Pulled Trigger On Ideal Steel Hybrid

[Oldman47]

When a top opening exists in a warm space you basically have turned the whole yurt into a chimney. That reduces the driving force for your chimney itself so it doesn't draft as well.

 

[Jafo]

You don't want to run it at 50%. Way too much primary and secondary air. Even at 2 notches above 1/4 it is considered a high burn rate. You will have more success slightly under 1/4.

Close the bypass and slowly bring it down in stages to about 1 notch under 1/4. The box will go black and you should notice more heat coming out the front and top. Later in the burn you may get some secondary activity. Adjust it more or less as you desire.
I do know that above 1/4 you start eating wood much quicker.

Every time I set it to 1/4, it seemed like the fire went out and the front did not significantly rise in heat, in fact, it eventually went down. Well, two nights of tinkering is not a lot, but that was my experience so far.

 

[Huntindog1]

Check your wood moisture content.

20% or less will greatly improve performance.

If your wood has too much moisture then when you turn it down your cat will go out and heat will drop dramatically. With good dry wood you can turn it down will low and the flames go out but the cat still glows cherry red putting out heat as its burning the smoke from the smoldering wood.
Some people have gotten 24 hour burns with that stove.

If your shelter there doesnt have insulation you will have too run the stove harder so your burn times will be less.

 

[unhdsm]

Every time I set it to 1/4, it seemed like the fire went out and the front did not significantly rise in heat, in fact, it eventually went down. Well, two nights of tinkering is not a lot, but that was my experience so far.

I can't remember if you have had a cat stove before or not. You might resist the urge to turn it back up when the fire goes out. This time of year my IS burns primarily with a black box. I try to adjust so there is just the smallest flame possible but it will go completely dark, the temp will settle somewhat, and then an hour later the secondaries are back and the stove top temps rise. This is normal IS "low burn" behavior.

 

[Jafo]

I can't remember if you have had a cat stove before or not. You might resist the urge to turn it back up when the fire goes out. This time of year my IS burns primarily with a black box. I try to adjust so there is just the smallest flame possible but it will go completely dark, the temp will settle somewhat, and then an hour later the secondaries are back and the stove top temps rise. This is normal IS "low burn" behavior.

Thanks. I will definitely be tinkering with that as weather and time allows. This time of year, I only get up there on the weekends. I probably won't really be able to dial it in until Fall, when I am hunting.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Looks great Jafo!

Yes, that makes sense. The same thing can happen in a house when you open an upstairs window. The exhausting warm air creates negative pressure down below.

Yes but that negative pressure should have little effect on anything, unless this was maybe before the OAK install? With an OAK and chimney, the stove should be isolated from any interior pressure differences. Unless the large amount of exhausting higher pressure air is great enough to cause a higher pressure in vicinity to the chimney cap? Speaking of he OAK if it were me I'd seal that up with high temp silicon at the joints (if you didn't already) and wrap it with some pipe wrap or other insulation. Don't want to create drafts or have condensation dripping off it.

 

[Jafo]

My draft issues were only when I open the door, not when it was closed.

 

[JA600L]

I can't remember if you have had a cat stove before or not. You might resist the urge to turn it back up when the fire goes out. This time of year my IS burns primarily with a black box. I try to adjust so there is just the smallest flame possible but it will go completely dark, the temp will settle somewhat, and then an hour later the secondaries are back and the stove top temps rise. This is normal IS "low burn" behavior.

It isn't normal for the temperature to go down when you reduce the draft and set your burn rate. It sounds like a cat stall. When it does that go out and check for smoke.what is your stovetop temperature when it does that?

 

[begreen]

Looks great Jafo!


Yes but that negative pressure should have little effect on anything, unless this was maybe before the OAK install? With an OAK and chimney, the stove should be isolated from any interior pressure differences. Unless the large amount of exhausting higher pressure air is great enough to cause a higher pressure in vicinity to the chimney cap? Speaking of he OAK if it were me I'd seal that up with high temp silicon at the joints (if you didn't already) and wrap it with some pipe wrap or other insulation. Don't want to create drafts or have condensation dripping off it.

The stove sounds like it is in a weak draft situation. My guess is this is due to a short chimney with a couple 90 turns and a too long horizontal pipe. An OAK is not going to improve this. In a yurt install with a short chimney you want to do everything you can to aid draft, so that the stove works well at 40F. At 20-30F it should be working great.

 

[Jafo]

It isn't normal for the temperature to go down when you reduce the draft and set your burn rate. It sounds like a cat stall. When it does that go out and check for smoke.what is your stovetop temperature when it does that?

There was no smoke at all which has me a little baffled.

 

[JA600L]

I agree with Begreen you must have some sort of draft issue or wet wood.

With mine I close the bypass around 250-300 stove top and burn it hot for a bit. Then I slowly bring it down to about the 5 th notch, the flame dies, the top front temperature pegs, and the cat is fully involved. Once the wood is fully dried out you might get some secondary activity.

 

[Jafo]

It could be wet wood. I will test it more when I get up there again.

 

[JA600L]

What wood is it and when was it cut?

 

[Jafo]

It is a mix of yellow birch, maple and some beech. Most of it was cut 2 years ago, some 3 years.

 

[JA600L]

That doesn't sound bad. After the elbows how long is your chimney?

 

[Jafo]

Umm, don't remember the exact height. Here is a pic..

 

[begreen]

Are these 36" or 48" chimney sections?

 

[JA600L]

Isn't the minimum 15ft? With those elbows in there you have got to be well under the minimum spec.

 

[disamatic]

So is the stove ruined? How many times did you pull the trigger?

 

[pdxdave]

If the fire goes out - that's fine - if the chimney isn't smoking as long as the stove top stays in the cat active range you are good.

 

[Jafo]

Are these 36" or 48" chimney sections?

I believe they are 48", but I don't remember for sure. We put that chimney up like 3 years ago. I am not sure of the height from the flue collar, but it has to be pretty close if not more than 15'.

 

[begreen]

I was guessing 12' outside with about an 21" rise inside. Trouble is the two 90 deg elbows plus the long horizontal effectively reduce the height by about 3-5 ft.. To make it work as best as possible switch to double-wall connector inside, soften the interior 90 with 2-45s and an offset, reduce the horiz length by at least 6". 12" if possible would be better. That should improve performance notably during 30-40F weather.

 

[rdust]

I was guessing 12' outside with about an 21" rise inside. Trouble is the two 90 deg elbows plus the long horizontal effectively reduce the height by about 3-5 ft.. To make it work as best as possible switch to double-wall connector inside, soften the interior 90 with 2-45s and an offset, reduce the horiz length by at least 6". 12" if possible would be better. That should improve performance notably during 30-40F weather.

x2, always good advise in your posts.

Cat stoves are picky when it comes to draft, a chimney at or near the minimum height needs to be as close to a straight shot up as possible to perform well.

 

[Jafo]

Just an update. I changed the pipe a bit to use two 45's instead of a 90 above the stove:



I hope this will help with draft issues.

 

[begreen]

Every little bit helps. We had the Morso going in the yurt last weekend during 47 to 53F weather. As long as the doors were opened slowly there was very little smoke spillage and with dry wood a decent fire heated the place to the point where we had to open the door occasionally.