New SS combustor installed last night.

"If a combustor cost $325"

That makes me suck wind.

 

This is a good post. Have wondered where is a good break-even point for replacement regarding efficiency vs. cost vs. convenience, even with routine maintenance. I appreciate the comment how the new cat brought "new stove" reaction to cat burns. I found the same when a new cat was put into the Encore after 5 years.

 

Yes, good post. I think judgment is still out on the steel cats. I know my experience wasn't that good a few years back but they improved the design since. I'll stick with my ceramic til it shows signs of degration then I'll probably go with steel unless I hear bad reviews.

 

The last cat I bought before trading stoves was steel and I felt the same way. It was alright at first but definitely wasn't holding up like it should have. I am friends withe the guy who bought my old stove and when he replaced it I told him if it was me I would put a ceramic back in it. Again that was 4 years ago so things may have changed.

 

When I cleaned the old one , 2 weeks ago, after blowing & vacuuming it, I soaked it in distilled vinegar.
I notice an improvement.
I'm in the camp that, like most equipment, some maintenance can extend it's efficiency.
But 10 years, of 7 to 8 months of 24/7 burning per year,
50,000 hours is a long time to maintain peak efficiency . Need to see the data for me to be onboard with that.

The ceramic ones may hold their efficiency longer.
Need a good honest multi stove performance test, with SS & ceramic combustors .
Maybe there's one out there, I haven't found any.
Every test is with a new combustor, that in it's self, leans toward used combustors are less efficient.

I think the stove manufacturers know, but are reluctant to come clean with the data.
Adding a few hundred dollars to general maintenance every few years could swing a consumer
in another direction. "I'm going with the Catalytic stove that gives a 10 year warranty "

But, like Todd found out with the 6 year warranty, ( hidden in the fine print: or 10,000 to 12,000 hours)

Be interesting to see some with several hours over the 12k put in a new cat & give a performance review.
Mine is a very noticeable performance improvement so far.

20° this AM, last nights load pic is above.
This morning house temp is 73, lots of wood left to burn.
Stove still putting out good heat. No doubt to me, much better than a few days ago at 30° OATs.
12 hours after last nights full load:

 

Here's some good info on cats.

 

Something else I just remembered people talking about last year was a 50/50 vinegar/distilled water bath or spray to help clean up the cat. Might be a good thing to do at the begining of each season.

 

I did that to the old one a few weeks ago.
Soaked about an hour,
I does help.

Good/Interesting combustor info
The big difference for me was the heat I get from the new one on the low stat setting.
It's glowing hot & way higher in the active temp range than the old one at the same setting.

 

I wonder how the new Hybrid stoves will improve the CAT life and Performance over time?

As I would think if the secondary preheated air is igniting some of the smoke gases and only whats left from the first ignition gets into the CAT then having the CAT only get the left overs from a preburn then that should be less harsh on the CAT over time.

 

Seems logical that the cat in a hybrid stove should last a bit longer. I also think the cat life in a regular cat stove depends on how you run it. If your burning low and slow all day the cat does all the work, if you burn a little hotter and keep some flame in the box the cat gets some relief.

 

That is exactly how my IS seems to behave; shut the draft down enough to extinguish the secondaries and the cat temp. climbs up very quickly. Open the draft enough to re- start the secondaries and the cat. temp. drops like a stone, which I am taking to mean there is no fuel (smoke) left for it to burn.

I have no idea though if this will significantly extend the lift of the combustor though. ?? Not really sure if what normally reduces a cat.'s performance is the actual chemical reaction of catalyzing and burning the smoke or just sitting in the hot stream of flue gas. As all of these hybrid stoves are quite new I think it is going to take some years before anyone really has a decent feel for how long the cats. in them last compared to 100% straight (Easy Boys!) cat. stoves.

Brian

 

I see the same thing. Flames/secondaries lower cat temp considerably.

 

Good timing for me. The creosote removal spray that Zap recommended will show up in a few days, and the new ceramic cat in a week or two.
I'll try the spray for a month and not worry about damage to the existing cat., get to play with the burn to optimize the effect of the spray. See what happens, then swap cats. Should get even better. Who knows?

 

Just curious if the increase in air-flow might be causing the reduction in Cat. temps.? Too much flow for it to get hot enough?

 

Possibly, but I don't think so. WS recommends draft settings of 2 or below (out of 4) for efficient cat burns for the Keystone. When I burn like this there seems to be little air flow. The flames/secondaries are very lazy, slow-motion looking.

 

What does a new cat cost for the princess/king? SS is more?

The PH cat looks huge! but is only 125$?

 

Link where I got mine, (No SS ones in my area. )
http://www.firecatcombustors.com/category-s/1209.htm

Not sure they have a SS for the princess.

 

Oops this site for the steelcat
Condar
http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/blazeking.html

 

Looks like an extra 50$ for the steelcat.

http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/blazeking.html

No steelcat option for the princess. Less than 200$ for the ceramic though. If I'm reading this right.

 

Actually, it looks like the princess uses the same cat as the chinook/scirroco and the the steelcat is 50$ cheaper. Hmmm.