Cat Life

[Todd]

I know cats have 9 lives, but I talked with a guy that said he has been burning a (Dover?) cat stove for over 15 years without replacing the cat. He said the cat is still good and all he burns is dry cedar pretty much 24/7. Woodstock says they have customers that are going over 8 years without replacement. Guess it depends alot on wood type, dryness, and burning habits.

 

[HarryBack]

overfiring and underfiring will kill a cat quicker than anything else.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Condor says 12,000 hours. In my case, that's about 2 full heating seasons, 24/7 October through April.

 

[elkimmeg]

simple observation, look at the smoke leaving your chimney, engage the damper to initiate the cat,
wait 10 minutes and make another observation of the smoke exiting the chimney. Should be less smoke now.
Another way is to open up the chamber were it resides and observe. Is it filled with soot has the honey cone cat fallen a part?
If intact vacume it out or remove it for cleaning Cleaning can consist to being as simple as blowing it out with compressed air
More extensive cleanning using a pipe cleaner. Total cleanning is 50/50 mix of vinegar and boiling water and let the boiling process clean it blow it out again and replace it

 

[Sandor]

Okay, okay, I'll admit it....I don't know much about 'cats'....sooooo, how do you know when a 'cat' has gone 'kat-putsky'???

If I lean down and peer up in the stove, without spilling my beer, it means the cat is glowing red and ok.

If I lean down and peer up in the stove, while spilling my beer, it means the cat is not glowing and I am leaning over too far to see if the cat is glowing red. Cat, no good.

Einstein would be proud.

 

[Todd]

Okay, okay, I'll admit it....I don't know much about 'cats'....sooooo, how do you know when a 'cat' has gone 'kat-putsky'???

If I lean down and peer up in the stove, without spilling my beer, it means the cat is glowing red and ok.

If I lean down and peer up in the stove, while spilling my beer, it means the cat is not glowing and I am leaning over too far to see if the cat is glowing red. Cat, no good.

Einstein would be proud.

According to my little cat manual it doesn't always have to be glowing to be working. It depends on wood type and moisture.

 

[Sandor]

Okay, okay, I'll admit it....I don't know much about 'cats'....sooooo, how do you know when a 'cat' has gone 'kat-putsky'???

If I lean down and peer up in the stove, without spilling my beer, it means the cat is glowing red and ok.

If I lean down and peer up in the stove, while spilling my beer, it means the cat is not glowing and I am leaning over too far to see if the cat is glowing red. Cat, no good.

Einstein would be proud.

According to my little cat manual it doesn't always have to be glowing to be working. It depends on wood type and moisture.

And if it never glows red...while the stove's intake is set really low?

Unburnt hydrocarbons, are, unburnt hydrocarbons, no matter what the source. The cat has no clue whats in the box below.

Once your burn for awhile, you certainly get that "feel" about what is happening, or should be happening.

 

[joshuaviktor]

Dammit, no one's paying attention to the real problem at hand! Sandor is abusing alcohol every time the cat isn't working!

HE SPILLS IT!

Get some help, man, get some help!

Joshua

 

[elkimmeg]

He is not worried on the top of the stove is his next batch of home brew boiling.
I agree one should not waste good beer examining the cat

 

[Eric Johnson]

No bigger sin around my house than not finishing your damn beer. Fortunately, on the rare occasions when that happens, I mix it with coffee grounds and feed it all to the redworms in my worm farm. The little drunks wallow in it, but then again, they wallow in everything.

 

[fbelec]

i donno, i think i would have to see it to believe it. 10 or 15 years. some people just don't have a clue. they figure if the stove is giving them heat, it's ok. the guy around the corner has a 5 year old vermont castings cat stove, his chimney is always smoking heavy. he throws 10 times more smoke than i do and my stove has a excuse. it's 28 years old

 

[Czech]

If I could just keep the full cans away from the 12 week old lab pup, she's a lush.

 

[Mo Heat]

Condor says 12,000 hours. In my case, that's about 2 full heating seasons, 24/7 October through April.

In my case, that's about 15 heating seasons burning 8/7 from November through March with occasional 24/7 burns:

5 mos * 30 days * 8 hrs/day = 1200 hrs/season
20,000 / 1,200 = 16.66 seasons.

(Warning: Mo's math is usually wrong.)

 

[joshuaviktor]

In all seriousness, Elk, what is the name of that place you get the aftermarket cats at?


I think I got that VC Defiant Encore locked down, and will need to buy a replacement cat for it. The guy was real nice. I told him I couldn't afford to pay him for a few weeks, he doesn't mind. Thank god, as I need to buy another load of oil (argh) first.

By next winter, I should have both stoves piped with flex liner, and just plain rocking and rolling to heat the house. 80-100k btu's int he basement with a blower, and 45-55k btus? in the parlor (don't know how much a 1991 defiant encore throws).

Over the summer, I buy a corn stove.

Next year, a new boiler (wood/oil combo)
The next year, I tackle ...



THE BATHROOMS!


Joshua

(Not that I obsess, or anything)

 

[roac]

I'm not him but I believe it is here...

http://www.stovecombustors.com/pages/1/index.htm

 

[pgmr]

Condor says 12,000 hours. In my case, that's about 2 full heating seasons, 24/7 October through April.

In my case, that's about 15 heating seasons burning 8/7 from November through March with occasional 24/7 burns:

5 mos * 30 days * 8 hrs/day = 1200 hrs/season
20,000 / 1,200 = 16.66 seasons.

(Warning: Mo's math is usually wrong.)

...and the example above is no exception to the rule...12,000 / 1200 = 10 years

 

[Mo Heat]

Condor says 12,000 hours. In my case, that's about 2 full heating seasons, 24/7 October through April.

In my case, that's about 15 heating seasons burning 8/7 from November through March with occasional 24/7 burns:

5 mos * 30 days * 8 hrs/day = 1200 hrs/season
20,000 / 1,200 = 16.66 seasons.

(Warning: Mo's math is usually wrong.)

...and the example above is no exception to the rule...12,000 / 1200 = 10 years

Thanks, I 'er, uh, was just seeing if anyone was paying attention...

Dang! I suck! Even when the math is right, I botch the original data.

10 years it is. Not bad, but I'd have liked my 15 year result better.