Comparing Catalytic to Secondary Air Wood Stoves

Not sure what type of stove to get? Maybe this video can help you.

This is just a comparison of 2 models on our showroom floor. It is important to remember that there are many types of secondary air and catalytic stoves out there on the market.

[overlycranked]

This is by far the clearest and the most concise explanation for the subject. Thank you

[terrymaines]

We have the Blaze King Princess this is our 8th year with it I have NOT replaced the CAT yet but one day I will have to I knew this going into this deal. We follow the instruction with the stove to a T!!! This stove is one of the best purchases we've ever made the stove does what the brochure says. I manly feed and run the stove myself 7 months a year get you one you wont be sorry.There is a reason it has King in the name its the KING of wood stoves!!! Thank You Blaze King!

[jgren]

Earned a thumbs up on this one, this is the first video I’ve seen that explained the difference for me.
I had a secondary burn stove and thought it was catalytic. I had a single wall riser off it, and the sticker took a while to blacken and burn off. It took about 10-12 hrs on a full load and worked great. I loved seeing the flames. Almost no creosote in the chimney.
My nephew had an old Ashley (conventional)that was twice as large, took twice or more wood per load, and burned it all up in about 2-3 hours.
Now that I’ve moved, I’m looking for another and the thought of the catalytic type might work better for me in my old age. Less to tote

One time I burned some old oak that someone had in the basement for 15+ years and it was scary how hot that dry old wood got

[trevorstolz]

I have a Blaze King Princess. I am a shift worker and I work 12 hour shifts. What I like about the Blaze King with the catalyst is that even with the air vent fully open (it gets down to -35 C in northern Alberta), there are still lots of coals left when I get home. I live about 45 minutes out of town. So, basically, it has not problem burning for a full 14 hours, even with the air vent fully open. That is a big plus for me. After a 12 hour shift, I don't want to be bothered relighting a cold stove. I just throw more wood in the woodstove and it takes off. I do agree that that catalyst is expensive. Part of the reason that I want to burn wood is to save money. However, with heating costs going up every year, I think maybe buying a new catalyst every other year is not the worst thing in the world. When the catalyst is new, the whole thing blows bright red. When it gets older, it doesn't glow as bright, however, there is still virtually no smoke going out of the chimney. It still burns very clean.

[darrellsaturnbigfoot]

Absolutely one of the best videos explaining the efficiency of a wood stove. You made it easy for me to decide as I am now replacing my 20 year old Regency.

[briangilmore]

I’ve been burning a hobby stove in my ice fishing hut for a few years now. No ice fishing has me wanting a wood burner in the house. Best video I’ve found talking about the difference in modern stoves. Thanks.

[richardpeck]

This is with out a doubt the best video I've ever seen on explaining the differences between a catalytic and a secondary air wood stove. I've never had a catalytic stove, but I sure get tired of feeding my secondary air stoves. I now have the Hearthstone. My previous stove was a LOPI. My friend nick-named this stove, "Low output, per input" and he was right. My Hearthstone takes at least an hour to heat up those soapstones so they start radiating heat. Then the fire only last about 2 hours and it's time to refuel. Unless you want the stove strictly for the way the fire looks, I'd get the catalytic stove.

[wimam]

thanks for the is the first time I understand the difference between these 2 kind of stoves....

[robjohnston]

Clear, concise explanation that made sense to this wood stove newbie. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.

[smini]

This was an excellent video explaining the differences between a catalytic and secondary air wood stoves on the market. Thank you for the clear and informative video! It definitely helped me make a decision about what kind of stove I need for my situation.

[flash]

Its amazing how these wood stoves have grown. Makes my wood stove look like a backyard fire for efficiency. And it was the best stove available years ago.

[dubehigh]

Great video on describing the difference of the two stoves.

[helex]

The only time our Blaze King ever uses the bypass is once a year (or twice if we go on a holiday) . Then it doesn't ever get low enough temperatures to need too use the bypass. In the morning I just turn the air control up a bit, the flame immediately starts so I can see how much wood is left and often can go a couple more hours. We only add wood 3-4 times for 24 hours of comfort. My neighbour who I buy my seasoned wood from says, You hardly use your wood stove? When I say we never turn it off he was confused because you can't see anything but moisture for several minutes after adding wood (10-14% moisture) - the rest of the time it is just heat waves. It seems like it defies physics. LOVE it! He had to come it to prove to him it was going. He couldn't believe it. NO fire! He said. Nope there doesn't need to be a fire - just let it smoulder. The difference between smoke between our stoves is like the difference between an old diesel truck and an electric car. Sadly we have to breathe his smoke. And he uses 3 times more wood than we do.

[phild]

New Years Dec '97 Girlfriend and I were in a cabin in Western Massachusetts with a catalytic woodburning stove. It took a bit to get it warm enough to cet the catalyst hot enough, then it kicked in. No smoke out the chimney, serious heat in the cabin.

[Whatever-odzi]

My wife and I just got a house with a stove. I was researching if it was any good and apparently it is a very nice secondary air stove. This video helped me identify what type it was. This video also helped me understand that the secondary air stove is what I want for the goals that I have for a stove.

[jeff-w]

This has been the most helpful vid in comparing the virtues of each style. I want a backup heat source and something to run on weekends so secondary burn it is. I love the simplicity of it. Thanks!

[MDR-hnyz]

I had a Vermont Casting catalytic stove when I bought the house. It was terrible. It was hard to use, you really had to dial it in, the catalytic went bad and the stove didn’t run properly and it was expensive.

I replaced that stove I’ve had secondary air since. Currently I’m running an Enviro insert and a Pacific Energy. Great efficiency, clean burning and easy to use. Zero complaints.

This is a great video that really breaks down the differences.

[farmnranchapiarybeehiveser]

Thank you for the clear concise explanations. After moving from Arizona to the Ozarks 15 years ago only recently decided to put in a wood stove. Had inefficient fireplaces in the past. But it was mostly aesthetic thing anyway.
I've been using the stove a little over two weeks burning primarily Red Oak cut from standing dead trees.
It is a secondary air England wood stove but I had done no research before buying from the local hardware store. And that gentleman wasn't much help. LOL
Seems I was lucky though. In England's owner handbook they stated the fresh air intake port on the back could either draw off house air or outside air if code demanded it or if the house had a negative air pressure. So I hooked it up both ways using a tee and 2 shut off valves I can either draw outside or inside air. I have a friend who's shop stove has a fan hooked up too blow fresh air in the Firebox to assist in Rapid ignition during startups. So while I was at it I hook a nice quiet $15 computer fan up to the intake that draws off the house. "Seems to work as intended"
England's handbook also stated to latch the door in the open position which cracks it about 1 in. For about 15 minutes upon startup. That is as efficient as the fan I installed. But the fan works better reloading on the hot coals in the morning.
It helps to read the book all the way through in the beginning. I didn't do that. It has a airflow dampener which works really well but then I found out if you turn it counterclockwise it will set the valve to close off the primary air completely. It is thermostat controlled. Do how much depends on how hot it is. If you don't set it you will have nothing but Ash in the morning. but if you reload the stove before going to bed you do not only have a large coal bed but many of the logs will also be a giant glowing piece still intact. with little Flames popping up here and there about an inch.
Which is why I came here. I was curious if that was enough Flame? Or that huge bed of glowing coals was better? my questions were answered.
I'd like to add I didn't have time to season my firewood very well. I realize it will create more creosote but things are what they are. And after half an hour there rarely is any smoke exiting the stovepipe.
🤠🐂🏞️🛩️

[MonoblocII]

Definitely team catalyst here. My Dad has a Blaze King princess. I remember visiting during November a few years back. (west coast of BC) He was working 12 hour days (6AM-6PM), Mom was out of town. I stopped in to visit and beat him home by about 10 minutes. I walked in the door at 6:30 PM and was greeted to a hot house that felt like stepping off a plane in Hawaii. It was about 3°C outside, but the rain and wind were pounding like crazy. Blowing rain sideways. A real cold damp night. I just so happened to have my IR temp gun with me. It was 25°C inside the house on the wall the farthest away from the wood stove. Every room felt wonderful.

I asked him when he last put wood in there, because I couldn't fathom him putting in wood at 5AM just to go to work. He said "I put some in about 8 PM last night." I said "You've been burning this for over 22 hours?" He answered yep like I'd just asked him if 2+2 = 4. No smoke outside. No smell outside. The catalyst was in the active zone. I threw another log in and it caught fire with ease. (All his co-workers with non-catalyst stoves came home to cold houses)

He has one of those heat sink powered fans on top of the stove. I've learned that when that fan starts to spin is also when the stove crosses into the active zone. Thus if you see the fan spinning, it's time to close the bypass and let it run clean. Takes about 20 minutes. The longer the fire runs, the better the catalyst works. Because as a fire starts to smoulder and slow down near it's end cycle, the cat will see more smoke. The smoke ignites in the cat and keeps the cat active, pushing heat back down into the wood until the fire is completely out (some 30 hours hours if you have the Blaze King king model) Those long burns leave you with very little ash. He told me he took about a teaspoon of creosote out of the chimney during his annual cleaning. Wood is his only source of heat. The catalyst lasted about 8 years or so. That seems decent to me. When you get older, the ability to burn about 1/3rd as much wood as you would with a traditional stove is a nice selling point. That's a lot less stacking, carrying, buying etc.

The automatic thermostat (that you set from 1-4) is a nice feature. You set it on 4 (max) during the initial light. And then about 30 minutes later dial it down to where you want it. Usually 2, maybe 3 would be for nights when it's below freezing. Turning it down to 1 will prolong the fire. It's way better than constantly adjusting a manual damper all evening long. It's a real steady heat. House is comfortably warm without being too hot.

The secondary air models have their place. If you only heat on weekends or only want a few hours of burn time (let the furnace do the rest) than a secondary air is what you want. If you're renting a home out, you want a secondary burn for the simplicity. (You need to open the bypass handle on a catalyst model before you open the door to keep smoke from spilling out). Secondary will give you the dancing flames but won't do much during the last stages of the fire for efficiency. The catalyst will often give you glowing orange wood with little to no flames. Occasionally you'll see a horizontal flame along the top of the stove but no flame coming out of the wood. That's the smoke igniting in the catalyst. It's a strange thing to see even when you know why. It will do the dancing flames after an hour or so during the initial light. But they won't be as pronounced as the secondary air stoves.

The chimney is surprisingly not hot with the Blaze King. It's warm. You can touch it. But you won't burn your hand. There are lots of videos on youtube of people cutting a hole inside the chimney and holding their hand in there while the stove is running. They'll close the bypass and sure enough, the smoke goes to nothing. But why would it be hot? There is very little air going up a catalyst stove when it's active. Everything gets burnt inside the catalyst and radiated back downwards into the wood.

[teddyrasputin]

Thanks, best overview / comparison of the two types I've heard. Still don't know which way I'll go though. LOL