Help choosing stove

[bholler]

Have a BK Ashford, simple to operate and allows me to run on low in shoulder seasons & not overheat the house. Efficiency of low burn will likely offset the cat replacement costs. I would go for the BK, if the clearances work.

Against a modern non cat that is within a couple percentage points of efficiency I doubt it.

 

[BKVP]

I have never messed with any of my noncats after getting it up to temp and shut back. Honestly I don't see much difference at all having run both. You have an extra step with a cat stove but it's all in about the same time frame.

But cat stoves do take more money to maintain than a good durable noncat

Just as a good durable cat stove costs less to maintain than a less durable cat stove.

 

[bholler]

Just as a good durable cat stove costs less to maintain than a less durable cat stove.

Well about the same. Unless it's a downdraft or something weird. There just isn't much to replace on tube stoves. Pretty much just the baffles which usually last many years. So even if someone is replacing their baffles every 2 to 3 years which is extremely uncommon most baffles cost less than a cat

 

[rijim]

Against a modern non cat that is within a couple percentage points of efficiency I doubt it.

The burn control of the BK line is the difference maker, in the shoulder season I set it on low don’t overheat the house and re-load 24 -30 hours later. Yes a non-cat can have small fires then re-light every day, the BK load it up get the temp up to engage the cat, 30 minutes later adjust the burn control knob to lowest setting and come back in 24 hrs to reload.