Swapping the cat

I've seen that. The rep at the cat vendor had some concerns about the process. He wanted me to follow up with him after I had it out and we could look at it. He didn't seem to be a fan of soaking and if soaking wanted to be very specific about how to do it. I'll post another thread after I go through it with him. At $250 a pop, I'm more than happy to be patient and listen to every detail to prevent damage.

interesting. ill be curious to see what his ideas are for cleaning it. your old cat looks like if you get it clean it may still work pretty good.. curious to see, when will you try the old one out again? i wish i got the combustor from the site you got it off of instead of condar. that thing was a pain in the ass to get in. and don't look forward to taking it out.

Ok.
I tried something.
When I reload and char the wood I have super flame..inferno on 3.
What I did was back it off some..2.5 for few hours with med flame till it gassed off good.
Then like you I was able to burn on 3 without a inferno.
I'm burning a lot of ash and maybe it gas's off way faster then your harder wood?
I'm at maybe 1.5 cords for the season..you?

Not sure, I've burned maybe half a cord of decent stuff and the rest has been punk, junk, shorties and uglies. How big are your splits and how full do you fill the box? I notice when I pull the horse shoe in sometimes and turn it up it flames pretty good. With a full box of bigger stuff, I seem to just get exploding secondaries instead of crazy flame.

This one slid in like butter, snug but smooth. I'll clean it sometime soon but probably won't use it anytime soon, maybe Fall 2013? Structurally it is perfect, so I think it will perform well after cleaning. I also now know the stove other than the cat is performing properly. I've got somewhere around 20 cord through it and who knows what the original owner put through it, I know it wasn't pretty. Thinking between the two of them, I may not need another combustor for at least a decade.

sounds like a good deal. i think i may pick one up from the place you got yours from next year just to have it on hand. thats my hope is that with the good wood im burning and knowing how to burn this stove pretty well now that i wont have to touch it for at least 4 years.

i find when im burning the chunks and uglies that on 3 they get big secondaries, and when i have a load of nice straight wood that i get more flame and excessive heat and i have to crank her down more to keep the cat lower.

Are the chunks and uglies bigger than the splits? Best light show I have had by far was this load running 3 - 3.25. Not one flame in the box. I like the 4-3 formation.

those look like some mommas. no my chunks and uglies are pretty small. ive been splitting them small so they dry fast and light up nice. still get easy 12 14 hour burns with the mild weather were having.

I dunno Solar,
My draft must be xtra strong or something.
A lot of my ash are bigger splits and they do burn diff them my smaller hardwood splits..bought and hauled from two diff guys.
I'm only loading a half a load for 8 hours at night..then I throw in 4 or 5 small-med splits in the morning(about 7) and that last till 5 when I get home then I turn up the air and burn coals till my night load.
So I really doubt I'm burning a whole load in 24 hours..but close...more like 2/3-3/4.
I'm real happy with that..house is plenty warm.
I prolly could just do 24 hour burns but I'm trying to be in the cold weather burn cycle..but yet no real cold weather!
I need to ride my snowmobile..1 mile is it.

When I load more in the morning there is still plenty of wood in the stove..temp is usually around 350-400.
Mostly run it at 1.75 at night and 1.5 during the day when gone...i doubt the t-stat hardly opens.

Mine does the same thing on a partial. Just get the secondaries on the full loads.

10-4.
Sometimes I play around.
When I reloaded tonight I only put four sticks of locust on the coals..kicked it full air till cat was glowing..shut the air down fast and watched the show for maybe 15 mins then finished loading half way for the night with maple.

Love this thing!
Way diff then basically the same stove without a cat that was here for 24 years.

i love it to. its simplicity at its best. very easy to use. couple tricks of the trade to learn then its a walk in the park

trick #1: load that sucker up
trick #2: try to get the right mass of fuel in the box for the weather conditions so you can hit a convenient reload time (for me that is usually 12 or 24 hours)
trick #3: repeat for 7 months

Funny thing about the cat swap, the biggest PITA was a cold start when I was done. Doesn't happen very often.

Just found a pic of my old BK.
The air used to come out between the top and above the door..that was pretty cool.
Had the glass and solid door.

Don't go getting all sentimental now. What did you do with the stove? That beast would be perfect for our camp.

thats looks like a wood eater. lol sweet pic

yep just the ticket for an otherwise unheated house in the ADKs

It had a few welds done to it over the years..small cracks..and it needed one more done by the door.
I just scraped it out for 80 bucks.
I know nothing would have happened if I sold it or gave it away..but I could not take the chance..you know what I mean?

Breakin my heart, I would have given you $80 and a cold 6er of Rochester's finest.

That thing used to!
Man would it throw some heat..for sure when the gaskets got bad..lol.
Not much more then 10 hour burns no matter with what wood or how you loaded it.
I know I'm saving more then a 1/3 but not 1/2 and the house is way warmer and the temps are more even throughout the house.

It had those ceramic thingys on it..sold them plus a brand new set never used to a guy on here for I think 25 bucks..he was glad to get them.
Maybe I should have kept them!

Sorry bout the big pics!

I did a inspection of the cat on my PI. I am noticing that the a few of the horizontal lines of the cells are starting to break away and have fallen off the cat. This is only the the front cells of the cat and no more than a inch or two long. I have no clogging or fly ash on the cells that I can see.

do you guys think this is a normal wear and tear on a 3 year old cat or are my fires to hot or maybe a result of thermal shock?

I don't see any of that on mine after 20+ cord. Have any pics?