It does burn better and longer but its reaches a tipping point where it will just kill the flame no matter the air setting, happened to me last night so I cleaned the cat this morning and I'm back in business.
I would just go ahead and clean the cat, and put in a pipe damper..maybe two. It (one damper) made a difference at my SIL's, although she's running a Fireview. She has about 21' with a jog at the top to avoid rafters..not sure if it's a 15* or 30* jog.
Thats definitely on the list to do for summer. The problem is that my chimney pipe might not have enough room to accommodate a damper without either sawing it down or replacing it with a shorter pipe.
I don't understand having to change the pipe. All I ever did was drill two holes for the shaft..?? Is that double-wall connector pipe? Not sure if there's a damper with a longer shaft for that..I've only installed them in single-wall.
Ah, i didn't realize you could just drill holes for a shaft and put a butterfly valve plate in there. What I had seen from an internet search was a separate module you connect inline with a stove pipe. I do have double wall though.
With single-wall, I reached in through the stove, holding the plate in position, and fed the shaft through from outside the pipe with the other hand. It can be challenging since you can't see the plate or the humps in the rod, once they are inside the pipe. It might be even tougher with double-wall, I don't know. Might be easier with the pipe off..?
