Been nosing around some newer stoves lately. Ran across this in a manual for one. Seems to be on the money as far as operations go.
Of the stoves I’ve owned, I like Blaze King and Alaska Stove the best. Would need to win the Powerball to try all the nice stoves on the market. Good luck with the new stove hunt.
Not so much an active hunt. Moreso to try to keep myself familiar with current trends. 90% chance that if I were to replace the current I would source a used Pre EPA model that I am comfortable with and know how to handle. Can't see myself dealing with cats or the like.
There isn’t “dealing” with a cat stove. They are simple, they cut down on wood consumption and maintenance takes very little time. They are no more difficult to operate than any other stove.
The cats I’ve been around are simple to operate. They do tend to have less active flames and for that reason I went with a secondary combustion type. I love to watch and see the flames like a fireplace. Cats do require replacement occasionally and can be a little pricey. That weighed into my decision, too. They are likely the most efficient and cleanest burning units available, though.
Some may take offense... I'm not worried about what a government agency thinks is appropriate in terms of emissions. The Capital Building runs on coal.
When the catalyst in my insert did not glow as bright as usual, I just took it out and brushed it off carefully and put it back in. Biggest issues was needing the stove to cool down a bit before doing this. Plan ahead a bit and it was not a big deal.
Here is the whole process of me doing maintenance on my cat. Lift the lid, remove bolts. I blow out the cat gently. Emphasis on gently. Then I brush it. Blow it out again, canned air from a distance will suffice. Put back in place and re install bolts. Dennis Backwoods Savage says I don’t need these. I believe him, but I feel good with them in there. Now I close the lid and chooch the stove back up. In the summer I will give the cat a vinegar and distilled water bath and rise it off with distilled water. That’s it. For the cost of the cat and a little maintenance and I am warmer and have to work much less. To me it’s a no brainer. Edit: thanks to whoever fixed my link to Dennis
We have an old-school stove. Sometimes I am tempted, but this one works really well, and never let us down. If I was limited on wood I probably wood..
When we bought our cat stove we were finally able to keep warm. In addition to that we found we burn only about half the amount of wood. To me that is a winner.
Same here. Soapstone cat was the first stove that warmed my house and not just burned my face and froze my azz. While I have more wood than I can shake a stick at I still enjoy the efficiency of a catalytic stove. I have some of that Swamp Yankee thriftiness in me. Thoroughly enjoy knowing I’m getting every btu out of every log in the fire. I could care less about what the epa thinks either. For one the government did not invent catalytic stoves, it’s not government technology. They simply made mandates that manufacturers had to meet. I’m not a fan of government mandates at all but the manufacturers used good old American ingenuity to produce an excellent product. Some folks think of cat stoves like an anemic 1970’s Datsun. Just the opposite IMO. More like a turbocharged race car that’s using the exhaust to produce more power than the engine ever could on its own.
