Seems this can take some time for a person to learn. Can you use a stove with it bypassed if need be till you aquire the skill?
Does a cat "have to be" engaged?
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If the cat is able to work (not too old, too dirty, too abused, etc), then there is not a lot of skill involved. If you have a catalyst thermometer, wait until it gets to 500F and close the bypass. If you don't, wait 20-30 minutes after starting the fire.
Loco Gringo said:
Yup. I do it on those damp cool spring/fall days. It's either an open window or an open damper, your call.
It doesn't take long to learn, watch your temps and engage the cat. Usually the stove manuals have good instructions.
I haven't run many different cat stoves, but for mine, if you've got dry wood, it's easy to light off the combustor. Then just cut back the air and let 'er cruise.
You can burn with the bypass open and get heat. I've got a blower that I use sometimes; If I want to burn down coals, I might open the bypass and turn on the fan to grab the radiant heat.
You can burn with the bypass open and get heat. I've got a blower that I use sometimes; If I want to burn down coals, I might open the bypass and turn on the fan to grab the radiant heat.
"Yup. I do it on those damp cool spring/fall days. It’s either an open window or an open damper, your call."
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Loco Gringo said:
Take some time to learn? Learn what?
Can you use the stove without using the cat? Yes, but why would you even want to.
We have a cat stove and this is the first cat stove for us. Not much to learn there. Wait until stove top is hot enough or 10-15 minutes. Nope. Not much to learn. Of course some say it is complicated because you actually have to move a lever
Right.
I run mine on bypass all the time. you just use more wood but if wood is abundant, its no problem.
Actually running a good hot fire with the bypass wide open keeps your pipes clean.
Actually running a good hot fire with the bypass wide open keeps your pipes clean.
Nyquil Junkie said:
You run a cat stove with a steel plate instead of a cat and then run with the bypass open.. I am not impressed with your irresponsible comments and advising others to do the same really rubs me the wrong way (Ann from KY for example).. If your methods can be proven to be an improved way to burn then by all means tell us about it.. The vast majority of people here try to be responsible wood burners and your posts have been counterproductive in my opinion.. Better to be a fool and keep to yourself than state your case and remove all doubt..
Ray
BrowningBAR said:
I just put in my 2cents for what it's worth.
And nyquil junkie,running a good hot fire every day for a little while will not keep your pipes clean.
Some people do that because if they are going to have a chimney fire they want to have it when there is not much creosote in the chimney.
That's how that started.
I myself don't do it.
Waste of wood.
I might char up a new load some before setting the t=stat where I want it..but that's about it.
I don't even do that if I'm just topping a load off for the night or whatever.
Backwoods Savage said:Loco Gringo said:
Take some time to learn? Learn what?
Can you use the stove without using the cat? Yes, but why would you even want to.
We have a cat stove and this is the first cat stove for us. Not much to learn there. Wait until stove top is hot enough or 10-15 minutes. Nope. Not much to learn. Of course some say it is complicated because you actually have to move a lever
To learn how it works first hand. Did you learn to walk right out of the stroller? Nope!
Cuz you may be in a bind and not have perfectly seasoned wood or a blocked, cracked, or faulty cat. Whata you do then? Sit and freeze with your wife and kids?
No complication with doing things manually here. Thats how I prefer it. Im old fashioned.
In the future, dont answer my questions if you cant refrain from being a smart ass. Ill extend the same courtesy.
Thanks for the real world advise guys. Thats what I needed to hear. I was looking at this listing fwiw (broken link removed to http://asheville.craigslist.org/for/2214400720.html)
For some reason that one line made me laugh out loud.
Consolidated Dutchwest wood stove. Made in the USA by Virginia Castings. This is model FA224-2181. This is the largest of the stoves, capable of putting out 38,000 BTUs/hr. We just bought a house and it has this wood stove. Appears to be in near pristine condition. Loads from front and side. Looks like a great stove, we just don't want it and it's blocking our view of the fireplace. Also comes with 2 stacks of wood. I know nothing about how to disassemble it so you MUST be able disconnect the stack and remove from chimney. $600 OBO. Cash only. No trades. Please email with questions. Thanks for looking.
* Location: Hendersonville
Consolidated Dutchwest wood stove. Made in the USA by Virginia Castings. This is model FA224-2181. This is the largest of the stoves, capable of putting out 38,000 BTUs/hr. We just bought a house and it has this wood stove. Appears to be in near pristine condition. Loads from front and side. Looks like a great stove, we just don't want it and it's blocking our view of the fireplace. Also comes with 2 stacks of wood. I know nothing about how to disassemble it so you MUST be able disconnect the stack and remove from chimney. $600 OBO. Cash only. No trades. Please email with questions. Thanks for looking.
* Location: Hendersonville
Loco Gringo said:
That's the small version of my stove and is rated 7,000 to 30,000 btu and is a cat stove.. Looks like it is in decent shape and it isn't a good idea to run the stove with the cat bypassed, lots of creosote and inefficient too.. Backwoods Savage is a very knowledgeable and respected wood burner and have never seen him be a wise ass for the record..
Ray
I thought so too ray but look back to post 6 and imagine being a new member here looking for advice. Not too friendly. Or helpfull. Maybe I shouldnt have even asked. Lets just let the thread die off.
Hello Loco Gringo,Loco Gringo said:
I honestly don't think BWS meant any harm with his words. Sometimes words have a way of coming across a little abrupt and careless on the computer screen. I have read many of his posts and heard many a good word of advice from that man! He may have been tired when he responded or just chose the wrong words to express his view on the subject. Guarantee you'd like him if you met him in person.
As far as burning with the bypass open, I wouldn't do it much unless the cat was totally inoperable. If the wood is wet, just let it burn hot and get dry before you bypass to the cat, is my advice. Split the wood smaller and get it really burning. Sometimes in the shoulder season you may want to burn a couple of sticks wide open just to take the chill off, otherwise my stove can throw off too much heat when the cat gets to light off mode. Has happened when we have those warmer days in the fall or spring.
The stove is a good stove, but the price is a little much in my opinion. I got mine(the next size up and newer model) for $550 completely recemmented, new gaskets and new paint. It had been completely taken appart, sandblasted, rebuilt to like new in condition. Except for the cat, which had a good season or two left in it. You can find these stoves used on CL for 300-400. Just use this link to search surrounding areas on CL: http://www.searchtempest.com/
Loco, don't gert discouraged yet there is a lot more good than bad on here. Sometimes you just have to take things with a grain of salt and keep searching for enlightenment, afterall that is why most of us are here. Either to offer or to receive most of the time both. Take care,
Chris
Loco Gringo said:
Aww, crap. I'd just given myself permission to get on here and say what I've resisted saying since I first saw the title of your post, which is, "No, but they should at least be really good friends", and then you posted this. It's like you knew I was coming . . .
hangin' my head and taking my smarty-pants tendencies elsewhere now . . .
But before I depart, I just want to say that if I'd waited to do this stove thing perfectly, I wouldn't have muddled through to the point of kinda knowing what I was doing, and thus would have been royally muffed when my boiler went down last month. I think those of us who did the best we could with what we had, made mistakes, and learned from them are eventually finding success. I've appreciated your posts and hope you'll stick around. Stay warm.
Getting back to the original question of
"Does a cat “have to be†engaged?"
I just wish that they had to be engaged...
To my knowledge, none of my cats have ever been engaged. It's the same ol' thing...you hear the boyfriend hollering his fool head off for several nights...enough so that one night you finally run crazily outside wearing bedroom shoes and fruit-of-the-looms with a flashlight in one hand you pick up the first stick you find on the ground with the other. You run around the corner towards the boyfriend swinging the stick and and screaming like a mad man at the top of your voice to "shut up!!" when you spot the paperboy and his mother stopped in front of your house with mouths agape and eyes wide open.
The boyfriend is still screaming out his amorous song. You quickly suck in your gut (so as not to look too dilapidated to the paper people and hurry back around the back of the house. About that time you slip a tad in the wet grass but catch yourself. Rounding the corner you get too close to the rose bush your wife has been wanting you to trim...thorny slap across the face.
Finally you've made it back into the house. You've gone through the kitchen, down the hall, and into your bedroom when suddenly the smell hits you....and you realize the slight "slip" outside was courtesy of a treasure that your neighbor's dog had left for you. You snatch your bedroom shoes off run to the back door and heave them out into the yard...about the time you realize that you just ran through what you had smeared into the carpet. So now you're an enraged, half-asleep, dog-crap smelling, 50 year old, who *really* needs that last two hours of sleep...and your wife wakes up. Now you're on your knees scrubbing dog crap out of the carpet, then to washing your feet. Finally, with exhaustion and defeat you sink back into the bed with the aroma of processed kibbles-n-bits floating around your head when softly and then building to a crescendo the boyfriend and your cat unite in blissful cat screams. ...and your wife is at the other end of the house in the guest room.
...and a few minutes later the police knock on your door to warn you of a strange individual roaming the neighborhood as they scrunch their noses up at the smell emerging from your opened door and ask you what happened to your face.
...and the next day you're at the store renting the Stanley Steamer with a dozen roses already in the car...
Does a cat have to be engaged?......nah. ...but they sure can be engaging.
"Does a cat “have to be†engaged?"
I just wish that they had to be engaged...
To my knowledge, none of my cats have ever been engaged. It's the same ol' thing...you hear the boyfriend hollering his fool head off for several nights...enough so that one night you finally run crazily outside wearing bedroom shoes and fruit-of-the-looms with a flashlight in one hand you pick up the first stick you find on the ground with the other. You run around the corner towards the boyfriend swinging the stick and and screaming like a mad man at the top of your voice to "shut up!!" when you spot the paperboy and his mother stopped in front of your house with mouths agape and eyes wide open.
The boyfriend is still screaming out his amorous song. You quickly suck in your gut (so as not to look too dilapidated to the paper people and hurry back around the back of the house. About that time you slip a tad in the wet grass but catch yourself. Rounding the corner you get too close to the rose bush your wife has been wanting you to trim...thorny slap across the face.
Finally you've made it back into the house. You've gone through the kitchen, down the hall, and into your bedroom when suddenly the smell hits you....and you realize the slight "slip" outside was courtesy of a treasure that your neighbor's dog had left for you. You snatch your bedroom shoes off run to the back door and heave them out into the yard...about the time you realize that you just ran through what you had smeared into the carpet. So now you're an enraged, half-asleep, dog-crap smelling, 50 year old, who *really* needs that last two hours of sleep...and your wife wakes up. Now you're on your knees scrubbing dog crap out of the carpet, then to washing your feet. Finally, with exhaustion and defeat you sink back into the bed with the aroma of processed kibbles-n-bits floating around your head when softly and then building to a crescendo the boyfriend and your cat unite in blissful cat screams. ...and your wife is at the other end of the house in the guest room.
...and a few minutes later the police knock on your door to warn you of a strange individual roaming the neighborhood as they scrunch their noses up at the smell emerging from your opened door and ask you what happened to your face.
...and the next day you're at the store renting the Stanley Steamer with a dozen roses already in the car...
Does a cat have to be engaged?......nah. ...but they sure can be engaging.
Intheswamp said:
I can't wait for the feature length film to come out. I'm seeing Jim Carrey as the lead character, no?
Loco Gringo said:Backwoods Savage said:Loco Gringo said:
Take some time to learn? Learn what?
Can you use the stove without using the cat? Yes, but why would you even want to.
We have a cat stove and this is the first cat stove for us. Not much to learn there. Wait until stove top is hot enough or 10-15 minutes. Nope. Not much to learn. Of course some say it is complicated because you actually have to move a lever
To learn how it works first hand. Did you learn to walk right out of the stroller? Nope! Cuz you may be in a bind and not have perfectly seasoned wood or a blocked, cracked, or faulty cat. Whata you do then? Sit and freeze with your wife and kids?
No complication with doing things manually here. Thats how I prefer it. Im old fashioned. In the future, dont answer my questions if you cant refrain from being a smart ass. Ill extend the same courtesy.
Please do extend the courtesy. However, if you think I was trying to be a smart ass then I would also expect you to consider that you perhaps came to the wrong conclusion. There was nothing smart asses about any comment I made there. Absolutely nothing.
We do get comments on this forum from others saying running a cat stove is complicated and more "difficult to learn." Personally, I've been blessed in being able to run many types of wood stoves and our present stove is a cat stove. We have found absolutely nothing complicated about it. In fact, we now think it is one of the easiest stoves we've ever operated.
So please get off the high horse and realize there was no smart assed remark in that previous post. I suggest you re-read it and if you do find something there, then by all means, I invite you to send me a PM and explain. Perhaps I can learn something here.
In the meantime, I'll continue to operate our cat stove in a very simple manner; no complications.
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