Ordered 2nd replacement cat for Fireview

[3fordasho]

This replacement will be the new stainless steel variety. The original cat lasted about 2 1/2 years and the ceramic substrate crumbled to bits. It's ceramic replacement is now about the same age but its failure is that it's just not firing off or staying fired - excessive smoke and low stove top temps are the symptoms. Physically it shows some minor-moderate cracking but is still 99% one piece. I spoke a bit with woodstock about why this was happening and they just said they have not been able to pinpoint any specific causes for the ceramic cat failures, hence the change to SS cats. He did mention that the active elements that make the cat work will be depleated before the stainless substrate fails, the opposite of ceramic cats (ceramic substrate fails first). Warranty covered the first replacment 100%, the second is costing me $80.

 

[pen]

How hot are you getting things in bypass mode before you engage that cat?

pen

 

[3fordasho]

How hot are you getting things in bypass mode before you engage that cat?

pen

600F on a probe type thermometer in the flue about 2' above the stove. 250F stove top temp minimum.

 

[leeave96]

Your cat failure symptoms sound like the one I had go bad. When I would take it out to clean it, it was pretty much free of any clogging or fly ash and when I brushed it with a soft paint brush I might get a touch of crumbling - otherwise it looked fine. It did have a few hairline cracks - but nothing that caused me concern. The cat just quit lighting off like you describe.

However, when I pulled the cat out of the holding frame, it broke into several pieces - where the cracks were.

So far the new SS cat is working great - or was working great as we are having warm enough temperatures to keep the stove cold heading into the Summer

Nice stove you got with the Fireview. Good luck with the SS cat - let us know how it works out!

Bill

 

[Todd]

My last Fireview cat was 4 years old and it had the hairline cracks but no crumbling. It was still working but I think it was about to go so I bought a spare steel cat. Before I sold the Fireview I played with the steel cat for a couple weeks, I had two cat frames so I could easily swap them out. The steel cat was lighting off quicker and burned a little hotter from what I could tell but the ceramic was 4 years old. Funny how some cats can last over 6 years and others poop out the first year. Maybe these new steel cats will be more consistant.

 

[3fordasho]

Just a quick update- received the replacement SS cat after a couple days, install was easy once the ceramic cat was out. The old cat expanded and could not be removed in one piece... more like it exploded into dust when pushed out of the cast frame. Replacement fit a bit loose in the frame but have been told that the tape/gasket material expands to fill the gap. Did a inspection of the old style combustor scoop, seems to be in good shape and not warped so I was advised by woodstock to leave it be rather than go with the updated style. It's too warm to fire up the stove so I can't yet report on the performance of the new cat.

 

[leeave96]

Just a quick update- received the replacement SS cat after a couple days, install was easy once the ceramic cat was out. The old cat expanded and could not be removed in one piece... more like it exploded into dust when pushed out of the cast frame. Replacement fit a bit loose in the frame but have been told that the tape/gasket material expands to fill the gap. Did a inspection of the old style combustor scoop, seems to be in good shape and not warped so I was advised by woodstock to leave it be rather than go with the updated style. It's too warm to fire up the stove so I can't yet report on the performance of the new cat.

Not fair - not fair

I gave my new SS cat a workout right away, even though everyone broke a sweat due to the 80 plus deg room temps on a couple of nights.

Does this mean we will have to wait until next fall to get a review on the new SS cat?

Bill

 

[wendell]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

 

[Todd]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

Usually that's one of the first things Woodstock would suggest when they know you have dry wood. I always wondered how that little Morso could out heat your Fireview. Maybe it was the cat, but I thought it was coming up to temp? Was the stove top reaching temps over 600 and maintaining temps over 500 for at least 3 hours?

 

[3fordasho]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

The last burns of the heating season the stove top temp would have a hard time getting to 400F and sat around 300-350F from the start up load, getting only higher than that after reloading... very different performance then when the cat is working correctly. At first I thought the low temps might be because of poor draft due to end of season outside temps but the smoke from the stack told me the cat just was not doing it's job anymore.

 

[leeave96]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

Having had to replace the one in my Keystone, I can tell you that the performance of these stoves is terrible without the additional heat given off by the smoke burn of the cat. If the cat ain't working, you might as well be in bypass mode as heat is going up the chimney and the stove temps burn cooler.

Bill

 

[wendell]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

Usually that's one of the first things Woodstock would suggest when they know you have dry wood. I always wondered how that little Morso could out heat your Fireview. Maybe it was the cat, but I thought it was coming up to temp? Was the stove top reaching temps over 600 and maintaining temps over 500 for at least 3 hours?

Goodness, Todd, that was so many cords of wood ago. IIRC, it was getting up to temp but I don't recall how long it lasted. Having the Oslo upstairs this year, it is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison but I know the Morso kept the basement as warm this past winter as the Fireview did the winter before.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

Having had to replace the one in my Keystone, I can tell you that the performance of these stoves is terrible without the additional heat given off by the smoke burn of the cat. If the cat ain't working, you might as well be in bypass mode as heat is going up the chimney and the stove temps burn cooler.

Bill

Bill, you are partially right there. But if the cat is not working you would still get more heat by forcing the heat to go up through the top of the stove before exiting into the flue.

btw, we too will be replacing the cat on ours but will wait until fall to do it because we don't expect to burn the stove too much in July and August.

 

[gogreenburnwood]

Doesn't really matter how the cat has failed. if it's all broken up then it is like you're in bypass. if it's just not burning the smoke then you aren't getting the effect from the expanding gasses keeping the heat in the stove. As the smoke burns, the gasses expand and act as a damper which keeps the heat in the stove. I know from expierence that broken cat means no heat.

 

[fire_man]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

The last burns of the heating season the stove top temp would have a hard time getting to 400F and sat around 300-350F from the start up load, getting only higher than that after reloading... very different performance then when the cat is working correctly. At first I thought the low temps might be because of poor draft due to end of season outside temps but the smoke from the stack told me the cat just was not doing it's job anymore.

I have not experienced lower stovetop temps due to higher outside temps. Many nights this Spring it was over 50 degrees outside and the stovetop temp hung around 500F burning cottonwood with minimal flame in the firebox. That's with an uninsulated liner in an external chimney. When that cat is working properly, even dreaded cottonwood burns great!

 

[3fordasho]

Fired up the stove last night (one of those miserable, rainy 50F days) because the house was at 65F. Loaded the stove only 1/3 full of shorties and chunks, let stove top get up to 250F and engaged the new SS cat. Smoke from the stack cleared up amost immediately and stove top temps begain a steady climb to 375F and remained there most of the evening. Just not enough wood in the firebox for higher temps and I didn't need 80F in the house. A much longer and cleaner burn than with the failing ceramic cat. Very much a different stove with a functional cat, I just hope the new style are going to work out in the long run, 5- 8 years would be great.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

This is really interesting. In all my talks with Woodstock in the 6 months I had my Fireview and was disappointed in the heat it produced, they never mentioned the cat. But even though the wood I was burning was plenty dry, the cat was crumbling when I got it ready to be shipped back. I wonder if a lot of the problem I had was a bad cat.

The last burns of the heating season the stove top temp would have a hard time getting to 400F and sat around 300-350F from the start up load, getting only higher than that after reloading... very different performance then when the cat is working correctly. At first I thought the low temps might be because of poor draft due to end of season outside temps but the smoke from the stack told me the cat just was not doing it's job anymore.

I have not experienced lower stovetop temps due to higher outside temps. Many nights this Spring it was over 50 degrees outside and the stovetop temp hung around 500F burning cottonwood with minimal flame in the firebox. That's with an uninsulated liner in an external chimney. When that cat is working properly, even dreaded cottonwood burns great!

Come on Tony. You know you like that cottonwood.

 

[Todd]

Sounds good Tim. We will all have to keep everybody posted on these new s/s cats throughout the next few burning seasons to see how they hold up, I'm pretty optimistic. I could of used a few take the chill off fires in my basement last week but have no chimney due to my rebuild.