2022-2023 BK everything thread

[Highbeam]

Every cold start on my stove, even some warm reloads, I reach up there and sweep the junk off of the bypass gasket.

If the bypass plate was actually popping out of the slots on the sides of the stove then it would seem the bypass retainer brackets on each side of the cat under the cat are missing. I hope that's not the case. These are the two, thin, sharp stainless steel clips that fall out when the cat is removed.

Almost every time I sweep the chimney I smear the bypass rod/ramp interface with antiseize lubricant to keep everything smooth.

 

[BKVP]

After taking my top stove pipe off I see the problem the metal plate behind the cat sits in two grooves. The metal plate is out of one of the grooves. I can manually put it back in place however it comes out of the groove when the bypass is opened and closed. I can attempt to take a picture if it would help.

Call your dealer and ask for bypass plate retainers. NOT bypass gasket retainers.

 

[sprawlnstall]

Also keep in mind that chimney sweepings tend to sit on the bypass door gasket, and mess up your damper tension, until vacuumed or swept clean.

Yes, I just cleaned the chimney and replaced my cat prior to having the problem. I did a fairly good job cleaning out junk behind the cat and on top of the block off plate. I did notice there is a rope gasket the block off plate sits on top of. Does this ever need to be replaced? Also is their a specific product used to lube the bypass rod that sits on top of the block off plate?

 

[sprawlnstall]

Every cold start on my stove, even some warm reloads, I reach up there and sweep the junk off of the bypass gasket.

If the bypass plate was actually popping out of the slots on the sides of the stove then it would seem the bypass retainer brackets on each side of the cat under the cat are missing. I hope that's not the case. These are the two, thin, sharp stainless steel clips that fall out when the cat is removed.

Almost every time I sweep the chimney I smear the bypass rod/ramp interface with antiseize lubricant to keep everything smooth.

The clips are there I’ve installed cats many times.

 

[sprawlnstall]

Call your dealer and ask for bypass plate retainers. NOT bypass gasket retainers.

The retainers are there, one was slightly bent but it was the part that is visible on the inside of the stove. Everything seems to be working now.

 

[Ashful]

Yes, I just cleaned the chimney and replaced my cat prior to having the problem. I did a fairly good job cleaning out junk behind the cat and on top of the block off plate. I did notice there is a rope gasket the block off plate sits on top of. Does this ever need to be replaced?

I'm sure it does need replacement, eventually. But I have about 50 cords thru one of my stoves, and haven't had to touch mine, yet.

Also is their a specific product used to lube the bypass rod that sits on top of the block off plate?

I've heard people mention dry graphite, but mine usually self-lubes with ash, after the first few burns of each season.

 

[Nealm66]

I just replaced the cat in my 2 year old floor model princess yesterday. I probably could have gotten the free one on warranty but I’m lazy like that. It was here in 1 day off Amazon for 215$ and it looked like the ceramic vs the original was steel. It might have made it another season but it wasn’t working as good as new. Still, I could load it up in the am and go ether 12 or 20-24 and was definitely keeping the house plenty warm. Chimney looked good, bypass seems fine, dollar is tight in the door all the way around. Some hard buildup on the bricks that wants to stay or take the bricks with it so I’m fine with it being there.

 

[Nealm66]

still super happy with my princess. Being able to set and forget with my schedule is worth every penny of a new cat every couple years. Not to mention the support this forum provides. Again, I probably could have gotten more time out of the cat but now I don’t have to wonder.

 

[stoveliker]

The structure of your honeycomb looks worse than mine after two years. Is there more flame impingement on one side? (Is your screen mounted symmetrically?)

The ceramic one has square "holes" in the honeycomb.
It may behave differently (e.g. lighting off slightly slower due to the larger mass). But others have more experience with this.

 

[Nealm66]

The structure of your honeycomb looks worse than mine after two years. Is there more flame impingement on one side? (Is your screen mounted symmetrically?)

The ceramic one has square "holes" in the honeycomb.
It may behave differently (e.g. lighting off slightly slower due to the larger mass). But others have more experience with this.

I’m not sure, the damage was on the back of the cat. Seemed to still be working ok. I noticed the flame guard has a slight gap on the sides as it tilts forward hopefully I got it put back in correctly. I’m definitely not great about reloading and I’ve definitely run it hot a few times so probably operator error. Replacing the cat was super simple. It will be interesting to see how the ceramic one works

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, I see now that it's only on the back. That's good (no thru gap/bypass for smoke to get through).

The gap at the sides of the flame shield is as designed (I don't know why there are no triangular lips pointing at least partially back to the cat to avoid flame impingement through those gaps). I have very occasionally seen some flame going into that gap (but I have a tall chimney - so maybe it's just very uncommon for most installations).

Maybe the softwood (and pitch) makes the cat run hotter in your burns than the harder wood does in mine, leading to the deteriorating structure of the cat? Wood species does matter in what the cat sees/does.

Anyway, happy burning this coming winter. It'll be a few months for me yet where I have to satisfy my itch in the outdoor firepit... (b/c the minisplit carries the heating until the end of October at least)

 

[Ashful]

I've been running a ceramic cat in one of my BK Ashford 30.1's, and the OEM steelcat in the other for at least 4 years. I'm more cautious with hot reloads and such on the ceramic one, since they're theoretically less able to handle thermal shock than steel, but overall I prefer the ceramic.

Do note that my ceramic cat has a special (then just in prototype phase) coating, which I think BK makes available publicly now, BKVP can give more details on that. I think this special coating may extend the tail end of the active burn a bit, and I can say for sure it has had a longer lifespan than I've seen reported by others here. I think I'm starting my 5th season on it, and probably close to 30 cords thru it, and it is still working and looking just fine. I won't pretend it hasn't lost any of its magic, but it's still doing well enough.

Some folks claim all ceramic cats hold active longer than steel, due to added mass. I really doubt this, there just isn't enough mass there to make a real-world difference, in the face of the amount of thermal energy you are pushing thru it. I think these differences are mostly imagined, likely the result of comparing a NEW ceramic cat to an OLD steelcat.

Just try to avoid too many hot reloads, and be sure to run the stove in bypass for a few minutes, before opening the door on a hot ceramic cat. I'm not sure how much the cat really cools in a few minutes on bypass, I honestly have my doubts, but that's the conventional wisdom repeated in stove manuals and everywhere else. Ceramic is better than steel in almost every way, excepting it's durability to thermal shock (cracking due to unequal temperature / thermal expansion).

 

[moresnow]

but overall I prefer the ceramic

Agreed. My personal track record with steel has been rather unimpressive.

 

[showrguy]

I like bacon !!

( Wanted to subscribe to this thread but I don’t have anything better to add. )

 

[Highbeam]

Agreed. My personal track record with steel has been rather unimpressive.

I also agree. I tried a steel cat and went back to ceramic. Zero physical damage to the ceramics. The steel cat had the shortest life by a significant margin compared to all of the ceramics. Plus there is the clogging issues. I see zero reason to spend the extra money on steel, and would probably spend more for ceramic.

There might be something to burning pitchy evergreens low and slow being "harder" on a cat than burning clean hardwoods at similar low rates. I certainly don't expect more than 2 years on a catalyst before failure and that's about 8 cords of evergreens.

Good to hear that the cats are still close to 200$ shipped. I have a spare on the shelf after reading about the supply chain issues that other manufacturers were having with cats.

 

[stoveliker]

I also agree. I tried a steel cat and went back to ceramic. Zero physical damage to the ceramics. The steel cat had the shortest life by a significant margin compared to all of the ceramics. Plus there is the clogging issues. I see zero reason to spend the extra money on steel, and would probably spend more for ceramic.

There might be something to burning pitchy evergreens low and slow being "harder" on a cat than burning clean hardwoods at similar low rates. I certainly don't expect more than 2 years on a catalyst before failure and that's about 8 cords of evergreens.

Good to hear that the cats are still close to 200$ shipped. I have a spare on the shelf after reading about the supply chain issues that other manufacturers were having with cats.

Can you specify what you mean by "life" for the steel cat? Was it performance, or more mechanical issues (as in the pics above, although not thru and thru yet there)?

 

[Highbeam]

Can you specify what you mean by "life" for the steel cat? Was it performance, or more mechanical issues (as in the pics above, although not thru and thru yet there)?

As I said, zero physical damage. They just wear out and fail to function after a period of use. The steel did not function as long.

 

[Ashful]

Can you specify what you mean by "life" for the steel cat? Was it performance, or more mechanical issues (as in the pics above, although not thru and thru yet there)?

Oh no, don't get him started!

Highbeam's usage profile gives him a more clearly-defined window of lifetime, than perhaps the rest of us, given nearly exclusive low/slow operation on softwoods. I would bet you a beer that the cat I'm using today would have been called "dead" in his application, more than a year ago.

@BKVP, you hear these guys? All ceramic fanboys. I haven't had to shop them recently, but if you don't already have a BK-approved ceramic replacement for the 30's and the 20's, it may be time to get your engineers on it! I assume they still come from the factory with steel.

... and for the record, the steel isn't bad. I had more clogging issues (fly ash) with the steelcat, when I ran it on a tall pipe. It wasn't a show-stopper, but it did cause a few rain delays.

 

[stoveliker]

As I said, zero physical damage. They just wear out and fail to function after a period of use. The steel did not function as long.

That was not clear; the zero damage was (grammatically, at least, if not intentionally) referring to the ceramic cats in your post in my reading:
I tried a steel cat and went back to ceramic. Zero physical damage to the ceramics.

But the answer to my question is clear: performance. Thanks.
(I run on a steel cat, and I'm just wondering what happened with the ugliness on the back of Neal's cat.)

I have no issues running the steel cat, including clogging. And that's with a tall chimney stack.
I like how fasts it lights off.

 

[BKVP]

Oh no, don't get him started!

Highbeam's usage profile gives him a more clearly-defined window of lifetime, than perhaps the rest of us, given nearly exclusive low/slow operation on softwoods. I would bet you a beer that the cat I'm using today would have been called "dead" in his application, more than a year ago.

@BKVP, you hear these guys? All ceramic fanboys. I haven't had to shop them recently, but if you don't already have a BK-approved ceramic replacement for the 30's and the 20's, it may be time to get your engineers on it! I assume they still come from the factory with steel.

... and for the record, the steel isn't bad. I had more clogging issues (fly ash) with the steelcat, when I ran it on a tall pipe. It wasn't a show-stopper, but it did cause a few rain delays.

 

[Nealm66]

Lol

 

[Nealm66]

I just hope I don’t ruin the ceramic super quick with my crappy reloading practices. I didn’t see the steel cat on Amazon but I didn’t look that hard. 2 years is fine with me. I just don’t always have the time to wait for the stove to go out completely which as we all know can take “foreverrr” ( sandlot)

 

[sprawlnstall]

This is my problem too, lots of hot reloads. I typically get two years out of a ceramic cat but my last one crumbled after a year. Flame impingement or thermal shock may have been factors. New steel cat now, I’ll let you know in a year how it compares.

 

[kennyp2339]

I feel extra special atm... I was a 2 year cat guy myself, only burning about 3-4 cords a season.. going on my 3rd year with a ceramic, I know last year right before I shut down, I noted how well the cat was functioning..gives me confidence.

 

[Highbeam]

Run them as long as you can. When mine die, they die hard and fast and result in tar dripping out of my chimney along with the white smoke. Then just pop a new one in. Super easy and in my experience paid for by the wood savings.