Hi Everyone - I inherited my dad's home with it's about '98 Firelight 12, still in use, and I'm finding out that the catalyst chamber is missing not only the catalyst itself, but the cover and some of the chamber material. I realize another cat and related parts are going to be pricey, and was wondering if anyone has experience running it without the cat. My concern is that the cat chamber still fosters enough heat to cause complete combustion in there. I don't see any smoke coming from my chimney, yet I can keep a smallish slow burn at about 4-600 degrees in the chimney connector pipe. I like the top loading feature of the stove, and it doesn't result in any smoke rollout, as the damper automatically flips to primary draw as soon as the pedal is activated. The new Oslo CF seems to be the latest best, as it doesn't need a cat, but is a bit smaller than my current model.
I noticed secondary burn holes in the inner manifold - now that the cat is out, would it be efficient to enlarge those a bit for more secondary burn, or best to just leave it as is, or replace the cat?
Also, has anyone experimented with a thermostatic control of the inlet air at the outside air manifold inlet at the rear bottom of the stove? With sometimes a bit wet logs and the poorer draw because of the secondary burn routing, I have to constantly tend the ash door for draft control. I'm hoping to route the air passages inside to allow a better free flow. Looking forward to hearing your experiences roll in!
![[Hearth.com] Firelight 12 Secondary Burn](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/267/267890-2d28146e1f5f369439bca748619e19ab.jpg?hash=sQirIZmmtU "[Hearth.com] Firelight 12 Secondary Burn")
![[Hearth.com] Firelight 12 Secondary Burn](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/267/267891-0c3009c173b9a85be0e669f639815afe.jpg?hash=A91WCiH9m6 "[Hearth.com] Firelight 12 Secondary Burn")
I noticed secondary burn holes in the inner manifold - now that the cat is out, would it be efficient to enlarge those a bit for more secondary burn, or best to just leave it as is, or replace the cat?
Also, has anyone experimented with a thermostatic control of the inlet air at the outside air manifold inlet at the rear bottom of the stove? With sometimes a bit wet logs and the poorer draw because of the secondary burn routing, I have to constantly tend the ash door for draft control. I'm hoping to route the air passages inside to allow a better free flow. Looking forward to hearing your experiences roll in!
