Cat Stove Operated without Knowledge it was there.

[wkpoor]

Talked to my uncle today who is a weekend burner. He has been in his new house for about 5yrs. I saw his stove once but didn't look very close and have no idea what brand it is. He told me he had a chimney sweep out to clean the chimney. He informed him it was a cat stove which my uncle had no clue about. And since it never came up in any conversation I just figured it was an old pre EPA stove. Point here is how many people around the country have an EPA stove and have no idea. Guy at work is the same way. Recently bought a Buck 74 new. I was talking to him one day about the secondary burn. He had no idea what I was talking about.
Steve at Vermont Elm doesn't push the CATs for that very reason. He says at least the burn tubes are murphy proof. The CAT if not operated and maintained correctly can lead to some big problems. My uncle had so much creosote they had to break it loose with chains so they could sweep, he told me.

 

[begreen]

Good point, though burn tubes are not murphy-proof. We see folks here trying to run EPA stoves like their old smoke dragons somewhat frequently.

 

[rdust]

Sounds about right, I don't think a cat stove would've been a good choice for my first stove. I think a lot of stoves are sold to weekend/evening warriors for this purpose I see no need for a cat stove.

 

[oldspark]

Let's see stove gets hot and you turn down the primary air down, yep your right nothing like my old stove.

 

[rdust]

Let's see stove gets hot and you turn down the primary air down, yep your right nothing like my old stove.

I don't think you ran your old stove like a lot old stove owners do. My neighbor just tosses wood in his old smoke dragon without even adjusting anything. He'll have smoke billowing out of his chimney for hundreds of feet. :lol:

 

[oldspark]

Let's see stove gets hot and you turn down the primary air down, yep your right nothing like my old stove.

I don't think you ran your old stove like a lot old stove owners do. My neighbor just tosses wood in his old smoke dragon without even adjusting anything. He'll have smoke billowing out of his chimney for hundreds of feet. :lol:

Good point, I ran my old stove by flue temps, very good results with using dry wood.

 

[begreen]

And you had an uncommonly good old stove. There were a few of these that were exceptional for their day. VC, Nashua, Kent made good stoves that were ahead of their time.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

There are definitely going to be folks who don't know the right way to burn but thankfully we aren't talking the majority. It is sort of like many other things. Even automobiles. Some folks just don't know much about the vehicle they have. One example that comes to mind is folks who run their defrosters all the time in the winter. Some think you get more heat (because it blows more heat at their head) while others state that if they didn't then the windows would fog up. Nothing could be further from the truth. I recall riding with a neighbor one day and because my feet and legs have such a difficult time staying warm I asked him to please turn the defroster off and blow the heat down. After all, heat will rise.... He was afraid his side window would fog up. So, I then tuned his defroster off so the air would blow down. Then I told him to feel that little vent on the left side by the driver window. He was surprised that heat was coming from it. Right. That is the way it was designed....so that window would not ice up. But old habits die hard. He still went back to the old way...

 

[HotCoals]

There are definitely going to be folks who don't know the right way to burn but thankfully we aren't talking the majority. It is sort of like many other things. Even automobiles. Some folks just don't know much about the vehicle they have. One example that comes to mind is folks who run their defrosters all the time in the winter. Some think you get more heat (because it blows more heat at their head) while others state that if they didn't then the windows would fog up. Nothing could be further from the truth. I recall riding with a neighbor one day and because my feet and legs have such a difficult time staying warm I asked him to please turn the defroster off and blow the heat down. After all, heat will rise.... He was afraid his side window would fog up. So, I then tuned his defroster off so the air would blow down. Then I told him to feel that little vent on the left side by the driver window. He was surprised that heat was coming from it. Right. That is the way it was designed....so that window would not ice up. But old habits die hard. He still went back to the old way...

That's all true but in cars nowadays the air con is on when it's on defrost..which helps even more with moisture..
Plus it cycles the unit.
Matter of fact there is usually only one or two settings where the air con is not on..just heat to the floor is one.
You could have compromised with the owner and hit the defrost/heat ..lol.
Anyways most don't even know the air con runs in the winter was were I was going.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

All true HotCoals but perhaps you missed the point I was trying to make.

 

[HotCoals]

All true HotCoals but perhaps you missed the point I was trying to make.

Probably.
I was shooting for some don't know their air con is running in their car in the winter like some might not know they have a cat in their stove...more inline with the op's thread..lol.

 

[wkpoor]

Is it OK for the OP to steer his own thread off topic hehehehee. I laughed when I read Savage mans reply. My FIL has cold feet. Whenever we go somewhere together I like heat in my face to feel warm and he likes it on his feet. If I put it down there my feet bake in my shoes and when I move it up he says his eye balls crust up. So for me its not about anything other than where you like to feel the heat.
As for the A/C running on defrost,only down to the temperature where the gas pressure is to low to make the compressor sw. Typically in the upper teens the compressor will no longer operate, at that temp relative humidity is no longer a problem.