Our entire industry has recognized the need to deal with moisture, which you well know is the first stage of combustion, at higher temperatures. All manufacturers are pushing for more education on this point. Was that you assumption?
Well, no. When I start a top-down fire in my stove I don't come anywhere near charring the entire load and the cat will light off readily when I have hit my target flue temp and held it there for 10 minutes or so. It might take 30 minutes total to close the bypass, but I've only had the air more than half open for under 10 minutes. After that I have the air cut to 1/2 open, then cut further to hold my target flue temp. I've not concerned myself with "the need to deal with moisture" on a new load, only with getting enough wood gassing to sustain the combustor. My wood is around 17% and that's all the drier it will get with the humidity here, in my top-covered stacks.
Ha ha. People should be wary, before investing time and money on a new stove installation. This is a good place to understand the full spectrum of customer experience these stoves, both good and bad.
That's been my point all along. I'm not trying to convince the old die-hard Koolaid quaffers who have already spent their moolah, just trying to raise a couple questions in the minds of newbies who might not be inclined to do extensive research. I probably shouldn't bother..You would think that by the amount of bogus hype we see in the
rest of our system, people would be going into a stove purchase like any other purchase, with a jaundiced eye. 'Let the buyer beware' and all that.
Ya I think it’s 1-2 year seasoned oak is the issue. The guys that cut it 3 years in advance and store covered never seem to have a issue.
Big percentage of available dead or dying wood here is various species in Red Oak group. Go three summers in the stack and you will be a happy burner...probably.
While it doesn't burn all that long, I also Love burning lighter woods like pine and poplar.
Yep. When I don't need the absolute maximum burn time out of my stove, I will toss a couple splits of lesser wood in the back of the box (I load E-W.) That faster-burning stuff will keep stove top temp up at the end of the burn, and also give the more persistant Oak coals up front more time to burn down. When I was loading the Buck 91 N-S, I put a couple soft Maple or Cherry splits against the sides of the box, where they would burn last.
one of my cats has been suddenly struggling to just barely stay above active for more than a week.
Wow, must be the secret alien black hole dust they put in those...my cat's never been able to stay "just barely above active for more than a week."
I know something is "wrong" with my cat when heat output doesnt match tsat setting.
I can get the combustor probe up into the active zone burning charcoal. All the probe tells you is combustor outlet temp.
I think your warranty replacement combustor will come with a one year warranty.
Well, your cat needle may still be in the active zone, but if it's not near as high into the zone as it was previously with similar type and dryness of fuel, you know
something has changed, and there's a good chance that the cat is becoming less effective. Agreed, just because the needle is active doesn't mean the cat is burning, but if the needle is at 3:00 you can be pretty sure the cat is burning..
Any chance you could buy that for me ? Of course I have no idea how to get that home even if you did.
No problem, just drive down there and toss it in the back seat..it's just 325 lbs, about the same as a fair-sized mother-in-law and a little less than an Englander 13-NCI.
That would be quite the score, pricewise. But heck, even though no one commented, there were probably a few that were tracking that place down when WP first mentioned the name. 
