Catalyst and wet wood, engage?

[JRP3]

So I got some "steamers" the other day, seasoned wood my a$$! Anyway, my question is am I better off not engaging the cat at all when burning wet or will the cat still do it's job? What I've been doing is bypassing the cat longer than usual until most of the moisture is gone, but some of these seem to steam for a while. I'm trying to mix them in with some dry but I'm going to be burning some sponges this year, no way around it. This is the last year I'll ever buy firewood, people around here seem to think a tree lying on the ground for a year is seasoned.

 

[hookspacken]

If I have a few sizzlers, I will keep checking on them. Once they pretty much calm down and the stove temp seems to be coming along, I will activate the convertor. What you have to be careful of is if it is steaming a lot, it will cause thermal shock to the convertor and will crack and crumble it.

 

[Pine Knot]

Try placeing your "steamer" in the back and on the bottom and dryer wood on front and on top. Since the steamer is heating without burning it gives up it's moisture more slowly and has less effect on the fire. This is how I stack my Dutchwest cat stove to use some less than dry wood. The steamer will be the hot coals that you will restart the fire with the next morning.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

HOOK is correct , wet wood can cause thermal shock to a cat and ruin it , the big "no-no" is throwing wet wood on a hot fire in a cat unit , this intensifies the effect , if wet wood is the only alternative , fires should be cold started and allow the wood to cook out with the bypass open until sizzling is about done , then engage cat when it reaches operating temp, allow this wood to burn out and restart from coals with same procedure , its wasteful and aggrivating, but cats are costly. and some can be a booger to change out.

 

[jpl1nh]

This is the last year I’ll ever buy firewood, people around here seem to think a tree lying on the ground for a year is seasoned.

You can still buy firewood, just buy it green and stack and dry it yourself. You could buy this spring for next winter and better yet, the winter after.

 

[JRP3]

HOOK is correct , wet wood can cause thermal shock to a cat and ruin it , the big "no-no" is throwing wet wood on a hot fire in a cat unit , this intensifies the effect , if wet wood is the only alternative , fires should be cold started and allow the wood to cook out with the bypass open until sizzling is about done , then engage cat when it reaches operating temp, allow this wood to burn out and restart from coals with same procedure , its wasteful and aggrivating, but cats are costly. and some can be a booger to change out.

But if the bypass is open when I toss in the wood this shouldn't be an issue, right? Allowing the fire to burn down each time I need to reload just isn't an option, the house will be freezing by that time. Frankly, I need a new cat anyway but I'm going to hold off until after this season since my wood is wet and I don't want to trash a brand new $250 cat.

 

[JRP3]

This is the last year I’ll ever buy firewood, people around here seem to think a tree lying on the ground for a year is seasoned.

You can still buy firewood, just buy it green and stack and dry it yourself. You could buy this spring for next winter and better yet, the winter after.

I've got plenty of trees here and plan to use my own, but I just moved into the house in the middle of summer so everything I cut isn't really seasoned. I was hoping to buy a load of seasoned to get me through this year and then be a year ahead, but some of the wood I cut this summer is drier than what I bought.

 

[thephotohound]

JRP -

I have been where you are (last year, in fact). I burned wet wood all year. I know what it's like to simply NOT have an alternative. My moisture content was around 30-32%. If yours is greater than this, this may not work. All I did was double my normal time after reloading before engaging. If you have to close down the primary air a little to prevent overfiring, then so be it. For example, if it normally took about 5 minutes to char a seasoned load (before engaging), I would wait 10 minutes, even if my thermometers told me to engage after 5. I would damper down to avoid overfiring and make myself wait the full 10 minutes. Then I would open the door, make sure there was no more sizzling, and engage as normal. My cat was in perfect shape after 3 1/2 cords of wet stuff using this method. Good luck. You'll get through it.

 

[JRP3]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I've been doing. I'll be trying all the tricks mentioned here, good stuff. Thanks.