I think I killed my cat

[RandyBoBandy]

so I took advantage of a warm day yesterday and cleaned my stove and checked gaskets and such. I pulled the cat out and ran a Q tip through the holes to get all the ash off. Well, started a fire tonight and closed the damper and now the cat temps won't go above 520 degrees. Any thoughts?

 

[begreen]

Is there a gasket around the cat? Is it intact and correctly in place?

 

[RandyBoBandy]

It's on an encore 2250. The refractory box is in rough shape but the cat is still snug in there. There is no gasket that goes around it.

 

[begreen]

Maybe refractory is breaking down and there is leakage? Is there smoke coming out of the chimney?

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I do have some smoke coming out of the chimney. I did last year too. But up until cleaning the stove yesterday I had no problem getting the cat to light off.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

So I opened the damper and let the flames pick back up and closed the damper again and I think we have lift off. Just passed 1000*. I think it's time to stop being lazy and install a new refractory box.