Stupid question on a rainy day

It's a status thing I think. When I see the threads and posts with the letters BK in them, my first thought is always Burger King.

Many here are from the "other" "left" coast also.

I don't recall "status" being on my list when I chose the BK.
Reduced wood consumption-
Long burn times-
lowered flue temps.-
clean burn (no smoke out the pipe)-
controllability of burn-
Those were on the list.

let's not forget the good looks, also.

dorkweed said:

When I see the threads and posts with the letters BK in them, my first thought is always Burger King.

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My first thought is Beetle-Kill

Edit- used to be someone else, especially if you wanted to know about baking firewood in the oven.

There are less CAT stoves in any area no matter how many you see here on hearth. We CAT stove owners are probably outnumbered 3 to 1 if not more by tubes, so don't feel left out.

Butcher said:

I by no means meant for my question to get anyones hackles up It was just an observation and was wunderin about it.
Back in the mid 70's I worked for a small company here that all we did was manufacture Woodland stoves. At that time in my neck of the woods they were toughted as thee best airtight stove on the market. But all they where was a welded up box of 3/8ths to 1/2 inch steel plate with cast doors and the damper knobs on the doors. They were kinda like a model T too as you could get one in any color you wanted as long as it was matte black. I still have a small model of them stoves sittin out back by my scrap pile that is perfectly useable if need be.
I guess I'm just confused about the need for a catilitic thing on a woodstove since we have never felt the need in my neck of the woods.
Even now as I type this I got my Jotul is huffin and puffin away and still aint got a clue as to why burnin wood has to be so complicated. Ole Black Sabbath sure do put out some heat tho with some good old Iowa red elm in it.

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I see you have that solidly in the middle of "overfire" on your thermometer.

The people in my neck of the woods who use cats use them for several reasons, not the least being that they use less wood to produce more heat and in the process have lower emissions. Not very complicated.

When I was shopping for a stove a few years ago I was looking for something that would put out the heat and be clean burning - with the clean burning being a very high priority. I live in a pretty densely populated area and smoke out the stack really would be noticed by the neighbors and not likely welcomed by all. My first stove was a non-cat (VC Encore) that was supposed to be very clean burning as well but failed to meet my needs in other ways. When I came on this forum I learned about the benefits of cat stoves - long burns with lower heat output with virtually no smoke. Dealers around me had not made a case for cats at all - in fact they tended to discourage them if anything.

Perhaps the perception you are getting is a result of the self-selecting nature of these forums - folks here may be largely from the east (?) and perhaps there are a larger number of cat owners posting here than you would see in the general population. I'm quite certain that we have more cat owners on this forum (as a percentage of the posters) than there are cat stoves installed in any case. Of course the same is probably true for those burning dry wood too...

Nice pictures there of your fire btw - I can only imagine how nice that must feel to get all that heat on a cold day. You have a nice stove there.

It seems like the CAT/nonCAT question gets a lot of people very worked up. I assume your dealer is one of the people who has heard some negative things about cat stoves, or maybe sold some and the customers had problems that became hassles for the dealer, and that is why he won't sell any more.

rideau said:

I see you have that solidly in the middle of "overfire" on your thermometer.

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I was worried when I saw those temps on my little 13NC...............that's based solely on the "Danger Will Robinson Zone" on my stove top thermometer. What I realized later was much of that was due to heat soak. My fires were by no means "nuclear". All I had was a big (for the 13) load of wood in her and I probably just dialed her down a bit too late. The secondaries were just cruising. Just to be safe, when this happens, I turn on the little blower motor that came with my 13. Within a minute or two, the stove top is back down to 600* or less. Now when I see those temps; I check my fire, and if needed adjust accordingly.

I have a flue thermometer sitting here just waiting to be installed.

In our experience, we could not find a dealer who knew much at all about the stoves and burning wood. Most had a 'sales talk' that they liked to use. Memorized and some liked to throw numbers out but they really did not even know what those numbers meant. When it came to cat stoves, all advised to stay away, a long ways away from any type of a cat stove. Methinks the biggest reason for that is they did not have any for sale. In the end, when we bought our last stove it was a cat stove and we could not be happier. However, we did not purchase it locally but bought direct. Some think this could be a problem but it is not.

Is there a general rule of thumb for flue temp vs stovetop temp? As in temp difference? Eg should the flue be generally 100 deg or 200 hotter? Sorry if this is a dumb question. I have flue probe and it shows 850 deg as the top end of the "safe" zone. II have no idea what the stovetop temp would be and not sure a stovetop unit would help with the top cover plate /trivet on the Osburn?

check this out:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/flue-temp-stove-top-temp.92154/

I did my search & got more info from online research than I got from the stove dealer.
I went looking for a couple specific stoves that had to meet certain efficiency ratings to get a
state & federal tax rebate.
I liked getting tax credits & refunds that almost paid for the new stove


Cat stove are some of the cleanest & efficient one on the list. right hand column cat/non-cat. EPA stoves:
http://www.epa.gov/Compliance/resources/publications/monitoring/caa/woodstoves/certifiedwood.pdf

My next stove will be a cat stove just for the controllability of the burn. The non-cats are simple, but I wish I could dial back at times and extend the burn.

Beetle-Kill said:

I don't recall "status" being on my list when I chose the BK.
Reduced wood consumption-
Long burn times-
lowered flue temps.-
clean burn (no smoke out the pipe)-
controllability of burn-
.

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+1
I'll add more heat into the house & less up the chimney,

bogydave said:

+1
I'll add more heat into the house & less up the chimney,

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And that's what it's all about. Nicely said.

FWIW, I get the impression here that cat's are also quite popular in the northern latitudes like Alaska. BK in particular.

It's kinda like Auto/Manual transmissions in vehicles.
Though Manuals (and CAT stoves) eek out more performance and controlability, but they require more user input and understanding.
Anyone and their 10 yr old kid can use an automatic (or non-CAT stove) if they're just looking to get the job done.

It primarily boils down to potential customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction - Put a person who prefers manuals in an auto and you get "This isn't quite what I wanted, but it does work."
Put a person who has no idea/care about a manual in one, they'll come storming back to rip your head off because you sold them a POS that couldn't even get off the lot.

I don't need to tell you which side the dealers would rather err on, but it's the same in both the stove and vehicle worlds.

Huntindog1 said:

check this out:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/flue-temp-stove-top-temp.92154/

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excellent thread - thank you very much for the pointer...

Good one Agent.

I am a west coaster that converted from non-cat to cat. They make the BK cat stoves here in my state so it isn't just an east coast thing. The cat stoves are much more complicated to run. Not beyond the grasp of the majority but require a much greater understanding of the combustion process and a desire to do it right. A lot like the manual transmission.

Looking at sales numbers, can you say that most of the cat stoves sold each year are BK? Surely they are the major producer but I don't know if they beat all the others in numbers.

You like to come in from outside work and be warm. Well, a cat stove will get just as hot as any stove if you want it to but wouldn't it also be nice if the fire you started the day before was still keeping the house in the 70s while you were gone all day at work?

Woodstock puts out some cat stoves as well. I am sure the two are pretty close in numbers, and don't forget Buck.

I would have strongly considered a cat stove except for one thing. The aesthetics of watching an active fire was an important aspect for us. Otherwise, cat's have the functional advantages such as efficiency if you don't mind the extra fiddling.