New record for me today.....

[certified106]

I loaded up my stove this morning before I left for work at 6:30am with pine and a chunk of oak, let the cat get lit off and shut it down. This evening I got home at 9:45pm opened the stove and still had a decent amount of glowing coals so I threw in a few oak splits let em catch for about 5 minutes loaded it back up with two pine splits/two cherry splits and had the cat lit off within thirty minutes of getting home. I know it's not a BK but I am thrilled every time I get a 15 hour burn and don't have to restart my stove heck the cast on it was still 235° when I checked it with the IR. This is why I would be hard pressed to own any stove that didn't have a cat even though I am extremely tempted when I watch the secondary's light off on my friends Regency as it is a gorgeous light show.

 

[fbelec]

very nice. keep up the good work. i just need to do the same without making my chimney a nice shiney black slick

 

[Todd]

Those secondary light shows are overrated, I'd rather have the long burns and even heat. Keep the cat stove.

 

[corey21]

Nice.
:coolsmile:

 

[soupy1957]

So, that's the biggest benefit of a Cat Stove? It keeps things going longer? What's the replacement part and chimney fire potential in a Cat stove (Annual Repair & Hazard potential, respectively)?

-Soupy1957

 

[BrowningBAR]

So, that's the biggest benefit of a Cat Stove? It keeps things going longer? What's the replacement part and chimney fire potential in a Cat stove (Annual Repair & Hazard potential, respectively)?

-Soupy1957

Do a search. It has been covered repeatedly.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

So, that's the biggest benefit of a Cat Stove? It keeps things going longer? What's the replacement part and chimney fire potential in a Cat stove (Annual Repair & Hazard potential, respectively)?

-Soupy1957

Replacement part (the cat) varies much the same as baffle replacement of a non-cat stove. Chimney fire potential. I can not speak for everyone or for every stove but the chimney fire potential in our stove is fairly low. We are into our 4th year burning and the chimney looks new. We cleaned it one time to get about a cup of soot from the chimney; no creosote. Chimney fire potential? What's that?

 

[Slow1]

So, that's the biggest benefit of a Cat Stove? It keeps things going longer?

I would say "more even burn with option to burn longer" rather than simply "keeps things going longer" - the distinction being that you can spread out the heat from spike of peak burn time over a longer period of time. You get about the same amount of heat (avoiding the "cats are more efficient" arguments here - they may well be but the difference is likely a very small margin) but you can spread it out and get consistent output.

What's the replacement part

Cats cost to replace run from $125 (cost for a Fireview cat today) to over $300 (prices I've heard others toss around - not sure of brands). Generally speaking they come warranted with a 6 year pro-rated warranty where the first 3 years are full replacement then the following three years (4-6) it is a percentage of the cost. I'm not exactly sure of the cost table, never really dug into it. However if you consider that this means you will get at least 3 years out of it (the 'free replacement' time) then for a Fireview that is no more than $42/year.

Like everything though that is not the whole story - during shoulder seasons one is very likely to reduce wood consumption (or alternate fuel use) by being able to take advantage of the cat's ability to burn clean/safe at say 350* stove top temp for hours on end with a single load. Even if your wood is 'free' the savings in work can make this worthwhile - or not. Individual decision on how you view things.

and chimney fire potential in a Cat stove (Annual Repair & Hazard potential, respectively)?

-Soupy1957

Properly installed, operated, and maintained there is no difference in risk /chimney fire potential between a Cat and non-Cat stove. Simply can't say that any more clear.

 

[certified106]

Wood is wood so there is only a certain amount of btu's that you can get out of it and the cat just helps you spread those btu's out for a longer amount of time.
As far as creosote goes...if your wood is dry and your cat is lit off there is no problem end of story. I cleaned the chimney (just out of normal yearly habit) and it was a waste of time as I only got a handful of dry powdery ash. I probably could have went two or three years and been ok but I would have sat there and wondered so better safe than sorry.

 

[logger]

Cool. We made a new record yesterday too. We loaded the Oslo at 8pm for the night, went to bed and then work the next day without any reloads. Arrived home at 5pm and rolled up newspapers for a cold start.. only thing was, I found hot embers in the back of the stove that were enough to ignite some splits. By far the longest amout of time that's elapsed for us where embers were still hot enough for reload (21 hrs, no exagerations). Im happy with 10-12 hrs usually. Must've been the splits the old lady put in.

 

[certified106]

Cool. We made a new record yesterday too. We loaded the Oslo at 8pm for the night, went to bed and then work the next day without any reloads. Arrived home at 5pm and rolled up newspapers for a cold start.. only thing was, I found hot embers in the back of the stove that were enough to ignite some splits. By far the longest amout of time that's elapsed for us where embers were still hot enough for reload (21 hrs, no exagerations). Im happy with 10-12 hrs usually. Must've been the splits the old lady put in.

21 hrs, That's good to hear as that's about what I'm going for today. I loaded up with oak at 9:45 last night and this morning the house was still 76° and the stove top temperature was running at 365°. I checked the fire real quick and still had orange chunks of wood and a really thick bed of coals. I'm hoping tonight at 7pm I will still have plenty of hot coals to do a quick restart.

 

[Slow1]

I think my "record" is around 36-48 hours from last feeding of stove to getting a fire started from coals. I'm not really sure it matters all that much though as I certainly wasn't getting any useful heat from the stove for the last day or so of that time. Coals buried in ash can (as all the threads about ash disposal reflect) last quite a long time.

What I have found interesting this year is to see just how much the type of wood changes things though. I started out burning pine (or other soft evergreens found in my area that pass as "pine") and I certainly didn't find much in the way of coals left over for long after the fire was out. Now I'm burning poplar and some birch (not sure what kind, but not white/paper) and there is a major difference in how long the coals last. Then I had a couple pieces of oak come through and again I can see a big shift from the poplar/birch. I have some apple that has found its way into the house this week that I'm somewhat setting aside for a cold(er) night - I imagine it will be longer lasting.

My wood pile just is that way this year - more different types mixed in on this side. I gathered this wood my first year burning and it sort of just is mixed up as there were so many small lots of it. I don't have space to store it all in nice separate piles so it is jumbled together. I generally have the softer wood on one side so that is going in first and I have an "all oak" section on the left side for January burning. I should probably toss the apple in that direction but I don't think I have enough of it to really matter, but I do wonder how long the apple coals will last now...

 

[certified106]

Update to the 15 hour burn...... I added a load of oak last night at 9:45pm lit the cat off and shut the stove down. This morning at 6:30 the stove temp was still above 350° and the blower was still running. Checked the load and still had big glowing chunks of wood so I just shut the door and left for work. Just got home at 6:30 this evening and check the stove temp and it was still 186°. I then opened the door and the picture below show what the firebox looked like (sorry it's a cell phone picture). Anyways, 15 minutes later a good load is burning away and I'm probably about 5 or ten minutes from lighting off the cat. I think part of the reason I have been able to get such great burn times is the 2 year seasoned oak I loaded up yesterday evening. This is the first year I have ever had 2 year old wood to burn as my normal seasoning has been 12 to 14 months.