Friday, December 3, 2010

Does the combustor "glow" when it is working?


This is a misconception.


A catalyst can glow during certain stages of combustion. The determination that a catalyst is not working simply because it doesn't glow is inaccurate.

During the low burn cycle, when the catalyst is doing the bulk of its work, it usually does not glow.

Also, extremely dry wood (oak, ash, etc...) can burn clean enough not to produce a glow in the catalytic combustor.

3 comments:

Randee said...

I have a wood stove with a catalytic combustor that we just replaced the top plate due to warpage. We inherited the stove with the house 2 years ago and believe now that the damper was always partially open. We never had any problems with draft before we rebuilt the stove. Now we get puff backs at temperatures above 1250 degrees. We were told that it is a draft issue and that gasses are building up in front of the combustor due to a weak draft. Could the operation of the combustor reduce air flow if not working properly? It looks to be in good shape but has not been replaced since we have had it. We have an x-large stove with an 8 inch pipe out to the chimney with a 6inch combustor.

Ravenvalor said...

Is the combustor still working properly at the end stages of the burn cycle when the stove temperature drops below 500 degrees?
Thanks,
Jim

Randee said...

How would I know? Would I look for the smoke comingout of the chimney?