Damaged Cat?

[kennyp2339]

I did a quick peace of mind cleaning yesterday, chimney wasnt bad, maybe about a cup of powder crud came out, cap wasn't bad either, I did take the flame shield off and inspect the front of the cat, this is my 3rd season on a ceramic cat, I have some small crumbles on the lower corners, I know i have a high draft especially when temps are colder, between the NW prevailing winds and chimney orientation, I need to operate with a damper to keep things in spec, the one thing you can check to see if your over drafting is fly ash build up, when I vacuumed the upper stove chamber, I also hit the back of the cat, heard lots of little clinging in the hose as the fly ash build up was removed, I also noticed when I made a new fire the cat was much more reactive, both the probe read higher and the glow itself was brighter.
The spec is .05"wc for draft, I tend to operate around .08"wc with the damper almost fully shut on the chimney side, without the damper I run about .18"wc or just over 3x recommended draft.

 

[Highbeam]

I did a quick peace of mind cleaning yesterday, chimney wasnt bad, maybe about a cup of powder crud came out, cap wasn't bad either, I did take the flame shield off and inspect the front of the cat, this is my 3rd season on a ceramic cat, I have some small crumbles on the lower corners, I know i have a high draft especially when temps are colder, between the NW prevailing winds and chimney orientation, I need to operate with a damper to keep things in spec, the one thing you can check to see if your over drafting is fly ash build up, when I vacuumed the upper stove chamber, I also hit the back of the cat, heard lots of little clinging in the hose as the fly ash build up was removed, I also noticed when I made a new fire the cat was much more reactive, both the probe read higher and the glow itself was brighter.
The spec is .05"wc for draft, I tend to operate around .08"wc with the damper almost fully shut on the chimney side, without the damper I run about .18"wc or just over 3x recommended draft.

When trying to suck out your cat from the back, how do you get around the welded in steel curtain? Or does your model have that?

 

[kennyp2339]

When trying to suck out your cat from the back, how do you get around the welded in steel curtain? Or does your model have that?

I have a small reducer nozzle, and I carefully worked it in with the by-pass closed coming in from the stove collar, used my cell phone flash light

 

[BKVP]

I have a small reducer nozzle, and I carefully worked it in with the by-pass closed coming in from the stove collar, used my cell phone flash light

Some models have removable or moveable back pressure plates. Older models were welded in fixed positions.

BKVP

 

[moresnow]

I did a quick peace of mind cleaning yesterday, chimney wasnt bad, maybe about a cup of powder crud came out, cap wasn't bad either, I did take the flame shield off and inspect the front of the cat, this is my 3rd season on a ceramic cat, I have some small crumbles on the lower corners, I know i have a high draft especially when temps are colder, between the NW prevailing winds and chimney orientation, I need to operate with a damper to keep things in spec, the one thing you can check to see if your over drafting is fly ash build up, when I vacuumed the upper stove chamber, I also hit the back of the cat, heard lots of little clinging in the hose as the fly ash build up was removed, I also noticed when I made a new fire the cat was much more reactive, both the probe read higher and the glow itself was brighter.
The spec is .05"wc for draft, I tend to operate around .08"wc with the damper almost fully shut on the chimney side, without the damper I run about .18"wc or just over 3x recommended draft.

Might consider the 50/50 viniger, distilled H20 soak at this 3 yr point. Just did mine. The awakening is real Amazing results every time.

 

[kennyp2339]

Might consider the 50/50 viniger, distilled H20 soak at this 3 yr point. Just did mine. The awakening is real Amazing results every time.

Nah, its working just fine and I also have 2 new cats waiting in storage for when this one finally dies, hoping to get a full season out of this current one.