Noticed recently that when I closed the bypass the fire would go down considerably, so I took a look at the catalyst, and a lot of the holes were plugged with ash. I was surprised since I had cleaned it at the end of the last season, have not run it much more than a month. Fortunately it's only a five minute job to remove the catalyst and clean it. The very small holes seem to catch ash and plug much faster than the large holed ceramic cat on my old VC Defiant Encore. Still loving how my stove performs, though. How often do other Progress Hybrid owners check/clean the ashes out of their catalysts?
Woodstock Progress Hybrid Catalyst Cleaning
- Thread starter John Kuhn
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toddnic
Minister of Fire
John, great question. I got my PH in 2013 and run it hard all winter long. I normally clean the catalytic combustor every TWO WEEKS during season. Any ash that goes out of the firebox when the cat is engaged, is likely going to get caught in the cat. FYI, don't use any pressured air like an air compressor to blow out the cat. It can take the special coating off of the cat. I normally just vacuum mine out and then just blow what is left out using my mouth. FYI, every few years you should do a deep cleaning of the cat. Directions on how to do that can be found on this forum and from Woodstock Soapstone Company.
Do you know the approximate size of the squares? CI2600's are pretty small as well, maybe 1/4" x 1/4". I should clean mine with the high of 49F today!
Thanks for sharing your experience, sounds like I need to make this a more regular maintenance item, good thing it's easy. I would think Woodstock would get complaints about this from people who aren't at all maintenance oriented, and rely on things taking care of themselves, or hire everything out.
The squares are certainly smaller than 1/4". This is just a guess, but I'd say closer to 1/8". Maybe somebody else has a more precise answer.
toddnic
Minister of Fire
John, I don't see how anyone could have a woodstove that they use often without dealing with some level of cleaning. Even in an old dragonburner, you would every so often have to clean out the ashes. Thankfully this maintenance is very easy and keeps the stove running efficiently.
Ceramic cats are like 1/4" square but the steel are much smaller at like 1/8" square. Far more likely to clog. Either side can clog too, not just the fire side so be sure to inspect both sides if you suspect cloggage.
The steel cat that came with my Intrepid also gets clogged with ash. It probably has the same size holes and they are small, maybe an 1/8" as was said. The steel honeycomb is much smaller than the ceramic cats. Condar which I think makes the steel cats for VC says the thin steel wall help break up the ash and let it pass through. I think that may be more bs than anything else. I would be anxious to try a ceramic cat to see if it performed better. Unfortunately none are made in the same size as the steel ones. At least that I've seen. So I do need to clean it off anytime the stove is cool enough to do so.
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