This year I am getting good CAT burn. Last year not very much. Does the split, diameter , size matter? We found a small restriction in the flue this year and I am on boughten wood. The boughten wood tends to be larger splits. I love splitting so my splits generally run small. Anything over 6" get quarter split. Lately everything 8" and under gets halve.
In a secondary-burn stove, big splits gas slower and can help keep the stove under control if you have strong draft. In a cat I don't think it matters too much; Even if you have smaller splits, you can cut the air to where the load burns under control. Most of my splits are about 4" on a side, but I have a range of sizes so I can get the biggest load possible in the small fire box of the Keystone. I enjoy hand-splitting too, but maybe not that much..
That may well be a factor. Last year MM was reading in the high 19% with a very few pieces in the low 20s %2o.2 an under. I believe it should have been good since the vast majority reading were under 20%. This year I know my wood is at least 2 years old. The few I have checked are in the high 18s or low 19s. Trying to eliminate all variables. Maybe throw out the MM.
I still think it's the moisture content that gave you the issues last year. Meter's aren't the tell all sometimes.
The cat does not know if the splits are large or small. Just keep a good fire going and all is well. But if the fire is struggling, then the cat will struggle too.
Only "problem" I've had with splits "too big" is every now and then one won't finish burning until more wood is tossed in. Last year we burned more pine than ever and the flue was cleaner than ever. Especially the horizontal section before the chimney. Plus tended to have good healthy batch burns and not try to get the stove to idle real low when not too much heat is needed. This is probably a good practice with wood that hasn't seasoned quite long enough.
The bigger the split the more likely the moisture will be there so give the bigger ones time. I had some Alder that was mostly halved split and guy said it was 8 years old at least. I believed him because it burned every time so well, it was like Xmas morning. So warm and so easy to start. The bigger the splits didn’t smolder but still in a non-cat stove would burn much longer and I wasn’t afraid of stuffing it with larger splits than the smaller ones.
My IS burns fine with any size splits. I've even loaded it with kiln dried thats small enough that i shovel it in. Last week i put in a round that didn't want to fit in the door. It doesn't care either way, as long as its seasoned.
