I have a cat stove now but am considering a new one with secondary air instead of a cat. I know little about these so my question is do they require an OAK? If so I may stay with the cat.
No they do not require a OAK unless you're house is too tight. I'm curious why your thinking of doing this? Most people go the opposite direction.
Just tossing it around right now, sounds like maybe less hassle with secondary over a cat but less efficient? Stove price is the same either way.
Your cat stove will give you a much better long even burn. A secondary stove will give you a lot of heat at first and then drop off.
They don't require oak, but do like dry wood. I have burnt hemlock, maple "soft and hard" along with oak in mine. If the wood is not good and seasoned it is really hard to get the temp up high enough to get the secondary tunes to light. My FIL has an older Vermont stove with a cat, and his does not seem to be as picky about the dryness like mine is.
How hard is it to change the CAT out of that insert. I was talked out of a CAT insert that I was looking by the Hearth store I bought my Lennox insert at. He said that to service the CAT I would need to pull the insert out of the fireplace as they are on the back side.
This one is easy just a few bolts and it drops right down from the front of the insert, but when the cat got fried the last time 2 or 3 years ago I just pulled it out and never replaced it, figured it wasn't worth 180 bucks when I was going to get a new insert anyway. That's how long I've been getting a new one but it's gonna happen this spring for sure. So basically I have a pre EPA insert right now and it heats our 2200 sq ft ranch just fine that's why I'm wondering if a non cat insert would heat just as well as mine does now with no cat.
How much wood did you run through that thing? Your running about 20% efficient like that. The main thing you may not like about a secondary only stove is that it is much more insulated. Temperatures need to reach 1000F for the magic to happen inside. Otherwise, the insulation takes all your heat up the chimney. Infact, it usually takes a little more nursing then a cat stove as most cats light off around 500F. As somebody else mentioned, less than 20% moisture content wood becomes critical for it to work.
I have a small, 1.5CF, secondary burn insert (VC Montpelier). I burn mainly oak & assorted maples during the season with 20 to 25% MC. It usually takes about a half hour from a cold start to light off the secondaries and about 10 to 15 minutes from a hot reload. It, depending on the air settings, throws a ton of heat the first couple of hours then settles down and keeps the house comfortable after that. If I shut down the air earlier I can get 8 hours of low level burn out of it. Remember I have a small firebox. The key is to look at the EPA efficiency ratings of the stove. The difference in efficiency is the difference in the amount of heat going up the flue (either as heat or smoke). Yes, cats are a little more efficient but a little higher maintenance. (I've burned both) I like seeing the fire so I stay away from the cats. Since I work out of home I don't need the really long, low burns a cat can provide. My 1.5 CF non-cat firebox keeps the 1,800 SF main floor of the house comfortable for the 6 to 8 hour stretches I need. YMMV KaptJaq
