Can't use veggie oil soaked shredded paper to start my new Sirocco BK, can I...

[solarguy2003]

So, we have never had a cat stove. We have used woodstoves for a long time. We finally wore out an old cheap "epa" rated stove from menards. It gave us decent service for 8 years.

My favorite fire starter was veggie oil soaked shredded paper.

I guess that's a no-no now because of concerns for damaging the cat. Or is it?

So, what can I use??

Newspaper?

office paper?

What about super cedars, the wax strikes me as some kind of a petroleum distillate. What waxes are ok, and what not?


Educate me, thanks in advance,

troy

 

[begreen]

Super Cedars are shipped with every Blaze King cat stove. You will be fine with them.

 

[Quentin2]

You bypass the cat until you get your load up to 500 and well charred. In my opinion by this time most or all of the fire starter has been burned up.

 

[blueguy]

Super cedars or plain ole newspaper and kindling here

 

[webby3650]

I'm not sure what would be best. I've only had to start 1 fire in my Blaze King. That was the day I installed it!

 

[peakbagger]

Generally catalysts need to be replaced for three reasons, poisoning, pluggage or physical deterioration. Poisoning is generally caused by heavy metals contaminating the catalyst, there are no heavy metals in veggie oil. There can be contaminants in glossy coated paper. The catalyst surface can be physically plugged, clays and fillers in coated paper can form deposits over the catalyst surface reducing its efficiency and eventually reducing air flow. The final failure is physical deterioration generally due to thermal cycling. If the veggie oil causes a rapid increase i heat to a cold catalyst then its probably a bad idea as it could accelerate thermal cycling.

Every time you start and stop the stove the catalyst loses a small amount of lifespan. If designed properly this will take a long time but durability is trade off with cost. Not many folks would want a $5000 catalyst in a $2000 wood stove.

I think like in many cases a little bit of oil will not hurt but to some folks a little bit is a bottle full.

 

[daleeper]

My new Firecat operator's handbook says nothing about what can or cannot be used as fire starters. They should really add at least what they recommend.

I have been using super cedars, they work real well, and have not caused any problems with my cat over the years. I have also used rutland's version. I have used vegetable oil and wood chips in mine, but found super cedars to work much better for me.

 

[BKVP]

Generally catalysts need to be replaced for three reasons, poisoning, pluggage or physical deterioration. Poisoning is generally caused by heavy metals contaminating the catalyst, there are no heavy metals in veggie oil. There can be contaminants in glossy coated paper. The catalyst surface can be physically plugged, clays and fillers in coated paper can form deposits over the catalyst surface reducing its efficiency and eventually reducing air flow. The final failure is physical deterioration generally due to thermal cycling. If the veggie oil causes a rapid increase i heat to a cold catalyst then its probably a bad idea as it could accelerate thermal cycling.

Every time you start and stop the stove the catalyst loses a small amount of lifespan. If designed properly this will take a long time but durability is trade off with cost. Not many folks would want a $5000 catalyst in a $2000 wood stove.

I think like in many cases a little bit of oil will not hurt but to some folks a little bit is a bottle full.

I am certain you meant a $500 catalyst. Even so, our suppliers now sell catalysts directly to the public. So now, you can actually purchase a catalytic combustor for less than half of that amount buy purchasing it directly. As for loss of lifespan each time you start the stove, a catalysts' lifespan is much more influenced by making certain their are no air leaks around the loading door gasket or glass gasket. From our experience, lifespan is so vastly improved, we are now providing a 10 year, 100% warranty on the OEM combustor.

A great deal has changed in catalytic wood stove design, combustor substrate evolutions, coatings, wash coats and most importantly orientation/placement within the stove itself. Thank you for your input.

 

[smokedragon]

My favorite kindling is fatwood. It is all natural, burns really hot. The equivalent of burning well seasoned yellow pine in your stove.

 

[begreen]

Question, if a catalyst lasts say 6 yrs. how efficient is it at year 4 or 5?

 

[solarguy2003]

Glad to hear of the new 10 year warranty.

Friendly reminder, the pdf on the website for the sirocco 30 still says pro-rated 6 years.


Excellent info so far. Yes, air leaks are bad....

troy

 

[blueguy]

The actual warranty documentation that comes with the stove says 10

 

[smokedragon]

Question, if a catalyst lasts say 6 yrs. how efficient is it at year 4 or 5?

As someone who is in the market for a catalytic stove, I would like to see this question answered.........perhaps it needs its own thread.

 

[Highbeam]

Glad to hear of the new 10 year warranty.

It's not new, my 2012 install has the warrranty. This is only a BK thing and should help to calm the fears of cat replacement costs. Since most folks change houses every 7 years (crazy I know) then this could be considered a "lifetime" cat.

Since thermal shock from leaky gaskets seems to be the remaining weakness, pay special attention to the door seal.