Help with my new cat

I just got my new cat in and I want to install it and get burning again, it came already wrapped in gasket but also has tape around over the gasket. This may be a dumb question but do I leave the tape on or remove it? Its masking tape.

thanks

Thanks everyone, time to get a fire going

What a difference with the new cat and the adjustments I made, the stoves cruising at 1000, I got everything going just in time for the warm weather :smirk:

rdust said:

I hope that is the cat temp!

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yeah, Im not sure what the stove is, may get a thermo for that

I feel like Im driving a cadillac after driving a 10 year old escort the way the stoves burning now. Im going to have to make a checklist and every spring go through the stove and make sure everything is the way its supposed to be. I got an easy 12 hour burn and plenty of coals left over this morning, I didnt fill the box up all the way yesterday either, had it about 3/4 full. Todays warm so probably not a lot of heavy burning from here on out. Im all set for next year. Since im finally ahead from now on Im seasoning my wood for two years minimum, Im going to try and get to Dennis' level but not sure I have enough room.

Lanning said:

Congrats on the install and back to getting long burn times. Your cat came with gasket material? Can you pass on the link for the new cat?

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Yeah it comes already gasketed, it slid right in too, there was smoke the first burn but its probably because the tape had to burn off before the gasket could seal, now theres no smoke so I guess it alright.
Heres the link, they had free shipping, not sure if they still do, its listed under princess insert, they originally had the wrong cat listed inder the 1010 insert but I see he changed it to the correct one.

http://www.firecatcombustors.com/

Lanning said:

$220, that not a bad deal
http://www.firecatcombustors.com/category-s/1426.htm
Have you made any other ajustments? for example the by-base plate or door gasket?

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I tightened my door and by pass, I guess I was burning with a leak around my door, not sure for how long but that makes a huge difference in my burn times now, much less ashes too. Not sure if the bypass adjustment did anything, seems to close the same way, I really wanted to know how to change the by pass gasket if that day should ever come so thats the main reason why I called Blaze King.
I get a hot fire going the way the guy from the cat company showed me in an email, less flame impingement on the cat so hopefully that helps it last longer this time. I also replaced the thermo with a condor with numbers so I know how hot the cat is now.

Lanning said:

So why do ya think your cat took a crap on ya? Poor wood quality? We all want to be like Dennis! and have a big supply of wood.....

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I think is was a number of things, my first year I had wood seasoned one year but had a lot of oak, took me ahile to figure out oak takes longer to season so I ended up picking the oak out for the next year. Another possible problem was my thermo, which as you know is a pain to get in on the princess, wasnt seated correctly and the needle would get stuck at about the 1 o'clock position, I didnt notice this the first year and just figured thats how hot it got and was happy with that, it sure felt hot enough, I may have overfired it a few times, who knows. Some of it may have been flame impingement.
All that said it was still lighting off but had some troubles with lower temps, I noticed the stove wasnt running like it was suppoed to so I ordered a new cat since they were on sale with free shipping, the day it came in I went to remove the old cat and it broke on me when I removed it, then I found out they sent me the wrong cat, they originally had it listed wrong on their web site, hes since fixed it. In the meantime I checked things over and found the door didnt pass the dollar bill test so that contributed to the stove not running correctly also, that may have have an adverse affect on the cat too.
All in all Im happy the way its running now, I was going to wait til the end of the year to replace the cat but its in now and adjustments have been made so Im good for a while.
You thinking of getting a new cat too?

Lanning said:

What kind of temps are you running an hour after a reload? My stove is at 1500 plus degrees or at about 330. From day 1 it has always been a hot runner. I changed out the door gasket with out any big results. Does your fan ever vibrate the surround on the insert? My cat is starting to break down, maybe I am getting to much fire and its kicking the cats ass.What start-up process did the BK guy tell you to use to keep the fire from licking the cat?

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Im not sure what it was running at before and its been warm since I got the new cat so I cant answer that one yet. Yes, my fan does vibrate sometimes, I put a small piece of honey locut on the cord and that stopped the vibrating, used to drive me nuts. I take the side panel off every year and clean the blower. Ill try and dig up the email he sent me and Ill send it to you so you can read the start up process to maintain the cat.
Is your cat breaking down, crumbling a little bit?

SolarAndWood said:

Do you have pics of the cat you took out? I had a similar performance gain by swapping the cat but I think I could achieve nearly the same thing by just doing a thorough cleaning of the original cat outside the stove. Some of the pics I have seen folks post showed structurally trashed cats but I am pretty sure mine just needs a bath after 20 cord.

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Once the cat broke I wasnt too careful taking the rest out and just chucked the pieces in the trash. If you got your original cat out and its still looks good you might as well try the cleaning method and see how it performs afterwards. You may end up with two that you can swap out every year while your cleaning the other.

I would like to see the suggestions that BK says to keep the flames away from the cat during start-up.

Can you give me more detail on taking the sides off to clean up the blower fan motor. Mine is 3 seasons old and has never been cleaned. I can see grey dust on the outside of the grate. I bet a good cleaning would balance the motor and reduce the vibrations.

I am still getting nice burn times but I think a better cleaning program would be a good idea. I also thinking about buying another cat to have on stand by. Why fix if its not broken kinda deal??

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You wont find it anywhere where BK says to keep flames away, I got the advice from the cat company article I mentioned, (Ill try and find it today). Its impossible to keep all flames away at startup, the method they mention just limits the amount of flames that touch the cat.
The sides have 3 or 4 screws holding them on, just use the square driver and it slides forward, just remember to take off the fan knob first. You can get at the fan and from the other side the thermo and by pass assembly. After I cleaned out the dog hair my fan ran much more quiet until more dog hair built up, Ill clean it again towards the end of the season, for now the honey locust is stopping the rattle.