Important information about the Catalytic Combustor in your stove

Most catalytic combustors used in manufacturing catalytic stoves today are made of a high temperature, honeycomb patterned ceramic substrate.
They are coated with special noble metals like palladium and/or platinum.
The honeycomb pattern gives the combustor surface area for the catalytic coatings.
I would like to point out that cell density (16 or 25 cpsi) plus the combustor dimensions are both very important to the stove’s operation.

1. open frontal area of the combustor is designed to receive the flow rate of the gases coming from the firebox.
2. the combustor’s size and cell density will control the residence time needed for the gases to burn within the combustor.

Always replace the stove’s combustor, when needed, with the original OEM combustor size and cell density for best efficiency and performance of the stove.

More History - A New Era in Woodburning Began

It was in the late 1980’s, that the U.S. EPA began to set standards for stove manufactures to follow and a whole new era in wood burning began.

By the end of the decade, magazines were full of positive articles on the catalytic combustor.

There were nearly 80 wood stove manufacturers already certified to the EPA's Phase I program when it began.
60% of them had certified with catalytic wood burning appliances.
Even the EPA went on record, stating that catalytics represent the “best demonstrated technology” the industry had at the time.

After June 30, 1990 stove manufacturers could no longer build Phase I stoves and had to comply with the U.S. EPA's Phase II certification program.
Some Phase II catalytic stoves built today, even those with 4 cu. ft fireboxes, are far below the 4.1 g/ph emission limit.
The Phase II certification program is still in effect today.
That is not to say, this won't change in the near future.

How the Catalytic Combustor made it way into the Woodstove Industry

To do this, we need to go back to the 1970’s when heating costs increased drastically.

It was reported back then … as you can see on this chart,
electric rates increased 215% in that decade,
oil prices increased 272%
and that natural gas increased 483%

To combat these cost increases, many homeowners switched to wood as a fuel for their heating needs.

After all, wood was in abundance and free in most parts of the country.
During this same period of time, hundreds of new stove companies began to spring up across the United States.
Bare in mind, there were no environmental regulations yet in place.

However, the advantages of burning wood did have some draw backs.

Early designed stoves produced…
-much wasted energy...
-harmful air pollution...
-and heavy amounts of creosote

It was in the early 1980’s that the catalytic combustor was found to be an ideal solution aimed at answering...... consumer, manufacturing and environmental problems.
When we stop and think about it, the catalytic combustor was actually a “green product before “green” became popular.

More on saving money with an EPA-certified catalytic stove.

If your stove is catalytic, you will save an additional cord of wood out of every three cords you burn each season. Your actual savings will vary according to how often you use your stove and other factors.

Nationwide, the net savings from reduced firewood consumption and fewer chimney cleanings is estimated to be $30 million annually. In addition, the health and welfare benefits resulting from fewer smoke-related illnesses and from reduced materials damage is estimated at about $1.5 billion annually.

Why would you buy a catalytic woodburning stove?

If the consumer wants:
1. an efficient stove (burns less wood / BTU),
2. a stove that costs less to operate (burns less wood / BTU),
3. a stove that pollutes significantly less at low and medium burn rates,
4. a stove that will easily go 10 to 12 hours on a load of wood without reloading and while not polluting.
Then a catalytic stove is a smart choice.

Several stove manufactures have stated that a catalyst will save 5 cords of wood per heating season. With that in mind, consider the number of cords you burn each season and the cost of a cord of firewood (you pick a cost) - say $200, $350. Naturally the cost per cord depends on where you live and the type of wood you burn.
Now do some math and look at the savings.
Exactly how expensive is something that saves you more than $1,000 per season. And for those who get their firewood free, what was the cost and time required to cut it, load it, move it, store it, dry it and etc.
Point is CATALYST SAVE TIME & MONEY.

Have a Happy Easter, for He has risen.

Clean woodburning stoves

What makes a woodstove clean burning
Wood smoke is unburned fuel, some of which accumulates in your chimney as creosote while the remainder exits the stack as smoke. The key to reducing air pollution from woodstoves is to burn fuel more completely.

Three things make a stove clean burning:

a. How it is designed.

b. How it is installed.

c. How it is operated.

Some stove manufacturers use catalytic combustors to burn fuel more completely while others use a variety of design features such as baffles, secondary combustion chambers, and introduction of secondary air.

EPA-certified stoves offer 70 to 90 percent reduction of particulate matter over the older conventional model stoves. This is based on laboratory testing.

EPA’s Phase II Program
Standards for particulate matter emissions

Unless exempted under §60.530 of the U.S. EPA Federal Register, each wood burning appliance manufactured on or after July 1, 1990, or sold at retail on or after July 1, 1992, shall comply with the following particulate matter emission limits as determined by the test methods and procedures in §60.534 of the U.S. EPA Federal Register:

A wood burning stove equipped with a catalytic combustor shall not discharge into the atmosphere any gases which contain particulate matter in excess of a weighted average of 4.1 g/hr (0.009 lb/hr).

A wood burning stove not equipped with a catalytic combustor shall not discharge into the atmosphere any gases which contain particulate matter in excess of a weighted average of 7.5 g/hr or (0.017 lb/hr).

On the Humorous Side