After 30 years heating my house with wood, I feel almost like a complete newbie now that I have a cat stove. I love it (and will never go back to non-cat) but having to re-learn how to use a stove!
My question is, how long do most of you wait to re-engage the cat after reloading the stove with a big batch of wood? If the stove is plenty hot (stove top at 450-500), can you re-engage the cat right away? My owner's manual says 10 - 15 minutes, which seems like along time.
I'm also really wondering how differently cat stoves operate from each other. I'd love to compare directions in owners' manuals. My owner's manual says it takes 20 - 40 minutes and stove top should be 250 degrees. It easily takes 40 minutes or even more. That seems like a long time to be running the stove with no secondary combustion and it can be a bit smoky. The manufacturer told me by phone that it only needs to be 150 degrees and/or 20 minutes. (I won't say which make & model I have yet, as I'm more interested about how cat stoves work generally than discussion about a particular brand.)
So far, it seems to me that benefits of a cat stove are the long, steady burn once cat is engaged. But in start up, it seems to be smokier than a non-cat. If there is a new test method one day that includes start-up emissions, this may make it harder for cat stoves, unless they are hybrids. Thoughts?
My question is, how long do most of you wait to re-engage the cat after reloading the stove with a big batch of wood? If the stove is plenty hot (stove top at 450-500), can you re-engage the cat right away? My owner's manual says 10 - 15 minutes, which seems like along time.
I'm also really wondering how differently cat stoves operate from each other. I'd love to compare directions in owners' manuals. My owner's manual says it takes 20 - 40 minutes and stove top should be 250 degrees. It easily takes 40 minutes or even more. That seems like a long time to be running the stove with no secondary combustion and it can be a bit smoky. The manufacturer told me by phone that it only needs to be 150 degrees and/or 20 minutes. (I won't say which make & model I have yet, as I'm more interested about how cat stoves work generally than discussion about a particular brand.)
So far, it seems to me that benefits of a cat stove are the long, steady burn once cat is engaged. But in start up, it seems to be smokier than a non-cat. If there is a new test method one day that includes start-up emissions, this may make it harder for cat stoves, unless they are hybrids. Thoughts?