Catalytic vs. Burn Tubes

^no so good to go if you have a wife that wears sweaters in July but thanks for the skinny. I require heat and wood is no object.

Which gets hotter a blaze king or NC30...right now we have a qf4300...it's adequate.

I'm not sure how much more of a user testimonial you need. I'm sure you saw Wolfkiller's thread about his BKK keeping his 2500 sq ft place warm in North Pole Alaska down to -44° F before his central heat kicked in. In fact, it seems the majority of the folks way up north are using the BK and swear by these stoves. If you need more heat than the BKK will throw, you better think long and hard about getting yourself two stoves... As a mater of fact, with 3000 sq ft, you should consider two of the Woodstocks as I suspect two stoves would give better heat distribution.

Well Wet1 it was wolfkillers post that got me interested again in CATS. I don't know how close you're following this but I addressed that. The trouble is wolfkiller likes long burns my wife requires heat there's a big difference in burning techniques. Thanks for the heads up though.

Blaze king:

King 1107
Average EPA Test Fuel (Low Burn)
8,600 Btu’s/hr
Average EPA Test Fuel (High Burn)
37,800 Btu’s/hr
Average Real World Btu’s (Low Burn)
8,400 Btu’s/hr
Average Real World Btu’s (High Burn)
47,000 Btu’s/hr

ENglander 30:

Potential of 75,000+ BTU's* when burning seasoned cordwood!

So your wife will like the englander better. You can buy 4-5 englander 30s for the price of one BK.

But you missed the part of the manual that states the BK can produce up to 90,000 BTU's when feeding the stove continuously on high burn. And in order for the Englander to produce 75,000 it would have to be burned the same way.

Well, I don't have 3000 sq ft but when I need more heat I just turn up the air and reload more often. In the spring/fall season I go for the long 12 low BTU fire, when it gets below zero I give more air and cut the burn time in half or maybe just keep the temp over 400 and add 2 or 3 splits to maintain every few hours. Average winter temps I burn on an 8hr reload schedule, it all depends on the weather and how much heat you want.

The cat does have limits, I think sustained temps over 1700 can cause damage, but that would be hard to do on my stove.

How do you keep 2500 sq ft warm in -44 deg weather without producing MAJOR heat?

UMMMMM this thread is about CATs and secondary burn tubes. You were commenting about the fuss with CATs. I threw you a hint,
not subtle mind you. I threw you one also in your thread. I think someone has found and explained that hint to you now as I have read the posts.

I saw the 90,000 in one part of the brochure but it has an asterisk and refers you to the specs where the actual specifications list what I cut and pasted for the BK. Seems to me that if you heat up a stove as big as the BK king that you should be getting major btus but it looks like you can't heat it up. Very strange marketing brochure.

I think the PE summit has a 97000 max btu rating out of a firebox about the same size as the englander 30. I wonder how accurate these max btu ratings really are. I don't think I would want to depend on the max anyway, I know I wouldn't.

Attached is an image of the cat from Applied Ceramics web site. While it's one unit, it does have three cells, probably for ease of manufacturing.

Since the model 91 can be used as an insert, removal of the cat from inside the firebox is probably the best design.

I wonder what size a stove has to be to require an 8" instead of 6" flue?

3yr old cat burning 8 to 10 months a year. Pine, spruce and poplar is its only food. It gets a paint brush and vacuum run across it twice a year after lifting out the stainless flame shield that takes 10 seconds. It also has three sections but it is actually one piece.

Wow. This has been very interesting to read. Totally engaging topic with super input. Is it me or does anyone else wish no one would encapsulate in a bluish tinge what has been said before like I hadn't just read it and was incapable of following the thread? These 5 plus pages would be about three and I would have had time to read something else by now. Sorry if I've offended anyone, it's not my intention, it's Friday night, have a great wood warming weekend.
Best regards, kksalm

It seems no one likes the 8" on some of the stoves.i'm looking into a cat stove for the cellar,it would be a new install. should i care if its 8" stove or a 6" stove.is 8" pipe better then 6"???

Johnny, I think the reason is because a lot of us already have a 6" liner in our flue. Since you're going to be doing a new install, it's not much of an issue for you. Technically speaking, you shouldn't use a 6" flue if the stove has an 8" collar, unless it's stated okay to do so by the manufacturer. With that said, Wolfkiller mentioned he has a friend running a 6" flue with his BKK and it's working well... although it's not approved to do this.

I would have thought this should have been quite obvious as well...

I fail to see how a stove like the BKK can't put out as much, or more btu/hour than the significantly smaller nc-30. Even if they put out even amounts of heat, the larger Bkk should be able to go longer without reloading, should use less fuel, and since it has a thermostatic control, it should require fewer adjustments.

Thanks Wet!

Just want to thank everyone that answered my specific questions...I sure do like this thread where we can discuss the merits of the 2 different tech's ... it sure is informative.

Thanks BG. That was what i was thinking as well. I don't think the cat would be able to light off in a 100% oxygen starved environment.

I know on my stove the air slide will completely shut, but I'm sure air could probably seep in around it, it's not like it has an air tight gasket.

Do any cat stove owners find that building N/S fires is not necessary because of the long burn times? The reason I ask this is, my non-EPA insert burns hot and clean with a N/S fire, but my stove is only 15" deep, which means that some of my wood has to be cut short. Some of the cat stoves aren't very deep, so I just wondered if it made a difference, since cat stoves seem like they don't need a hot burning fire.

I think it makes a difference. If you load N/S in a cat you will still get more air flow through the wood and a hotter burn, loading E/W will keep the air towards the front til it burns through the load.