It's like a new stove

[NewGuy132]

So I've had my fair share of issues over the past 2 seasons (this is my 3rd) getting to know the stove and just figuring out how it works. At the end of last season I was thinking that I something was up with my CAT. The temp would get up in to the 600-700's for about 15 minutes then drop down to 550 or so for the remainder of the burn. I was able to run the stove, but when I'd sweep my chimney every month (had a chimney fire my first year due to bad wood/burning practices) there was always a lot of creosote that came out seemingly no matter how I burned. Well I am a procrastinator so at the beginning of this season I ordered a replacement CAT. (As a side note the Intrepid takes the same CAT as the Dauntless. They only list them online for the Dauntless.)

Last night we finally had our first fire with the new CAT in. Wow what a difference. Once the STT hit 475 or so I closed the damper and watched the CAT temp climb. It slowed down around 700, but I knew that it was lit off at that point. At some point something shifted and it went up to 1050 or so. The CAT stayed in the 700-800's until the stove was down to just coals. Once the CAT hit 690 or so I put a single log on the coals and instantly closed the damper. I also didn't change the air settings so it was closed all the way. The cat went back up to about 850 or so and stayed there until I went to bed and it was just coals.

The stove did exactly what I expected it to do when I changed anything. This is how it is supposed to work. It also seemed like I got some more heat out of it. Now I would feel confident loading up the stove on coals and turning the air down and leaving it for the night/day. I would have loved to have run the stove today, but somehow MA is 50 + degrees out today and I'd have to open the windows.

Also a side note the CAT that came with my stove from VC was metal and the replacement is a ceramic.

 

[sargeott]

So I've had my fair share of issues over the past 2 seasons (this is my 3rd) getting to know the stove and just figuring out how it works. At the end of last season I was thinking that I something was up with my CAT. The temp would get up in to the 600-700's for about 15 minutes then drop down to 550 or so for the remainder of the burn. I was able to run the stove, but when I'd sweep my chimney every month (had a chimney fire my first year due to bad wood/burning practices) there was always a lot of creosote that came out seemingly no matter how I burned. Well I am a procrastinator so at the beginning of this season I ordered a replacement CAT. (As a side note the Intrepid takes the same CAT as the Dauntless. They only list them online for the Dauntless.)

Last night we finally had our first fire with the new CAT in. Wow what a difference. Once the STT hit 475 or so I closed the damper and watched the CAT temp climb. It slowed down around 700, but I knew that it was lit off at that point. At some point something shifted and it went up to 1050 or so. The CAT stayed in the 700-800's until the stove was down to just coals. Once the CAT hit 690 or so I put a single log on the coals and instantly closed the damper. I also didn't change the air settings so it was closed all the way. The cat went back up to about 850 or so and stayed there until I went to bed and it was just coals.

The stove did exactly what I expected it to do when I changed anything. This is how it is supposed to work. It also seemed like I got some more heat out of it. Now I would feel confident loading up the stove on coals and turning the air down and leaving it for the night/day. I would have loved to have run the stove today, but somehow MA is 50 + degrees out today and I'd have to open the windows.

Also a side note the CAT that came with my stove from VC was metal and the replacement is a ceramic.

Where did you order your cat from? Mind mentioning the price? Im always price shopping.

 

[NewGuy132]

Where did you order your cat from? Mind mentioning the price? Im always price shopping.

I bought it from Condar directly. It was $105 before shipping and I think it was $10 for shipping.

 

[sargeott]

Shoot, that's the best price I have seen yet! Im not paying another 253 bucks down the road. Thanks!

 

[NewGuy132]

Shoot, that's the best price I have seen yet! Im not paying another 253 bucks down the road. Thanks!

It is the bottom one. It only took 2 days or so to come in. Although I think it came from NJ and I’m in MA so it isn’t that far. https://www.woodstovecombustors.com/wood-stove-brands/flexburn.html

 

[Kevin Weis]

I have an Intrepid flexburn and I've never been able to find a ceramic cat for it, only the metal one. The Condar site that I saw only shows a metal one but that was a year ago or so. I'll have to re-check that. As far as I know the Dauntless has a different combuster than the Intrepid. Surprised the cat would be same.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Well I just checked the Codar site and as above they show a cat for the Dauntless but not the Intrepid oddly. Strange since the cat that came with the stove was a steel Condar cat. Only only cat I could find for the Intrepid flexburn was through Mountain View for $318 for a steel cat. Crazy high price. I'm going to do some measuring to see if it's the same size as the Dauntless ceramic one. Something doesn't sound right here.

 

[sargeott]

Well I just checked the Codar site and as above they show a cat for the Dauntless but not the Intrepid oddly. Strange since the cat that came with the stove was a steel Condar cat. Only only cat I could find for the Intrepid flexburn was through Mountain View for $318 for a steel cat. Crazy high price. I'm going to do some measuring to see if it's the same size as the Dauntless ceramic one. Something doesn't sound right here.

The intrepid and dauntless are different sizes.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Okay then' that makes it more confusing to me as the OP says he bought a ceramic cat for a Dauntless and is using it in an Intrepid, no? I think the thickness is the same but I would think the dimensions otherwise would be different.

 

[sargeott]

No, the dimentions of the duantless cat are 6.5x2.5x1in
Intrepid 6.6x2.5x2in
So will a duantless cat fit? It's slightly smaller, but I'd be worried about air gaps causing inefficiency

 

[NewGuy132]

No, the dimentions of the duantless cat are 6.5x2.5x1in
Intrepid 6.6x2.5x2in
So will a duantless cat fit? It's slightly smaller, but I'd be worried about air gaps causing inefficiency

The intrepid Flexburn cat is o it 1 inch thick. I’ll put both of them next to each other and get some pictures later today. I emailed Condar and asked if they had one for the Intrepid and they said that people were just buying the one for the Dauntless and she gave me the measurements. I pulled mine out and they were the same.

 

[NewGuy132]

So the steel cat is on the right on the side by side pictures and it is in the front of the straight on picture. As far as there maybe being a small air gap, have you removed your steel cat? Mine at least wasn’t tight fitting and kind of just sat there with space all around it. The ceramic car seems to fit the same way. At most it is 1/10th of an inch off.

 

[Kevin Weis]

That 2" thick cat I think is for the Intrepid II not the flexburn to my knowledge. They are different animals all together. Well I've learned something today. Even though a steel cat is supposedly a better performer than than ceramic, the price difference matters to me. About a $210 difference. And yeah, my steel cat fits in there loosely as well. Not supposed to have a gasket there.

 

[NewGuy132]

Yes the 2 inch cat is for the older VC stoves. The Flexburn line uses 1 inch cats.

I might get a fire in tonight, but it’s still in the 40’s and I don’t want to have the house heat up too much.

 

[sargeott]

The intrepid Flexburn cat is o it 1 inch thick. I’ll put both of them next to each other and get some pictures later today. I emailed Condar and asked if they had one for the Intrepid and they said that people were just buying the one for the Dauntless and she gave me the measurements. I pulled mine out and they were the same.

Interesting. The condar website shows the dimentions I posted.

 

[NewGuy132]

Interesting. The condar website shows the dimentions I posted.

The Condar website doesn’t have a listing for the Flexburn only the older Intrepid models.

 

[steel city fire]

So I've had my fair share of issues over the past 2 seasons (this is my 3rd) getting to know the stove and just figuring out how it works. At the end of last season I was thinking that I something was up with my CAT. The temp would get up in to the 600-700's for about 15 minutes then drop down to 550 or so for the remainder of the burn. I was able to run the stove, but when I'd sweep my chimney every month (had a chimney fire my first year due to bad wood/burning practices) there was always a lot of creosote that came out seemingly no matter how I burned. Well I am a procrastinator so at the beginning of this season I ordered a replacement CAT. (As a side note the Intrepid takes the same CAT as the Dauntless. They only list them online for the Dauntless.)

Last night we finally had our first fire with the new CAT in. Wow what a difference. Once the STT hit 475 or so I closed the damper and watched the CAT temp climb. It slowed down around 700, but I knew that it was lit off at that point. At some point something shifted and it went up to 1050 or so. The CAT stayed in the 700-800's until the stove was down to just coals. Once the CAT hit 690 or so I put a single log on the coals and instantly closed the damper. I also didn't change the air settings so it was closed all the way. The cat went back up to about 850 or so and stayed there until I went to bed and it was just coals.

The stove did exactly what I expected it to do when I changed anything. This is how it is supposed to work. It also seemed like I got some more heat out of it. Now I would feel confident loading up the stove on coals and turning the air down and leaving it for the night/day. I would have loved to have run the stove today, but somehow MA is 50 + degrees out today and I'd have to open the windows.

Also a side note the CAT that came with my stove from VC was metal and the replacement is a ceramic.

Great post. I have a dauntless and had a question about my glass getting very dark when burning with the catalyst engaged. Do you have any information or insight about that issue? Thanks

 

[NewGuy132]

Great post. I have a dauntless and had a question about my glass getting very dark when burning with the catalyst engaged. Do you have any information or insight about that issue? Thanks

Burn hotter haha. That really is the way to clean glass. Also wood that has too high moisture content will darken glass quickly. Last year I think I would clean the glass once a week or so. I haven't even cleaned the ashes out of my stove from last year yet, or cleaned my chimney for the season so I haven't burned yet this year.

What stove top temp's are you usually running at? Do you have a probe to read the cat temp?

 

[steel city fire]

My STT are similar to what you’re doing. I don’t have a cat temp probe but thinking of putting in a SPT probe through the double walled pipe. I have really good wood this year and will see how the glass works out. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[NewGuy132]

My STT are similar to what you’re doing. I don’t have a cat temp probe but thinking of putting in a SPT probe through the double walled pipe. I have really good wood this year and will see how the glass works out. Thanks for the suggestions.

If you run a cat(you should) I can't recommend the Auber probe enough. It give you temp info much quicker than the probe that comes with the cat kit. It really helped me to run my stove better. I forget how much it was, but it was worth every penny.

 

[sargeott]

Great post. I have a dauntless and had a question about my glass getting very dark when burning with the catalyst engaged. Do you have any information or insight about that issue? Thanks

Dauntless owner here too.
Mositure content as other mentioned is a big deal. Even on the higher side of 12-15% will throw more crud onto the glass and will really make the cat run hard and hot.
Running the fire on the hotter side for a few minutes after a reload can help some. I too had glass gum up almost daily. Now that we moved to dryer climate the only thing we have around to burn is juniper wood. No clue how that's going to go for me yet this season.