# Burning pine in a Catalytic wood stove.



## clemsonfor (Dec 22, 2011)

I know i can do it, but does anyone do it and have any experience with it and does it really creosote your chimney up more?  I am thinking of starting a hot fire engageing the cats and say throwing in a few pieces of pine the whole time the cats are engaged to cut the creosote way down, dont really want to start an all pine fire as the cats are not engaged at all. 

To start fires i usually use lighter pine and finly split oak to get it hot then oak splits till hot enough to engage cats. Im thinking getting to this stage and throwing pine in then quickly reengaging the cats so that most of the creosote it burned off. This will get me quick heat fast in the afternoon before i load it up with wood for a 12 hour burn.

Any experience with this and southern yellow pine? I see a bunch of you all burning softwood out west and north, like hemlock and fir and such.  Will this shorten the life of my cats as there may be more to burn off?

I have  a High Valley 2500. Which is a Catalytic model stove with a 3.5cuft firebox.

Yea im new here, i love this site, found here after i avoided the links from other sites till i could not take it anymore.  I have cut wood for family for 10+ years id say and been burning wood at my home for 3+ years just last year getting my insert. So this is my second season and i am hooked, hoarding wood and trying to get all i can.


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## HotCoals (Dec 22, 2011)

I know really dry pine out gasses real fast like you're saying.
But if its dry I don't really think creosote would be much of a prob..maybe others know better.
The one time I put in some 20 year old pine boards it was either a inferno or nothing once it got going...I had to turn the air all the way down..really hot fire.


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## leeave96 (Dec 22, 2011)

PINE IF FINE!!

When I was growing-up, we use to walk by an easy to cut pine to cut some hard to get oak and locust.

My stove is a cat stove and it burns pine great!  Infact, if I want great secondary action and lots of flame, pine is the wood to burn in my stove.  Now days, if I swerve into a pine tree, I cut it and mix it into the rest of my wood.

BTW, if you read/search some of the posts, you will find the only wood some have to burn in their region of the country are softwoods - like pine.

Main thing is that the wood, regardless of the type, is that it is dry/seasoned.

Good luck,
Bill


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## bogydave (Dec 22, 2011)

Don't open the door with the cat engaged glowing red, the cold blast of air may damage the cat.
If it's good & dry wood. No special burning techniques needed.
I burn spruce, which some pieces have allot of pitch, no problems.
Should have no effect on the life of the combustor
Creosote is not caused by pine, most often the wood is wet. (folks who only burn oak can get creosote)
Dry wood is key for any wood stove & more so with the cat stoves.


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## clemsonfor (Dec 22, 2011)

bogydave said:
			
		

> Don't open the door with the cat engaged glowing red, the cold blast of air may damage the cat.
> If it's good & dry wood. No special burning techniques needed.
> I burn spruce, which some pieces have allot of pitch, no problems.
> Should have no effect on the life of the combustor
> ...



Yea i know creosote can come from anything including only oak burners. 

I dont open door with cat engaged, but if you have a hot fire you can unengage it load it real quick (not full load) close door and re-engage and they still are hot and almost red still.

But i was thinking like the one guy said chunk a few big pieces in and cut the air way down.

There is a paper i think written by UGA where they burned green wood and dry and actually found that green wood produced less creosote than dry wood.  No i dont burn green wood or try not to, this is just something that is contrary to what we all think.


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## SolarAndWood (Dec 22, 2011)

I do full loads of all the softwoods.  I don't do anything other than load it up and close the door.


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## Todd (Dec 22, 2011)

I live in Oak country but I've burned White, Red Pine and Spruce in my cat stoves and it burns just fine and makes heat. It only gets about half the burn times as Oak but it's good for those take the chill off fires or during the shoulder seasons. If Pine was all I had available I wouldn't hesitate a second to burn it all season.


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## North of 60 (Dec 22, 2011)

clemsonfor,  pine is pretty much all I have to heat with.  Cant afford to have a dog mushing team deliver any of the fancy southern hardwoods. ;-)   Year 5, over 35+ cords gone through the stove. 8-10 months 24/7 heating.  Do as SolarAndWood says.  Load it up once and complete the burn cycle as mentioned in the manual.  As Bogydave says, DONT OPEN that door, EVEN if the bypass is opened when your cat is glowing or up in the active zone.  That is way more worse to your CAT.  Its still a thermal shock to the face of the CAT and that will cause it to crumble.  I clean my chimney once a year whether it needs it or not.  90% pine, 20% spruce and poplar.  Dry seasoned wood is the key.  PINE does not cause ANY creosote.  The moisture content and low combustion temps do as with any wood.  Hard or Soft.
Welcome to the site and Happy warm clean burning.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 23, 2011)

clemsonfor said:
			
		

> I know i can do it, but does anyone do it and have any experience with it and does it really creosote your chimney up more?  I am thinking of starting a hot fire engageing the cats and say throwing in a few pieces of pine the whole time the cats are engaged to cut the creosote way down, dont really want to start an all pine fire as the cats are not engaged at all.
> 
> To start fires i usually use lighter pine and finly split oak to get it hot then oak splits till hot enough to engage cats. Im thinking getting to this stage and throwing pine in then quickly reengaging the cats so that most of the creosote it burned off. This will get me quick heat fast in the afternoon before i load it up with wood for a 12 hour burn.
> 
> ...



Welcome to the forum clemsonfor.

First, pine doesn't cause creosote as long as you've dried it. There are many, too many, old wives tales about burning pine. Believe non of them. 

As for quickly throwing in the pine and re-engaging the cat, I would highly advise you don't do that. Any time you add wood you need to get the moisture burned off before engaging the cat and by bypassing the cat, you will not be harming the chimney. But adding the pine and quickly engaging the cat, yes, you will shorten the life of that cat. 

Hey, be sure to check in to the Wood Shed forum on heart.com too. A lively bunch of good folks there too.


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## cmonSTART (Dec 23, 2011)

I burn a good amount of yellow pine.  It doesn't last as long but as long as it's dry its just fine!


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## clemsonfor (Dec 23, 2011)

Thanks for the responses guys. I really appreciate the info on the cat. I knew about the moisture thing as of recently but not think about the door open thing.  I did not get an owners manual as i bought my stove used (from a stove store but used). I got it off line before i bought it and re-looked at it again a few weeks ago. Im guessing that is where these big companies do more. The manual is very breif on topics. Little is said about the Cat. They do however on the website direct you to FireCat's website (thats the brand i think?) to read about the catalysist. I have poked around and skimmed the site but much i have learned here in a week or so of lurking and now posting i did not know or was told.

My manual actually says if you have coals maybe 15-30 min bypass till re engaging the cats and if its still really hot no time i beleive, which is why i thought i was fine. i will have to go back online and get the PDF manual and look.


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## scojen (Dec 23, 2011)

I burn full loads of southern yellow pine all the time. I love that stuff as it puts out great heat and burns easily. No problems witth the CAT except....Pine causes light fly ash that tends to float up and clog the CAT more quickly. I usually just end up brushing it out more frequently and sometimes have to break out the vacuum. Other than that good to go!


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## clemsonfor (Dec 27, 2011)

Just talked to the Stove manufacturer this mourn. I have a High VAlley now made by Stoll. I called Stoll. They said not to burn pine in the stove as it will plug the cats up.  I totally understand about folks not haveing hardwoods in their part of the country (after all i am a forester). But this guy at Stoll is the stove maker and they have been in the business for 45 years.  Of course cats have not been around that long and they stopped making stoves when cats came on the market and just purchased Highvalley to get back into the market, and they also are not the catalyst manufacturer.  Im going to the firecat website now.


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## Vic99 (Dec 27, 2011)

I burn pine during the day when I am home if it is not too cold out.  Stove is 1/2 full of white pine and nothing else.

I would caution you against turning the air intake down really low when you burn pine.  Stove may take off and overfire.  Obviously depends on your set up.

Also, don't go ahead now and fill it up with pine.  Experiment with 1/4 pine and 3/4 hard wood a few times.  Then increase to 1/3, 2/3 etc.  Pine will burn very hot if it is dry and can risk over firing your stove.

Good luck.


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## leeave96 (Dec 27, 2011)

clemsonfor said:
			
		

> Just talked to the Stove manufacturer this mourn. I have a High VAlley now made by Stoll. I called Stoll. They said not to burn pine in the stove as it will plug the cats up.



This is complete and total hogwash.  Seasoned pine or any other wood will burn very well in a cat stove.

Bill


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## North of 60 (Dec 27, 2011)

leeave96 said:
			
		

> clemsonfor said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well if this is true, I guess I cant heat my home anymore with this stuff. :red: 
Maybe yr6 is when it plugs up?


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## mellow (Dec 27, 2011)

Stoll supports slammer installs but says not to burn pine.

Yea,  I don't think I will be getting a High Valley stove anytime soon.


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## clemsonfor (Dec 27, 2011)

Im with you guys im thinking maybe they must of had a bad exp with green wood or something? The FireCat website it self has no mention of not using pine. It just says dry seasoned wood. It also lists yellow pine as moderate to high heat output on the type of wood list.


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## leeave96 (Dec 27, 2011)

clemsonfor said:
			
		

> Im with you guys im thinking maybe they must of had a bad exp with green wood or something? The FireCat website it self has no mention of not using pine. It just says dry seasoned wood. It also lists yellow pine as moderate to high heat output on the type of wood list.



If you want to get more info on catalyist combustors, go to woodstock's website at woodstove.com  They have a library with a wealth of free info on it.  Also, don't hesitate to call them and ask about burning with a cat stove, I'm sure they'd be happy to answer any question you may have.

Happy burning!
Bill


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## clemsonfor (Dec 27, 2011)

mellow said:
			
		

> Stoll supports slammer installs but says not to burn pine.
> 
> Yea,  I don't think I will be getting a High Valley stove anytime soon.



I really have no idea though who i was talking to on the phone? Maybe he was an outside sales person, maybe more like an office guy? It was right as they opened i noticed when i looked at their hours. I dont know if he was a "stoll" or some other office employee?


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## ohlongarm (Dec 27, 2011)

Never did burn pine YET in my King,but I burned yesterday some Western larch that was cut in June,boy did that burn great MC was 20% I think it's in the pine family. I can see where it has merits as a shoulder season wood. With that said I have a white pine over 3 feet at its base that I'm going to have taken down soon for next years shoulder season.This thread has me sold.


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