Swapping the cat

Swapped the cat out yesterday so that I can give the original a good cleaning. Pretty painless, pop the flame guard off, use a screwdriver around the edges to slide it out. Then, pop the new one in. It may have taken 10 minutes.

OK so whats the procedure for cleaning that CAT?

I'm curious how the ceramic holds up to your cleaning.
Will be interesting if it lights off better after a good cleaning.
I plan to do mine when I shut down for the season, don't want to not have a fire.
My original was a SS one, now my spare. I hope to get 2 to 3 seasons from the ceramic one.
Let us know how it goes.
Good pic, similar to mine when I replaced it, yours is not as plugged as the SS, ceramic have larger holes.

I'll leave that question to the experts as this will be the first time for me. My understanding is you have to be very careful with temperature and the solution you soak it in to protect the catalyst.

I've got over 20 cord through that one and my stove was a returned stove that had been victimized by wet wood. I'm not dissatisfied with having to clean it every two or three years. I should have done it at the end of last year, probably would have saved me from having to buy a spare.

All I do to clean my cat is lightly brush it off and maybe vacuum it.

Don't blow with compressed air and I haven't had a need to soak my cat in any solution for any reason.

Great stove you got!

Good luck,
Bill

I brush it a few times a season but have been experiencing lazy light offs this year. Thinking its time for a soak.

Higher probe temps now?

At high burn no, but definitely a difference at lower burn rates.

10-4.
Will the fire burn higher on 3 now?

I always felt the burn so hot the nothing can stick. A "lazy light off" may mean it need cleaned or is close to it's life-span.
Might be next year or more when yo find out if the cleaning / soaking helps but when you do , let us know if it's worth the effort.

Not sure yet but doesn't appear to be any hotter. I didn't have a problem with high burn before the swap, just lower burns.

Will do Dave. It was still doing the job, I just didn't like what it was doing at lower burns. Fit the behavior that Chris described as soak time.

Ok..but your the only one I know of who can burn for hours on 3 with a BK.
3 would melt my stove in a hour if not for my mod.

Been running on 3 for about 4 hours now. Probe is sitting on the c in Active, blowers on high.

I don't get it.
I just loaded mine awhile ago.
I'm less then 2..cat at full tilt..probe near the end of the scale...and no visible flame...stove top close to 600f...no blowers.
Plenty warm in here doing that.
2.25 would give me a nice flame..but would prolly get to hot in here.

We have the same stove and maybe what..80 miles apart?
I'm actually in Brockport...west of Rochester.

Where did you buy the new cat for your King?

I'm guessing you don't have an IR gun or stove top temp gauge, if you do what are the temps when burning like this? Is the stove full of flames on 3?

I'm guessing this place http://www.firecatcombustors.com/, this is who BKVP posted.

They've got the procedure laid out in the manual...

Last winter was my first season with this stove, and over the summer I soaked my cat. I did it as a preventative maintenance procedure. I didn't realize it was self-cleaning with a hot burn until Chris (BKVP) posted that...makes sense, but it never occurred to me. Also, I was burning wood that was about 25% moisture content, and that had some influence on my decision to soak it.

I don't see any performance difference this winter vs. last winter. But, mine only had about 3 cords through it and was not plugged.

This may be the difference with the panels on the Ultra? As far as getting too hot, we have an open floor plan with 60' of glass on a windy ridge and I was at the end of a 32 hour burn of mid range stuff as we were gone overnight.

http://www.firecatcombustors.com/ Nice folks, easy to deal with. Cat came wrapped with gasket and slid in snugly but easily.

Nope, don't have a gun. On high burn, I get a little flame early in the cycle but have booming secondaries for 5 or 6 hours. Less, if I am using smaller splits or non-primo wood.