door open
0:10 closed bypass, 230 degrees, some flames
0:15 opened bypass (closed it too soon)
0:20 closed bypass, 230 degrees
0:25 230 degrees, some flame
0:35 260 degrees, set air to 1.0
0:40 290, pipe damper closed
0:45 310, burning clean (visual exhaust inspection), cat is black
1:00 320
1:20 330
1:40 390, set air to 0.5
2:00 410
2:20 430
2:40 490
3:00 530
3:20 550
3:40 560
4:00 560
4:20 560
4:40 530
5:00 490
5:20 470 (cat is black now)
5:40 470 (cat is glowing) - the big hickory splits are kicking in with their late burn
6:00 470
6:20 480
6:40 430 (cat is black)
7:00 380
13:20 250, plenty of coals for reload
This is a good example of a load from last night (not quite as cold as the previous days, about 10-15 degrees during the burn). More than 5 hours solidly above 400 degrees and no temperature above 600 degrees:
0:00 load on coals at 250 degrees, pipe damper open, bypass open, air at 4.0, didn't need to keep loading door open
0:10 closed bypass, 230 degrees, some flames
0:15 opened bypass (closed it too soon)
0:20 closed bypass, 230 degrees
0:25 230 degrees, some flame
0:35 260 degrees, set air to 1.0
0:40 290, pipe damper closed
0:45 310, burning clean (visual exhaust inspection), cat is black
1:00 320
1:20 330
1:40 390, set air to 0.5
2:00 410
2:20 430
2:40 490
3:00 530
3:20 550
3:40 560
4:00 560
4:20 560
4:40 530
5:00 490
5:20 470 (cat is black now)
5:40 470 (cat is glowing) - the big hickory splits are kicking in with their late burn
6:00 470
6:20 480
6:40 430 (cat is black)
7:00 380
13:20 250, plenty of coals for reload
It appears you might be rushing the bypass closing, and don't have enough wood burning yet to feed it. It was a couple hours before you got to 400 stove top. My last burn, the White Oak, I had 400 at 1:10, and that was with trouble getting the White burning.
I had the ashpan hole half covered so I moved the magnet to get more air coming up under the load; Hopefully that gets the dense woods burning underneath, and gassing sooner/better. I was also thinking that in addition to the Tunnel of Love, I could put some small Maple splits down in the coals, then put the dense wood on top of those--that might get the heavy stuff burning faster since the Maple will be flaming underneath.
If you look at my Maple burn at the end of page 1 where I was able to get sufficient wood gassing faster, I had the cat glowing at :40.
I kinda got in the habit of just cutting the air to low cruise as soon as I could, then ended up supplementing with my backup heat...an open oven. 😆 I knew in the back of my mind that the stove gets hotter with flame in the box, but when Todd mentioned it again I said "I just need to let it eat a little more when it's cold out." But I agree, we wanna be sure we're burning clean, so I've been checking the chimney while running flame, and I seem to be keeping a clean plume. Maybe it's a question of not getting too much flame going too early i.e. keep the flame pretty low, enough to kick the cat off solid, then allowing a bit more flame in the box once the stove heats up more.
If I can keep a clean burn with flame, I'll be thrilled, because I kinda gave up on it after seeing smoke several times previously. As I said, that may have been a case of too much flame too early, before the stove was hot enough. We'll see...I'm gonna play with it and see if I can nail it down.
I wouldn't even mess with the analog probe, since it doesn't read true cat temp; Just get the Auber digital thermocouple and be done with it. 👍
I had the ashpan hole half covered so I moved the magnet to get more air coming up under the load; Hopefully that gets the dense woods burning underneath, and gassing sooner/better. I was also thinking that in addition to the Tunnel of Love, I could put some small Maple splits down in the coals, then put the dense wood on top of those--that might get the heavy stuff burning faster since the Maple will be flaming underneath.
If you look at my Maple burn at the end of page 1 where I was able to get sufficient wood gassing faster, I had the cat glowing at :40.
I kinda got in the habit of just cutting the air to low cruise as soon as I could, then ended up supplementing with my backup heat...an open oven. 😆 I knew in the back of my mind that the stove gets hotter with flame in the box, but when Todd mentioned it again I said "I just need to let it eat a little more when it's cold out." But I agree, we wanna be sure we're burning clean, so I've been checking the chimney while running flame, and I seem to be keeping a clean plume. Maybe it's a question of not getting too much flame going too early i.e. keep the flame pretty low, enough to kick the cat off solid, then allowing a bit more flame in the box once the stove heats up more.
If I can keep a clean burn with flame, I'll be thrilled, because I kinda gave up on it after seeing smoke several times previously. As I said, that may have been a case of too much flame too early, before the stove was hot enough. We'll see...I'm gonna play with it and see if I can nail it down.
Thinking back, I think if you just remove one of the two shield mounting bolts, the one on the probe hole side, and just loosen the other slightly, you can pivot the shield down and around to get access to the probe hole. Agreed, putting the shield on from scratch, both bolts out, it's a hassle lining everything up. But with one bolt still in, it's pretty easy to get the other bolt started.
I wouldn't even mess with the analog probe, since it doesn't read true cat temp; Just get the Auber digital thermocouple and be done with it. 👍
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DOH!! Forgot the pic of the ashpan housing magnet previously covering half the grate airfeed hole. 😏
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Really, the Keystone is pretty simple to run using a sure-fire reloading method. But DBoon and I are playing around a bit here, experimenting with different methods to get the cat burning and the plume clean as quickly as possible, then being able to cut the air low without slowing or crashing the cat. He may have some wood that's not as dry as needed for his new cat stove. Me, I guess I'm just a slow learner 😆 I've run the stove off and on for a decade, and I'm still honing my technique for different situations...dense vs. lighter wood species, how I load the stove, and so on.
As I mentioned, at one point I was running it with the flue meter; Getting that up to about 500, cutting the air to hold there for about 10 minutes, then closing the bypass and getting a glowing cat in under a minute, like clockwork. I'm going revisit that method once I get the cat probe installed and see if it turns out to be the foolproof method that I think it will be.
But a non-cat can also be a bit tricky to run cleanly, when trying to use your fuel judiciously. You also have to cut air at the right time to make sure you don't get too much wood gassing, causing stovetop temp to go high.
Sure, you can be like my SIL and just err on the side of the hot, clean burn, but send a lot of BTUs up the stack. After all, your chump BIL will keep bringing you wood no matter how much you waste. 😆
I got her the non-cat a few years ago, and have just started playing with it recently to see if it's possible to get slow, clean burns...
I'm guessing by your comments that the HP is a secondary-burn stove, not a cat, but I really don't know. I had no idea that Hewlett Packard even made stoves. 😉
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Another way to get more air under the load and get dense wood burning sooner is to stir down the ashes through the grate in a couple spots. Air will shoot in faster through those cleared spots..
Why, did you tell her that she'll be the one hauling in the wood and starting the fires? 😏
No but she likes uncomplicated especially when I travel on business. Cat stoves I have found it he past to be picky.
As my “HP” it’s a “PH” from Woodstock, obviously it was too early to type this morning.
OK, so I lit a short load a couple hrs. ago--it was trying to dip below 70 in here, and it's humid out and only 50 degrees. 😆
Once the cat was lit with some flame in the box, I went out to look at the plume ( it was overcast and late in the afternoon, so a bit hard to see.) It looked like it might be a little smoky but I couldn't tell if it was some creo burning off in the box and making it through the cat, actual wood smoke making it through, or just steam. Wind wasn't blowing it down to me well where I could get a good whiff. So I cut the air to get only small flame in the box, and the plume seem clearer so I'm guessing some smoke of some sort was making it through with bigger flame in the box and the stove not up to cruising heat. Once the stove and probe got to 500, I only saw what appeared to be steam, even when I opened the air back up and had more flame in the box. So maybe that theory about less smoke making it through when the stove is fully hot holds some water. I'll keep an eye on it...
Once the cat was lit with some flame in the box, I went out to look at the plume ( it was overcast and late in the afternoon, so a bit hard to see.) It looked like it might be a little smoky but I couldn't tell if it was some creo burning off in the box and making it through the cat, actual wood smoke making it through, or just steam. Wind wasn't blowing it down to me well where I could get a good whiff. So I cut the air to get only small flame in the box, and the plume seem clearer so I'm guessing some smoke of some sort was making it through with bigger flame in the box and the stove not up to cruising heat. Once the stove and probe got to 500, I only saw what appeared to be steam, even when I opened the air back up and had more flame in the box. So maybe that theory about less smoke making it through when the stove is fully hot holds some water. I'll keep an eye on it...
Yeah, I'm getting a little over the top, for sure. The Keystone is really easy to run, and I'm sure that your PH will be also. My wild card is my really tall chimney (27 feet), and I'm trying to slow the beginning of the burn down so that the stove top doesn't get above 600 degrees F. When it goes above that, I tend to get exhaust blowing through the cat too quickly, and it burns dirtier than it otherwise would.
So all this is a lot of extra work for maybe 30-45 minutes of a cleaner burn, and maybe a 2 hour longer burn cycle. If I just kept it simple and agonized less, I would still have a 12 hour burn with reload on good coals.
It sounds crazy, but that is the perfect burn in my situation. It's burning really clean (no smoke) as it's rising from 250 to 400 over a period of a couple of hours, so I can't complain. If its really cold outside, I'd prefer to have more heat, but I love the steadiness of the burn and slowing down the initial burn to keep it slightly less hot at the peak.
Yeah, this was a problem on a couple of burns, but I seemed to have gotten past this now.
Yes, I got the magnet over the ash pan hole at times as well. I've put it over the hole when it was below zero outside. That seemed to slow it down a little more, and was helpful. But I've found with my chimney the glass stays cleaner if I just shut the air down to 0.0 and leave the ash pan hole uncovered.
What really works best is BIG pieces of wood (not surprising). Basically two big pieces (4-5" x 6" blocks, or so) and two small pieces on top seem to work really well.
My floor seldom gets above 110. The only thing I can think of in your situation that might contribute to higher temps there is the the in-floor heating..??
My glass has been staying clearer since I've run a bit more flame in the box lately, after the cat is lit. Not a lot of flame but apparently enough to just have haze. The left side is a little worse, since I had an air leak on the front left vertical seam which I didn't get completely sealed apparently.
I don't have the digital probe in there yet but warm weather is forecast so maybe soon I can let the stove cool off some to install one. In the meantime I've been using the analog cat probe (essentially a flue probe) and it's working well. It gets up to around 400 when the stovetop meter is only at 125-150. That can vary a bit depending on how robust the flame in the box is, where it is going (in front as opposed to mainly up the flue) and so on. That's one thing I like about E-W loading; Depending on what woods you put where, air gaps you build in when loading, and where you clear the grate to allow ashpan air, you can pretty much direct where the flame is in the box.
I can generally close the bypass when the probe flue meter is around 400, then keep some flame going and get a reliable light-off soon after. Then I cut the air/flame in a couple of steps to feed the cat more smoke. I can then cut air to a cat-only burn, or keep flame going depending on how much heat I need.
So last night I clean the glass, then load the stove. I thought nothing of the little piece of kindling that was angled toward the glass, but that sucker musta gassed out the end, toward the glass and instantly smudged my crystal-clear glass! 😫
😆
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The in-floor heating is not causing it because the radiant heat is off when I am running the wood stove. It's definitely due to the heat coming off the glass of the wood stove. Maybe the floor is only 110 degrees or so - I'll have to put a probe on it and check sometime. I am guessing that since I have such a strong draw from the tall 6" chimney the front of glass gets hotter than it otherwise would. Dunno.
When you said the floor was getting "very hot," then I felt mine, I thought 'that's just a little warm, to me.'
If you had big flame, or the cat was absolutely blazing, almost yellow, I guess it could get to what I'd consider hot..
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Last night, just for the heck of it, I went for the cat light when my temps were 100 stove and 160 cat (flue exit temp) probe. After closing the bypass I kept pretty good flame in the box to feed the cat the needed heat for it to burn. I think it was glowing right away but it was hard to see with the haze on the upper glass where I was trying to see it. I went outside to look at the plume with a flashlight but it was hard to see if it was steam, smoke or what. But the wind was blowing the exhaust down to me, and it didn't smell very smoky so I guess the cat was doing something, anyway. Stove and flue temps started rising, confirming that.
Yep, sometimes you can see a little flame coming forward from underneath the load, from ashpan hole air. I'd think that puts a little more heat on the bottom of the glass and maybe keeping it clearer...?
Well, I woke up a 2:00am, a little sniffly and coughy. Guess I caught the cold my wife is on the tail end of. 🙁 I didn't feel sleepy so I decided to start a fire with some White Oak, even though it'll get close to 50 today. No pic, darn it, but packed a bit fuller than last time, without the big gaps in the bottom of the load this time.
Very small coal bed, threw in a couple finger-sized kindling branch/sticks to get some flame going. Outside, 38 with light wind.
0:00 Stove 120, probe 100 Air 4
:05 120, 100 Air 4 Kindling catching well, loaded stove.
:23 170, 550 Air 1.5 Cat glow, feeding flame heat to it.
:27 190, 525 Air 1.2
:31 250, 550 Cat glow back only, still feeding small flame.
:37 325, 525 Air 1.1 Cat glow 1/2, very small flame.
:43 370, 525 Cat 1/4 bright, 3/4 dull, intermittent flame.
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:45 400, 550 Cat full dull, flame medium between top front split and cat scoop.
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:50 410, 570 Air 1.0 Cat full medium dull, flame top.
:57 430, 580 Cat 1/2 bright, 1/2 medium, flame out now.
1:05 450, 600 Cat full medium.
1:10 480, 600 Air .5 Cat full bright, flame behind screen.
Put on a kettle on for a spot o' tea and got a new hankie. 🫖 🤧
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1:15 500, 600 Air .3 Cat bright, lazier flame behind screen.
1:25 520, 600 Cat bright, lazy flame behind screen.
1;37 540, 600 Cat bright, lazy flame top front.
1:50 550, 600 Cat bright, intermittent dancing flame top front.
2:30 490, 510 Air .5 Cat dull.
3:20 420, 450
4:05 400, 450
4:30 400, 450 Cat still glowing dull. Time for a nap! 😴
7:50 300, 400 Air 1.0 Air got opened inadvertently again while I was sleeping. 😆 No, biggie; I didn't expect the cat to hang in much longer after I snoozed. Once stovetop drops under 400, it seems to be done glowing from what I've seen, and heads toward 300 in short order. (DBoon, I guess that's the 400-550 "sweet spot" you mentioned.)
So, had I been awake the whole time, I'd have likely opened the air to 1.0 trying to level off at 300, before she even came along. I wanted to stay up until the cat quit shining, but I couldn't make it another minute! 😵
9:00 300, 350 I'm going over to my nephew's in a bit to help him with wood logistics, but I'll get a reading before I go.
11:00 275, 300 There's still two solid coaling splits left in the back--We'll see what's left by the time I get back. If the stove is still above 250, I consider that useful heat that can do its job here unless very cold and windy, and include that as burn time.
I want to experiment some more with kicking the cat off with bigger flame heat to get the cat burning earlier, when closing the bypass with lower stove and flue temps. It may be cleaner doing that, than to burn more wood with the bypass open to get the stove to cat light-off temp. I need to do that in the daylight though, where I can see smoke vs. steam better.
I really need to get a digital probe in soon to see how that will inform the whole thing. But the way this weather is going now down here, I just hope we don't run out of stove weather too soon. Now that I've said that, the bottom will probably drop out of this warm stretch we're having. 😆
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I definitely "discovered" the cam action on the bypass. I am getting a better seal now on the bypass and slightly more predictable/better operation. I don't think that was all of my problem with "smoke blowing past the cat" but it seems to be part of it.
I think the presence of a wetter wood also creates some localized dark (cold) spots in the cat that cools it down and allows smoke to pass - I will need to observe that more. High exhaust exit velocity with high stove top temps might play a part also - we'll have to see if I get to that point again this winter.
Hi Woody Stover, your startup sequence above is pretty similar to mine. Try being even a little more aggressive on slowing down the burn early, especially if you have a nice deep coal bed and are starting with a 250 degree stove top. I've stretched the time to go from 350 to 470 degrees stovetop to two hours or so, and while that reduces the peak temperature and length of peak burn time, it's a great tradeoff. Also, my burn is clean during the whole start up cycle - that cat is doing its job and just chewing through the smoke and the exhaust is nice and clean.
I think the presence of a wetter wood also creates some localized dark (cold) spots in the cat that cools it down and allows smoke to pass - I will need to observe that more. High exhaust exit velocity with high stove top temps might play a part also - we'll have to see if I get to that point again this winter.
Hi Woody Stover, your startup sequence above is pretty similar to mine. Try being even a little more aggressive on slowing down the burn early, especially if you have a nice deep coal bed and are starting with a 250 degree stove top. I've stretched the time to go from 350 to 470 degrees stovetop to two hours or so, and while that reduces the peak temperature and length of peak burn time, it's a great tradeoff. Also, my burn is clean during the whole start up cycle - that cat is doing its job and just chewing through the smoke and the exhaust is nice and clean.
For sure could probably get the air lower, sooner, but erred on the side of caution after overdoing it in the last White Oak burn, and having to open the air back up. I usually burn mixed loads, these are the first all-White Oak loads I've done but I'm more confident now that it's easier to get the White burning than, say, Black Locust.
Interesting approach with the slower temp increase from 350 to 470. My stove temp is usually rising more quickly through that range. I have cut air to slow down the cat (and consequently stove temp rise above the cat would be slower,) but the only time I do that is when the cat is glowing brighter than I really want to see it, or when I end up wanting less heat, later in the process.
I'm thinking the digital probe will better allow me to cut air low if I want to, without fear of crashing the cat since I'll have an accurate cat temp. I also should be able to tell at what cat temp the plume will start to clear, even though it's not glowing yet. I guess it would still be possible to blow smoke through the cat, and not know that based on the probe reading.
You probably don't run as much risk of a cat crash, with your stronger draft.
Well, I was late getting back last night, and stove and flue were all the way down to 200. 🤏 Final time was 16:10.
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