Fireview Maintenance

So shoulder season in New England bounces betweek mid 20'F in the mornings up to mid 60's in the afternoon. So this morning it's mid 20s her on the Masshole/NH border and I decide I'll re-light the stove after the sun goes down and it cools down again. I get enough sunlight to warm the place during the day this time of year.

So as I start to fill the stove I think "the glass needs cleaning", and then I start thinking "gee, maybe I should dust off the cat and (More on this later) and clean the screen. Now, I'm afraid to say it might have been winter before last that I actually pulled the screen and really gave it a good blow out. You know, pull the two cotter pins and drop it down and take it out on the deck and give it a real cleaning. Mama-Mia! it was a mess. No wonder I wasn't seeing any bright orange glow lately, even though my top temps have crawled right up to 600'F a couple times after bed time. I've got one of those neat little paper clip memory mods on my top thermometer.

So I cleaned it all out and we'll see how that makes a difference. But that got me thinking, I've had thos stove for 3 years, this will be the dirst year I'm burning ideal 2 year old wood. In the past it's been less than ideal as I wasn't on a 2 year ahead plan. (Will get to a 3 year plan maybe next year, depending on how cold this year is.)

So now I'm thinking maybe I should do that Voodoo CAT maintenance that some of you guys do. What is it, 50/50 water and white vinigar or something? I might have some of that down in my meth lab.. Seriously, what is it you do, I know some use a squirt bottle and others use a bath technique.

Suggestions?

I apologise for now pics on the nasty screen, just think way less than 50% throughput it was so clogged up with brownish fly ash. Shame on me, cause it's pretty damm simple to drop it and clean nicely.

I been too focused on putting miles on the scooters and chasin' Mama round the kitchen.

 

You don't have to even take the scoop/screen out; I just let the stove cool and reach in the fire box with an old toothbrush and brush the outside of the screen. Then pull the cat, brush inside the screen, and vacuum up the dust.
Here's a link to the 'full monty' distilled vinegar/distilled water cat bath, or you can do the shortcut version...you'll have to search to see how they are doing that. I've been doing the full version every two years. I don't see a lot of difference in performance but I figure it can't hurt. They make a point of rinsing with distilled water several time (to make sure all the vinegar is gone?) so I make sure I do that. http://www.condar.com/combustorcleaningmanual.pdf

 

Thanks for that link, good point about the "toothbrush" technique, I can see where that would work too. It's actually pretty painless to pull the cotter pins and drop the screen, but yeah for a quick cleaning the toothbrush or maybe something a little larger would work fine.

Thanks for the Condar link! But you say it doesn't buy you much? You know I had a old CDW stove with the round ceramic cat for 25 years in my basement, and that cat lasted all that long and all I ever did was maybe vacumn it out once or twice a season. These new metal ones, I dunno.. I think those older ceramic ones worked real well.

 

I think I'll go for the spray, but I'll make sure to use distilled water too.. lot's of iron in the water around these parts.

 

Can't help on the cat thing BUT I'll give you a for using warm fall for time wisely!

 

I got my priorities pretty straight.