Should I clean the cat more?

[Dmitry]

I have my cat out and want to give it a proper cleaning. It was used for one year and shows some signs of aging. This is a metallic cat.
I blew the ash from inside the cells with the compressor, so no clogged cells. The cells still look dirty from all the ash.
Should I clean it more with some kind of solution? I remember someone saying that they dipped their cats in some kind of mixture to give thorough cleaning.
Is this a waste of time or something I should do while the cat is out?

 

[Dieselhead]

How To Care For Your Catalytic Combustor

www.woodmanspartsplus.com

 

[Dmitry]

Nice article, I assume the vinegar solution was made with regular 5 percent vinegar?

 

[stoveliker]

If the cat is one year old and performs normal, I'd not bother with any solution.
Don't use compressed air beyond what you can get from a duster spray can; you don't want to blow out the active precious metal coating. (Don't use brushes either.)
I use a vacuum instead. Fly ash will come out using that.

If you can see through the channels and have vacuumed it, I'd just leave it be.

 

[Dmitry]

If the cat is one year old and performs normal, I'd not bother with any solution.
Don't use compressed air beyond what you can get from a duster spray can; you don't want to blow out the active precious metal coating. (Don't use brushes either.)
I use a vacuum instead. Fly ash will come out using that.

If you can see through the channels and have vacuumed it, I'd just leave it be.

That’s good to know . I thought about using strong compessor, but all I had is cheap inflator, so, no damage , I think.

 

[Highbeam]

Canned air is over 60 psi so actually decently high pressure.

 

[moresnow]

It's out. Give it a bath. No reason to reinstall dirty? I've seen performance improvements every time.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

Canned air is over 60 psi so actually decently high pressure.

Yeah I'll usually make sure to keep the tip from being right up on the catalyst for this reason. But I have a very accessible catalyst which is nice.

 

[Woody Stover]

Nice article, I assume the vinegar solution was made with regular 5 percent vinegar?

If you do it, use only distilled vinegar.
I think that if you're careful not to run a lot of smoke through a cat before it is hot enough to start burning, you shouldn't have much collect on it except for fly ash, which is easily blown out. That said, it certainly won't hurt to wash it. I should try it on a couple cats I have that are a bit weak, and see if I notice an improvement..

 

[webby3650]

After one year there is no reason to even pull it. The bath you are talking about typically gets done after a few years of service. The brush that came with the stove and a shop vac are sufficient for most annual cleanings.