Hi Everyone, just thought I'd share the pics. Earlier last week did the mid season cleaning of our stainless cat which I added for the 09-10 burning season. This is why its a good idea to clean them in mid season. If your stove has a cat you'll see the draft/efficiency/burn really drop off if it gets partially covered with ash.
So far we've been happy with the cats performance over the ceramic cat-I can't see much difference other than I hope it lasts longer than ceramic. I was expecting to see some warping but there isnt any distortion. I didnt get a chance to actually measure the size of the holes in the stainless cat but to my eye they look smaller than the original VC ceramic cat which I think is why we'll see a little more ash buildup.
The ash was just a light coat on top and not all the way thru. All back together now and pipe temp running about 600. Much nicer burn with a clean cat.
So far we've been happy with the cats performance over the ceramic cat-I can't see much difference other than I hope it lasts longer than ceramic. I was expecting to see some warping but there isnt any distortion. I didnt get a chance to actually measure the size of the holes in the stainless cat but to my eye they look smaller than the original VC ceramic cat which I think is why we'll see a little more ash buildup.
The ash was just a light coat on top and not all the way thru. All back together now and pipe temp running about 600. Much nicer burn with a clean cat.