I am pretty sure my cats are dead again. Getting a lot more smoke out of the chimney and very sluggish. I am going to take them out to make sure there not ash plugged. I have bought from Applied Ceramics that makes Firecat combustors. I have looked at Condars and am again. There both ceramic but the Condar is wrapped in steel. Don't think that would make zero difference. Just wondering what everyone's opinions are and what life there getting out of them. I only manage to get 2 to 3 seasons out of a set of them. Now let me say I do burn pretty much 24/7 from November to about March. I burn only seasoned wood from my shed that's sat split for 3 to 3 seasons so the wood is fine, even the catalysts companies agree on that, they say one year is what they consider seasoned for southern hardwood. Ok go.
2-3 seasons isn’t too precise, hours is more important but if you really only burn 24/7 from November to March that’s just 5 months, or 3600 hours per season. 3 years is over the expected 10k hours, 2 years is under. Nothing wrong with the applied ceramics cat. They produce most of the cats for the stove manufacturers. I would call condar a lesser retailer but still selling something that should work for a similar lifetime.
I have calculated hours based on my assumed burn time. It does come in at under the life span of the cats. Thanks for your opinion. Didn't realize Applied ceramics was an OE maker of many and Condar was more aftermarket if you could apply those terms.
Another issue is your stove. I admit I’m not familiar with the high valley but it’s not one of the current big dogs and the expected life of a cat can very much depend on the design of the stove. Too hot, not enough preheat on the combustion air, too much cat air, not enough protection from flame impingement, etc. It could be that your stove just eats cats faster than the average modern stove which is where the expected 10-12k hour life comes from. That and operator error can also have a big effect on cat life.
Yes, I believe they still make it as it is designed. It has a metal C channel that the cats sit in with a solid metal bottom the smoke comes into the C channel from the sides moves toward the middle through the cats and up the chimney. It would be pretty hard to get them hit with flame unless you have it rolli g huge flames and shut the bypass allowing it to suck them up. I do let it calm down inside before I close the bypass. They do get over heated some in the season but I try to limit that keeping an eye on the probe. Bti it's not nightly or anything. Usually occurs when I'm running it hard and load a full load on the coldest nights. Could be operator error but I try to do everything as I am supposed to. I run the stove 95% of the time so I know what is done when. The High Valley 2500 I know was made up untill just a few years ago when it was sold to a different company, not sure if they still make the same stove or not? It looks VERY similar to a Buck 91 or 92? Which ever one is the big steel stove that's a Catalyst model.
I would get a condar steelcat if its available. I have been seeing higher performance, advertised 400° lightoff temp, and less plugging....
I can't comment on the different manufactures as I have only used what our stove maker sells. I can honestly say though that the stoves performance is directly related to how the stove is ran and the quality (type and moisture content) of our wood. We burn everything from pine, maple, locust, oak and others. All of them will light the cat when the stove is up to temp. The biggest issue for us seems to be keeping the cat clean as some types of wood make lots of fly ash that really slows down things. Stove design as others have said has to be a contributor.
I burn probably 80-90% oak. The remainder might be anything Elm, pecan, sweet gum, pine, locust, maple to name a few species.
I am not sure if every Condar catalyst is called a steelcat or is that just the steel ones? But I do know from looking today that the steel version is not available for my stove just the ceramic ones with a steel outer case around it.
They don't make one. It would show up. Like if I select other stoves a steel cat shows up if one is available. Select high valley and just ceramic. High Valley catalyst guide Here is Jotul , I just selected another random brand from the list. It shows ceramic and steelcat combusters because one is available. Jotul catalyst guide
Been a while since inwas on there.... Whichever brand, inwould do a legit steel type with the thin elements. It seems to chop the ash up and have more surface area available.
No one offers a steel combusters in this size. And I'm not going to reengineer something and slip in shims or cut a steel one down to size to fit.
As you shouldn't, damm shame though. Might be worth a quick call to ask about them making one though?
I ordered from Applied Ceramics Midwest hearth link last night. I will keep up with my receipt and pictures of install etc. This last set was actually a warranty set they sent for free to me. So while I said I get 2 years out of them which I did this last set. I looked back at my pics of the work and was literally almost 2 years ago to the day I put them in. But like I said they were a warranty set so I really got 4 years out of my purchase. I am happy with that so I purchased another set. When this set fails in 2 years I will call for my warranty. If they doubt anything I say I have pictures of huge woodpiles drying at my house to prove I burn dry wood and I take pics of the install for future reference...which is how I know this set went in Nov 13 2019.
