Well where to start. Bought a house that had the stove installed. Previous owner thoroughly trashed and mistreated the stove. So I come in and begin the rehabilitation process, not being a wood stove guy (at the time).
Year 1 - I moved in and just burned the wood he had stacked, I knew nothing and it showed. Heat output was fair, but nothing fantastic. During that 1st winter I start reading and learning about wood, types, seasoned and catalysts.
Year 2 - during the summer I pull the heat shield and check the cat, which was nothing but crumbled ash at best.....no wonder fire was lack luster. Order up replacement cat and housing gasket and bolt everything up (also cleaned flue while cat was out). Heat output was much better, but glass wash was awful, and had obvious leaks around door as seen by the black creosote all over the sides of the glass. By now I'm using seasoned woods, operating the stove and cat correctly (waiting to close damper until cat ignites and such) and am generally pleased.
Year 3 - decide I want to tackle door and glass gasket and while at it, have flue cleaned again (by this point I'm burning 6 cords a year) and drop cat to make sure creosote and junk doesn't fall down chimney and into cat. Well at this point I notice cat once again is completely crumbled (there went $300). So I order another cat, another gasket and decide to replace the heat shield as well as the original one was bent and burned to heck. Replace door and window gaskets and enjoy another year of burning......overall burns are good, but I start noticing that I can't really control fire with air intakes, meaning I can't choke down a fire.....actually had a couple of runaway fires this year.
Year 4 - so here we are, pull cat again to clean flue and again cat is trashed....I call cat company send photos and am told it's not covered because it's direct flame impingement. Not understanding how, I take apart everything again and start to examine the top of the firebox. The top of the box is warped beyond belief, the cat housing can't mount flush to top of firebox and I assume that when the flame gets too tall or I get run on fires it's damaging the cat. So, what's the point of telling you all of this.....
Need to know if it's time to just replace the stove or if it can be fixed....I'm doubting it. I do recall previous owner telling me he would get the stove to over 2000 and created enough heat that it would spin the ceiling fan in the 2-story family room.
In looking at the top, I just can't see how I can fix the warping......I've tried thicker gaskets with no luck. As well the lack of control from the air inlets is telling me there might be another crack/leak somewhere that I can't even see......so now I'm considering replacing the unit.
Assuming replacement is the way to go, what should I look at that is equivelant in performance to the 91? Too be honest I like the 91, the wife likes the looks. I like the big box and burn times, but I'm not close minded either.
We do have a large house 5000+ squar feet above grade and a few thousand feet below.....in years past the stove could keep the main level of the house at 75 or so burning 24/7, and we run our geothermal for the upstairs bedrooms......basement freezes :D but that's ok for now. So with all of that, any recommendations on another stove to check out? I've looked at BK, Vermont Castings and Lopi bit none of them "seems" to have the heating capacity of the 91......but I don't want to be short sided in my thinking either.
Please let me know your thoughts and how you would proceed......as for this year I'm just burning with no cat and smaller fires and it's eating wood....but I'm done pouring money into this stove if I can't fix it long term.....replacing cats every year at $300 a pop just isn't reasonable in my opinion.
Thanks in advance and for reading the entire post.
Year 1 - I moved in and just burned the wood he had stacked, I knew nothing and it showed. Heat output was fair, but nothing fantastic. During that 1st winter I start reading and learning about wood, types, seasoned and catalysts.
Year 2 - during the summer I pull the heat shield and check the cat, which was nothing but crumbled ash at best.....no wonder fire was lack luster. Order up replacement cat and housing gasket and bolt everything up (also cleaned flue while cat was out). Heat output was much better, but glass wash was awful, and had obvious leaks around door as seen by the black creosote all over the sides of the glass. By now I'm using seasoned woods, operating the stove and cat correctly (waiting to close damper until cat ignites and such) and am generally pleased.
Year 3 - decide I want to tackle door and glass gasket and while at it, have flue cleaned again (by this point I'm burning 6 cords a year) and drop cat to make sure creosote and junk doesn't fall down chimney and into cat. Well at this point I notice cat once again is completely crumbled (there went $300). So I order another cat, another gasket and decide to replace the heat shield as well as the original one was bent and burned to heck. Replace door and window gaskets and enjoy another year of burning......overall burns are good, but I start noticing that I can't really control fire with air intakes, meaning I can't choke down a fire.....actually had a couple of runaway fires this year.
Year 4 - so here we are, pull cat again to clean flue and again cat is trashed....I call cat company send photos and am told it's not covered because it's direct flame impingement. Not understanding how, I take apart everything again and start to examine the top of the firebox. The top of the box is warped beyond belief, the cat housing can't mount flush to top of firebox and I assume that when the flame gets too tall or I get run on fires it's damaging the cat. So, what's the point of telling you all of this.....
Need to know if it's time to just replace the stove or if it can be fixed....I'm doubting it. I do recall previous owner telling me he would get the stove to over 2000 and created enough heat that it would spin the ceiling fan in the 2-story family room.
In looking at the top, I just can't see how I can fix the warping......I've tried thicker gaskets with no luck. As well the lack of control from the air inlets is telling me there might be another crack/leak somewhere that I can't even see......so now I'm considering replacing the unit.
Assuming replacement is the way to go, what should I look at that is equivelant in performance to the 91? Too be honest I like the 91, the wife likes the looks. I like the big box and burn times, but I'm not close minded either.
We do have a large house 5000+ squar feet above grade and a few thousand feet below.....in years past the stove could keep the main level of the house at 75 or so burning 24/7, and we run our geothermal for the upstairs bedrooms......basement freezes :D but that's ok for now. So with all of that, any recommendations on another stove to check out? I've looked at BK, Vermont Castings and Lopi bit none of them "seems" to have the heating capacity of the 91......but I don't want to be short sided in my thinking either.
Please let me know your thoughts and how you would proceed......as for this year I'm just burning with no cat and smaller fires and it's eating wood....but I'm done pouring money into this stove if I can't fix it long term.....replacing cats every year at $300 a pop just isn't reasonable in my opinion.
Thanks in advance and for reading the entire post.
but you really don't want it over 1800 or they say it is hard on the cat. Omni, did you have a cat probe in it? You have to control how fast the wood off-gasses or the cat temp will head over 1800. I wish they had a steel cat for it. The 91 may not be the easiest stove to operate, but it sure does toss some heat.
) and I'd love for it to pay off by being able to pass on a few tips to a fellow burner. 
