Cat burn problem with new AS.

May I ask why some people don't like cat stoves? There must be some advantage to having one over a stove with the tubes up top?

 

In some stoves cats are hard to clean. But the biggest reason is cats require a hot fire to lite. Wet wood will not get hot enough.. Most people don't have good dry wood!!

Notice Dennis has no problems!

 

Thanks for the info on the cat stoves and Dennis.

 

I have a cat stove also.. It worked better when I got on Dennis 3 year plan.. In short dry wood burns see western fires every summer.. You ever here about 10,000 acre fires in the east..

I am totally that I needed somebody to teach me this.

Oh and I burn less wood, get more heat and no visible smoke out of chimney!!

 

My concern (that I got over, obviously) was being future proof. what if Woodstock goes out of business? What if it's a SHTF scene and nobody is making cats anymore? Knowing the stove can still make heat - though far less efficient/effectively - along with the low likelihood of reverting to caveman times and remaining in our house sort of sealed the deal. If Woodstock went belly up (highly unlikely with their dedicated following and excellent business practices) the aftermarket would step up with as many stoves as they have in the field.. And if it didn't, a competent welder could certainly fan up a replacement without too much heartache.

 

On burn tube stoves the burn tubes are frequently damaged easily while loading wood, or just deteriorate from wear and need to be replaced. See the secondary burn technology Woodstock uses in the hybrid stoves are these large metal plates. Much more solid and very hard to damage.

 

Oldhippie Steve.....in what tube stoves does this happen? The tubes in mine are stainless steel and very durable. No damage yet. Baffles are a different story, as those do deteriorate and get damaged if an errant split hits them.
I did however, just replace 2 firebricks in the back of the stovebox.

 

I had the same question...I have only ever heard of 1 or 2 people that had to replace tubes...and they had over fired the crap outta the stove, for extended periods!

 

My neighbors Hearthstone stove has tubes that were begging for replacement. No protection from wood being loaded in and age deterioration.. caused by maybe over firing or moisture in the wood I'm not sure, but they were barely holding on, and the stove was less than 1o years old. Point being they aren't maintenance free, I've seen damage in others too, although I can't really say what models they were. I think the plates were seeing now in the Woodstock's, maybe others? Look much more sturdy and less apt to take a hit and be damaged from a large split.

 

What I love most of about the Fv, is looking at the wood and just seeing it all black, no flame and maybe a little bit of red glow on the edges of the spits, then looking up into the cat and seeing bright orange then looking at the temp gauge on top and seeing 600'F+ temps. I'll take that all day or night long.

 

Absolutely. None are.

 

I don't know if you've run the Fv and the AS on the same stack, but it sounds like the Fv works better on a shorter stack. I sold mine to my BIL, and he's got not even 14' of stack. He can still run if it's kind of warm out, like in the upper 40s.
I was thinking of getting my SIL to buy an AS High Style, one reason being that I'd then have another stove technology to play with. She only has about 14' of stack now, less with the High Style. Do you all think that would work OK, top-venting the stove, with temps in the 40s at night?

 

Woody, I run both stoves on the same stack, but it's a 26 foot stack from the upper Fv and another 10 feet or so to the downstairs AS. Everyone says today you're not supposed to do that, but in 1979 when I built the house it was common practice here in Mass as long as it used the ame fuel. Both stoves run fine. The AS in the basement seems to need a bit more draft on startup than the Fv does, but once it takes off and the cat ignites it's basically a cat stove. In the super cold, below -15'F give it some air and it puts on a light show with the secondaries.

I think the AS might need a bit more stack than 14 ft.. maybe not if it's a nice straight exit out the top. A friend of mine has a Progress with a short stack but it's a simple T out the back and then a straight shot to the exit and his works great!

 

My friends hearth stone tubes got broken by chimney sweep.

 

Exactly. I'm on year 5 of my Fv and I'm realizing I might be needing some new gaskets soon. Sheesh! All this maintenance!

 

Those things are just sitting there saying "hit me"!

 

I've never hit mine. Ok, maybe just a couple times, or a thousand. But really, who's counting?