What happens to CAT while engaged in inactive zone?

[Bster13]

I'm not talking about initial startup but when you wake up to coals ( or less) after a long night.

If my stove drifts into the inactive zone overnight when there is little left in the firebox, am I doing damage? Thx.

 

[rideau]

No, you are not doing damage. Absolutely nothing to worry about. Every cat stove once engaged will continue to burn gases as long as there are gases to burn. Once the stove is down to coals, there is really no smoke. There is no moisture and there is no cold air. All our cats remain engaged until we are ready to reload. At that point we will be adding cold air, cold wood, some degree of moisture. So, at that time, we disengage the cat (open the bypass).

 

[mellow]

Once the heat and fuel is gone the cat just allows everything to pass through, by that stage it is usually just raw heat. If anything sticks to it, trust me at 1000 degrees it will get burned off the next cycle.