Holy #%&T

[webby3650]

I prefer one of each!

 

[tpenny67]

Yes but repeated incidents like this will destroy the stove. I have seen it before. We just replace a 3 year old 3100 that the top was warped so bad the top was down 3/4" at the stove collar and the front was bad enough you couldn't close the door. They guy said oh yeah I had it glowing all the time

After reading this thread I put a straight edge on my Liberty to see how it's holding up after being at the limit a number of times over the years but never quite overfired. Generally it's very straight except for the front which has a noticable bow inwards.

Looking closer at the weld between the front and top plates, the weld itself is not a straight line so it actually appears it was manufactured that way. On this stove, the front and sides are the same piece of metal bent into a U shape, so my guess is the bending process can leave the front non-planar.

It's only about 1/8" off of being flat, but that means the door gasket is filling a 1/4" gap at the ends and about 3/8" in the middle. Wonder how much it's going to bug me now that I'm aware of it

 

[Woody Stover]

the weld itself is not a straight line so it actually appears it was manufactured that way. On this stove, the front and sides are the same piece of metal bent into a U shape, so my guess is the bending process can leave the front non-planar.

I would think they'd have a fixture or jig to hold the two sections in place for welding, but who knows?

It's only about 1/8" off of being flat, but that means the door gasket is filling a 1/4" gap at the ends and about 3/8" in the middle. Wonder how much it's going to bug me now that I'm aware of it

Not all that much since you can compensate where the gasket sits with more or less glue under it.

 

[revdocjim]

Some day I may get a cat stove as well, being fully aware of their advantages in some situations. My main hesitation is that I'm not always the one running the stove, and as such I worry that the learning curve for proper use may be a little steeper for less experienced people, and when used carelessly the stakes are a little higher. And the other factor where I live here in Japan is that houses are very poorly insulated and thus there is less need for long, slow burns. I think I might agree with webby, "one of each"!

 

[jetsam]

the learning curve for proper use may be a little steeper for less experienced people, and when used carelessly the stakes are a little higher.

I hate to take the bait here, but you got both of those things backwards.

The safest stoves available all have cats in 'em. You have to either leave the door open or have a hardware failure to overfire a BK. They're also simpler to operate than even old pre-EPA stoves, let alone something with two air controls (mainly because you can't overfire it-on a hot reload you put the wood in, close the door, close the bypass, walk away.).

I have a wife who isn't that interested in learning about stoves, so I would probably be risking a melted stove if I had any sort of tube stove or pre-EPA stove.

 

[Babaganoosh]

An ex gf had to run my stove a few times last year. I've got an ideal steel. She had no issues running it. Granted it was reloaded by me but I had to go out and she ran the bypass and the air control. Not as easy as a BK but she had no trouble. I gave her a quick run down of what to do based off the cat probe. She dialed it in just fine.

I like a cat stove. I'm glad I bought it. I think there would be more cat converts if they could demo one for a month or two. It's hard to justify the extra money when you have been getting along just fine without a cat stove . That is until you try on and wonder why you didn't try sooner.

 

[weatherguy]

If you load your stove at night on a hot bed of coals and its 10 degrees it's going to act differently than loading in the day when it's 35 out.

 

[revdocjim]

I hate to take the bait here, but you got both of those things backwards.

The safest stoves available all have cats in 'em. You have to either leave the door open or have a hardware failure to overfire a BK. They're also simpler to operate than even old pre-EPA stoves, let alone something with two air controls (mainly because you can't overfire it-on a hot reload you put the wood in, close the door, close the bypass, walk away.).

I have a wife who isn't that interested in learning about stoves, so I would probably be risking a melted stove if I had any sort of tube stove or pre-EPA stove.

No arguments there jetsam. I was thinking more about shortening the life-span of the cat element by clogging it up etc. and not the ultimately high stake issues of burning your house down. With my Napoleon the most common outcomes from overfiring (within reason) are shortening the life span of the airwash baffle or the secondary baffle. Both of those parts can be replaced for less than $30. If you clog a cat element by burning wet wood or other incorrect use the replacement costs are significantly higher.

 

[jetsam]

I have been burning wet wood in my stove since I got it. I would need to remove the flame guard and pack mud up there with an ice cream scoop to clog the cat. If I did do this improbable thing, I could unclog it by rinsing it in the sink.

The cat is a $200 grid of ceramic or steel, not a $2000 box of delicate electronics.

 

[Squisher]

Might be time to break out that moisture meter again. Or would you say it's typical to burn wet wood in a cat stove with no issues and fantastic performance?

 

[jetsam]

If you have a stove that burns wet wood with fantastic performance, I would like to purchase it please.

I have a hard time imagining how I would clog the cat by burning wet wood, and an equally hard time imagining why I would replace it instead of cleaning it if I did somehowanage to clog it.

Maybe if the wood was pressure treated, and I burned all my cardboard and old plastic bags in there too...

 

[revdocjim]

I have been burning wet wood in my stove since I got it. I would need to remove the flame guard and pack mud up there with an ice cream scoop to clog the cat. If I did do this improbable thing, I could unclog it by rinsing it in the sink.

The cat is a $200 grid of ceramic or steel, not a $2000 box of delicate electronics.

Point well taken and I don't question or argue with your experience at all. I've just read quite a few posts of troubled beginners who have struggled to keep their cat elements in proper working order, presumably due to careless or uninformed use, and then been told by dealers or manufacturers that they need to replace the cat even though its only been in use a couple of years or so.

 

[jetsam]

Point well taken and I don't question or argue with your experience at all. I've just read quite a few posts of troubled beginners who have struggled to keep their cat elements in proper working order, presumably due to careless or uninformed use, and then been told by dealers or manufacturers that they need to replace the cat even though its only been in use a couple of years or so.

Welp, you can crumble ceramic ones by cooling them down too fast. You can poison steel or ceramic ones by burning things that eat the catalytic coating. You can burn the coating off of either one if you leave the stove door open all day or have a bad gasket. I guess on some stoves you could also smush them with a log? (Not on mine, unless you were really determined.).

I can't think of any other ways to kill one through stove operation, though. They're not exactly delicate.

I don't doubt that lots of people go through a cat every year or two, because they can't be arsed to read the book that came with the stove.

I also doubt you will find any of those people here, because people who are interested in learning about stoves do not have that problem.