Vermont Castinfs Refractroy Assembly

[openat6]

Do i need the refractory ass in my cat encore VC to burn a effecint fire? if i dont ever use the cat part on my stove and wht are some of the casues in a VC encore cat if any that would cause a bad draft?

 

[Carl]

Just a guess but I would say you need the cat assembly for an efficient fire. That is why they put it in there. Without it working you are loosing a lot of the stoves efficiency in my opinion. Others who know more about cat stoves will be able to explain it better than me who has never owen a cat stove.

 

[webbie]

You need the cat and the refractory for an efficient burn. They provide the longer flame path, as well as the means to burn off the gases that normally go up the chimney unburnt. Using it without the cat or refractory would probably use 50% more wood to do the same job.

 

[Shane]

In addition if you're having draft issues you may want to look at the chimney setup. I think min. height for that stove is 15' or more.

 

[openat6]

thanks everyone for your speedy responses. my only thing is i had no draft issues till the end of this burn season. it very strange, i did burn unseasoned wood mostly, and there was a plug of creaosote but it burn off in a chimeny fire and i droped a chain down to clear the rest but still not a soild draft like i had previously. i am going to consult my local VC stove retialer,but i figured i would ask if any of youhad any answers before talking to them. they are very condosendoing for somereason maube its the bussniess???? hahahah. but never the less i took the refarctory ass out and it was all in peices and the honycomb cat wasnt pluged but the white junk inside behind the fireback fell apart in my hands, so maybe for 150 ill buy a new ass.. and in refernce to the chimeny height i belive it more tha 15' thanks to all who posted anything else let me know....