Running a Cat Stove without Cat

jhambley said:

If the SHTF and I can't get replacement catalytic combustors, can I still run a Blaze King in an efficient manner? Will I still get clean 12+ hour burns?

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No, you can not run it efficiently. And you can not expect any sort of decent burn times from it without a cat.

What on earth would render your cat instantly unusable? Damaged, poisoned, less efficient... maybe, if you do something careless. Instantly damaged to the point where you can't install or fire it at all? I don't see how.

No you will not get long burns and it will be very dirty burns.

Outside air, yes. Run w/o combuster, no. If you're worried about the zombie apocalypse, lay in an extra one now. Since you seem to be thinking about a catastrophic failure of the combustor, consider a Steel Cat that won't break as easily should it ever be dropped or somehow banged with wood.

jhambley said:

If the SHTF and I can't get replacement catalytic combustors, can I still run a Blaze King in an efficient manner? Will I still get clean 12+ hour burns?

Also, in a tightly insulated house, should I consider providing an outside combustion air source?

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SHTF... are you thinking the world is going to end? If it does I'd be more worried about food than combustor.

Not sure what your reason is for not getting a replacement cat but you can get replacements for all the old Blaze King stoves (and any others stove for that matter) at: http://www.firecatcombustors.com/

Why not pull the cat and burn it for a few days, and find out for yourself?

My current experiments with a Vermont Castings cat stove seem to show that it actually works pretty well without the cat, better than the old smoke dragon version. Overnight performance in particular seems unchanged though I don't doubt it'll burn a bit more wood.

I like cats and would prefer to use one, but agree that it would be useful to know how a stove would run without one, just in case they become unavailable or too expensive.