All that worrying for nothing!

[ohlongarm]

Had alot of anxiety over buying a catalytic stove over a non -cat since I've owned four non cats prior to my first cat.Well as mentioned here previously I bought the King Ultra,a snap to operate and even though the weather here has only been in mid thirties it has shown me alot.With only five oak splits it burned thirty hours and the heat was usable. Burns everything into baby powder consistency.I've never burned it past number two setting except on startup. We're going to have mid thirties for about another five days yet.No real test for it this year ,BUT I've got a feeling it'll do exactly as the factory said it will.Glass gets a little smoky but I'm told a hot fast burn will remedy that.PS I even like it's looks. I hope I can be this happy a year from now,time will tell.

 

[NH_Wood]

Nice! Every time I hear the burn times on these stoves, I have to pick my jaw off the laptop. Enjoy! Cheers!

 

[cmonSTART]

Good to hear, ohlongarm! What's your installation like? Chimney length etc. Just curious.

 

[bogydave]

Good to hear.
I'm learning to burn with the warmer temps, 20s nights to 40s daytime.
I give it a full load now, get it hot on start up & the glass gets cleaned pretty good, then to
low & burn 24 hrs+, Burning spruce.
House saying in the 70 to 73 range. Has taken a while to learn to regulate house temps, new better stove pipe but now am reaping the benefits.
I betting if I burned birch even longer burn times but saving the good stuff for winters & sub zero temps.
I had pretty clean glass all winter burning hotter & really not bad glass now, spruce is dry & starting off real hot then to low has helped.
I'm getting a good range of heat use now, from sub zeros in the winter to the 40s now & still burning 24/7.
Love the wood box staying full allot longer than it did with non cat stove.

 

[Fsappo]

I wonder, if 5 splits last 30 hours in a cat stove and 10 hours in a non cat stove, does a cat stove burn 66% less wood than a non cat stove?

 

[bogydave]

I wonder, if 5 splits last 30 hours in a cat stove and 10 hours in a non cat stove, does a cat stove burn 66% less wood than a non cat stove?

For an example to the question. I usually burned 9 to 10 cords per winter.
This season, I've burned just over 5 cords with the new cat BK. I'm guessing it will average to 40% at least.
Significant savings, cleaner burning, better heat IMO.

 

[pen]

If I had larger flue tiles there'd be a bk king sitting in my home instead of the 30.

Glad to hear you are happy. These things seem to be like fiskars axes, I just can't find people willing to complain about them.

I went from burning 5.5 to 6 cord w/ my fisher down to 4 to 4.5 cord w/ my 30.

I think there is significant savings to be had whenever moving to a modern appliance, whether it be cat or not. EPA approved is the key.

pen

 

[HotCoals]

I wonder, if 5 splits last 30 hours in a cat stove and 10 hours in a non cat stove, does a cat stove burn 66% less wood than a non cat stove?

A cat stove just burns it way slower.
On a low burn you're actually getting a good share of the radiant heat from the cat.
Anyways proportionally less heat is going up the flue with the slow burn..so you're using more of the available btu's to heat the house.
On my single wall pipe 8 inches up from the stove top it can be 200° or less halfway through a burn..with stove top temps of 350-400.
Even with the best firewood you will get a smokey glass after awhile..mostly because there is very little air washing the glass on a low burn.
I don't care ..I can live with that saving around 40% of my wood compared to my old BK non cat.

 

[HotCoals]

I just want to add that with a cat stove you are less likely to heat your house to 80° when you don't want to.
Why waste heat warming your house that hot?
I have found with the cat stove my house is way more even throughout.
You don't get the big temp drop at night as much...so you don't have to crank it so much to bring the temps back up.

All that said I think a tube stove can really crank the heat and get decent burn times.
They are really great for just fires in the evening or weekends when at home..at least that's what some friends that have them say.

 

[bogydave]

I wonder, if 5 splits last 30 hours in a cat stove and 10 hours in a non cat stove, does a cat stove burn 66% less wood than a non cat stove?

A cat stove just burns it way slower.
On a low burn you're actually getting a good share of the radiant heat from the cat.
Anyways proportionally less heat is going up the flue with the slow burn..so you're using more of the available btu's to heat the house.
On my single wall pipe 8 inches up from the stove top it can be 200° or less halfway through a burn..with stove top temps of 350-400.
Even with the best firewood you will get a smokey glass after awhile..mostly because there is very little air washing the glass on a low burn.
I don't care ..I can live with that saving around 40% of my wood compared to my old BK non cat.

Amen
I got the stove for heat thru the winter. It's done that very well.
I was a skeptic on the long burn times & low heat output for long periods, even after the first 1/2 year, I couldn't burn on low.
Now that I improved the stove pipe last month, burning on low now. Amazing.
Trouble is i don't have experience with other stoves to compare.
I figure all the newer ones are better than the 25+ year old ones I replaced.
I would not be burning now with the old stove due to the house getting too warm.
Gas company owes me money, burning less wood & burning 24/7 in the shoulder season, I am no longer a skeptic.
Smokey brown glass, well my old stove didn't have a view of the fire, so a smoke filtered view is beautiful to me.
Specially when I go down to check it & heat is radiating off of what looks like a cold stove & no visible signs
from it or the flue that I'm burning. House was 73° this morning & the gas furnace is quiet & I'm not
burning my "good" wood. (only dropped to 28 last night, so Spring is here)

 

[ohlongarm]

Good to hear, ohlongarm! What's your installation like? Chimney length etc. Just curious.

My installation is double wall black 8 inch on the inside 6 feet from where the pipe exits the stove to where it enters a masonry chimney and makes a 45? then from there its stainless 10 feet to the chimney cap,16 feet total .IF i could figure out a simple way to post some pictures I will,of the entire installation and my wood supply and source. It took me an hour to post one small picture a few days ago not real computer savvy.

 

[HotCoals]

The cats really will amaze in the shoulder season.
I have burnt over 40 hours on a fill and the reload still took off from the coals no problem.

To elaborate a little more but hope not to bore.
It seems that a cat stove on a long burn works so well because the cat can eat what smoke there is without being overwhelmed.
What flue temp there is ,is mostly from the heat from the cat I believe.
I did have a few very cold days here in Ny where I ran the stove to the point where there was decent flames..around 2.5..trust me it will heat when called upon..lol.
I do think that tube stoves can kick it harder though from stove top temps I have seen posted.
Maybe the tubes can make better use of a lot of out gassing?
I'm thinking so.

 

[HotCoals]

I could see where a stove with both tubes and cat would be neat.
If you want fast heat the tubes will do it for you..then if you want to settle it down for a long burn turn off the air to the tubes cut back the primary and let the cat do the work.

 

[Todd]

I've always kept good track of my firewood usage and when I burned my Hearthstone Homestead (noncat) I went through about 4 cords of hardwood per year for 3 years. When I switched over to my Woodstock Fireview I consistantly burned 3 cords per year for the last 5 years. 1 cord savings per year is nothing to sneeze at and adds up over time.

My new Keystone's are still impressing me, that little 1.4 cu ft fire box can get consistant 12 hour burns which are perfect for the shoulder seasons, or you can turn it up when you need more heat. Nice to have that control.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Had alot of anxiety over buying a catalytic stove over a non -cat since I've owned four non cats prior to my first cat.Well as mentioned here previously I bought the King Ultra,a snap to operate and even though the weather here has only been in mid thirties it has shown me alot.With only five oak splits it burned thirty hours and the heat was usable. Burns everything into baby powder consistency.I've never burned it past number two setting except on startup. We're going to have mid thirties for about another five days yet.No real test for it this year ,BUT I've got a feeling it'll do exactly as the factory said it will.Glass gets a little smoky but I'm told a hot fast burn will remedy that.PS I even like it's looks. I hope I can be this happy a year from now,time will tell.

We too had some anxiety when buying our cat stove. Actually we had made up our mind to not buy one because of some horror stories on the Internet. However, we also knew that Woodstock was a great company that stood behind their stoves and sort of wanted one. We came very close to not buying but in the end we did and have not been sorry a bit.

Just for comparison, we had a big Ashley before the Fireview and now we burn about 50% of the wood we used to and we stay a whole lot warmer. Nothing was done to the house like added insulation or windows. The only thing that changed is we decided to also put up a new SS chimney. We put it up just like the last one; through the wall and up the side of the house.

Have I mentioned we really like this stove?

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Not much to add. 2 splits added this morning went 11 hrs., house was at 71 °F when I got home. Now, the first 1" of the 6-10" is on the ground, and the snow is coming down pretty good. Loaded the stove full (10 splits N/S), and I won't have to mess with it until tomorrow night. I'm really looking forward to June.

 

[fbelec]

I wonder, if 5 splits last 30 hours in a cat stove and 10 hours in a non cat stove, does a cat stove burn 66% less wood than a non cat stove?

For an example to the question. I usually burned 9 to 10 cords per winter.
This season, I've burned just over 5 cords with the new cat BK. I'm guessing it will average to 40% at least.
Significant savings, cleaner burning, better heat IMO.

hey dave
what stove were you burning before this one? any change in house temp? or anything else that could have helped?
that is a hellva savings.

frank

 

[bogydave]

I wonder, if 5 splits last 30 hours in a cat stove and 10 hours in a non cat stove, does a cat stove burn 66% less wood than a non cat stove?

For an example to the question. I usually burned 9 to 10 cords per winter.
This season, I've burned just over 5 cords with the new cat BK. I'm guessing it will average to 40% at least.
Significant savings, cleaner burning, better heat IMO.

hey dave
what stove were you burning before this one? any change in house temp? or anything else that could have helped?
that is a hellva savings.

frank

old stove 1982 BK king.
Added attic insulation. Built an arctic entry on the front of my house, spray foam window frames & air some leaks.
New high energy rated, patio door, some other basic improvements over the years.
New BK ultra catalytic wood stove.
Better seasoned fire wood this year too, learned some stuff from this site.
House temp is in the low 70s now, before high 60s. Not so many hot, then cold, then hot , then cold in-house cycles.
More even heat once I learned how to operate the new stove better. Longer even heat burns.
Burning a longer season now, better heat control. Start first of Oct & plan to burn to end of April.
Several good improvements, all helped. The new wood stove is one that amazed me the most.
Dave

 

[fbelec]

nice to hear it's going well for you dave. a real success story.

frank

 

[woodchip]

Have I mentioned we really like this stove?

Only once or twice......

And Franks, think of the other advantage of burning less....
Keep collecting like you used too and the wood will pile up......
Easy to get a few years ahead with the firewood supply and then be burning well seasoned wood all the time