SITUATION:
My mom called me because she felt her BK Princess was not burning properly. With the thermostat setting on 2, the cat went to inactive, and the stove cooled off considerably. Turning the stat back up, the fire reestablished, but it did not burn like it has the rest of the season. I told her to let it go out, and I would look at it after work.
The surface of the STEEL cat had quite a bit of ash on the surface. I brushed it off with a soft bristle paint brush; it fell right off. Also vacuumed the surface of the cat, and cleaned the connector pipe, vacuumed out the loose ash by the bypass door, checked the bypass closure and front door with the dollar bill test, all good.
Started a new fire in the stove, it still does not work right. It was roaring with the bypass open, but when closed, the flames die right down to nearly nothing. I believe that a portion of the cat is plugged, and is blocking the passage of air. Parts of it turn red, other parts do not. This never happened previously on a high fire setting, it was all red. And high fire setting would really roll the flame like crazy in the firebox; but not now.
This stove has been running continuously since October, except for 1 shutdown for a cleaning in December. My King has the ceramic cat, and is performing flawlessly, the holes are much larger in this cat. The holes in the steel cat are so small, I suspect they are much more easily closed up with fly ash. I may try to clean each one with a toothpick, but don't really want to abrade the coating, and it would be a pain in the a$$ -- there might be 1,000 holes in that thing!
I have considered the distilled water/vinegar bath, but don't really want to buy distilled water and 2 gallons of vinegar, and find a pot large enough to hold it. And I think the bath reconditions the catalytic surface, which I don't suspect as the problem here.
I'm going to call the dealer today or stop and see him tomorrow. Will keep you informed. Anyone else have any issues/comments on this?
Oh, and the wood is dry, around 14-16% on a moisture meter. Seasoned for 2 years.