Is my Cat healthy?

[GG Woody]

I have not quite a month on our new Sirocco 30.2, yesterday I noticed more smoke than usual out of the chimney, I have been running medium temp 12 hour burns all month.
This morning I let the fire go out. This afternoon I emptied some ash and vacuumed the Cat. I currently have a fairly hot fire going, turned a touch down from full hot and the Cat seems to be red hot on the outsides and not in the middle. I still have more smoke than I have had since new.
Any thoughts?
Not an easy picture to capture...

 

[stoveliker]

The uneven cat temp is fine. It depends on where the fuel flows. So it depends on how the load is burning.

The smoke can be okay too. It the cat is active, and you don't have an overdraft, there are occasional smoke episodes.
Thesee are not smoke free.

If you always have smoke, continually, something is off.

 

[GG Woody]

Thanks stoveliker, I think I might be comparing my Cat to a brand new over active one. Weather is a bit warmer and wetter the last few days as well. I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Murray01]

Check your owners manual. BK has a procedure to follow for checking your cat.

 

[Highbeam]

The glowing portion of the cat varies a lot. Especially noticeable during high burn. We can ponder reasons why but for you, the OP, it is normal to have visible color vary across the cat and not a problem to fix.

 

[shoot-straight]

Mine would look like that when certain areas "died" or got plugged w ash. I switched to ceramic to help with the plugging and hopefully longevity.