Well said I agree with everything but I will add that a simple easy breathing modern plate steel tube stove will be up to temp and producing heat just about as fast as the old stoves. Your one stove is soap stone that takes a while to heat up. You other is a cast iron one withe a pretty complicated combustion system that was really not very well liked
Yeah, the soapstone takes FOREVER to heat, but retains a nice even heat, even after it has burned out.
Yeah, I am surprised that the Jotul seems to be pretty universally disliked on this forum, but we really love that little stove and it performs well... just totally different from the Fireview. It eats wood pretty quickly, and doesn't hold much.
As for the "old" stoves that heat quickly, I am referring to some (three) completely unsealed antiques. These are not used for constant heating.
I will say the vast majority of cat stoves we work on either have no cat at all or have the original one that is clearly doing nothing
Yes, that was the case with the Fireview that I just upgraded with a Woodstock complete baffle kit. It is running great now.
I am wondering (and made another thread about it) if my Jotul catalyst is doing anything at all. I think the stove functions well when cat is engaged because the draw is so good (maybe even excessive). It feels like using a damper at that point. Otherwise, there is not much difference to the cat being engaged or not.
This discussion has been going on for a couple of decades. It should be noted that not all cat stoves run the same, nor do they have the same maintenance schedules. There are different designs of both cat and non-cat stoves, so generic comments are not always helpful. Also, different homes and stove owners have different needs so an ideal setup for one may not be ideal for another.
As of 2020 we have a new crop of hybrid cats, some good and some maybe not so good. Many of them have only been on the market for a year or two. Time will tell how well they stand up and perform. I wonder how well these stoves would test for emissions 5 yrs down the road. By the looks of some of these designs, flame impingement and ash clogging could be an issue. Will the owner know this if the hybrid portion secondary tube portion of the stove continues to burn?
A deep look at stove performance done in Oregon in 1998. They looked at EPA stoves that had been in service for several years to see how well they were doing after seasons of service. Most stoves failed, some badly, not due to their design, but due to lack of maintenance.
Yeah this is a good point. I like my catalysts. I hate the non-catalytic wood/oil combo furnace that came with the house. It is hard to light, and needs to get really hot before one can engage the secondary burn cycle. I am therefore biased against not catalytic epa stoves... even though my problems with it are probably more related to crappy install and other factors.
Those Woodstock’s are great heaters, I miss my old Fireview and Keystone. I almost went with another one for my new cabin but the clearances were a bit large for what I wanted.
I am pretty satisfied with my Jotul, I can achieve just as long burn times and it seems to have a similar even heat output as well.
One thing that worries me about cat stoves is future cat costs. Everything is going up in price lately I’m concerned cat prices may double in the next few years.
Well, the cat I wanted to buy was $70 to 80 last year. I hesitated on buying and it was out of stock the entire burning season. Now it is $190. Still, I don't mind the ongoing costs, considering the boost in performance, and also because I find the cats to be more tolerant than non cat stoves about then the secondary cycle is engaged. There is a cool video by Woodstock where they purposely make a smoldering, dirty, air starved fire.... and the catalyst can deal with it. I will try to find the video and post it.