Re: OT(?) Catalytic converters re: N.A. heating stoves

["Dean Still" <dstill@epud.net>]

Dear Scott,

In my own experience I have not found that catalytic converters are always
successful. I was told by the manufacturer that the cat. needs to be 500F or
above but not touched by flame which destroys the unit. Perhaps these
conditions are not always met? I don't know. I just know that adding a cat
to a cooking stove did not visibly reduce smoke.

Heating stoves have a tough job. Throwing logs into the steel box is like
throwing a lot of gas down the carburetor of a car, probably going to smoke.
Metering the fuel is the highest priority in clean burning which is the
beauty of a pellet stove. High mass stoves can also burn cleanly because a
big hot fire burns a lot of wood all at once. A raging fire is really hot
and burns clean. But if you do this in your low mass stove in your 800sf
cabin you might well overheat, the convoluted mass stores heat but its
temperature doesn't rise so precipitously.

Metering the fuel is possible into smaller stoves by spending the time to
chop up your wood more. Then make a hot fire using less wood. More tending
can become a drag and can be replaced by all kinds of automation, tubes that
deliver the tips of the wood as it is burnt, etc. Make a home grown pellet
stove that burns twigs from your acreage? Drop chunks into the fire every
ten minutes? Rattle long skinny logs down a nearly vertical bouncing tube
into the combustion chamber? Then we get really clean burning...Step ONE.

Additionally, the way to save fuel wood (Step TWO) is to increase heat
transfer to the room. Add a heat exchanger to the stovepipe, above the
stove, so that more heat stays in the house, doesn't escape out into winter.
A hot clean burn coupled to an effective heat exchanger can lessen emissions
and radically decrease fuel use. The clean burn gets rid of creosote and
then add surface area to the heat exchanger until exit temperatures are
around 250F. Or add a fan and decrease exit temperatures to ambient.

Or, best option, decrease air exchanges and insulate your house, heavy
chairs, book lined walls, etc. so that once warm the interior holds the heat
overnight. Use tightness and superinsulation to hold heat without a lot of
added mass. Do one or two small really hot clean burns and don't loose the
heat. Replace stale indoor air with a fan operated air to air heat
exchanger. The only reason heating stoves need to burn for long periods is
that houses are very leaky. Fix the leaks and save the wood. Don't pollute:
capture heat.

Best,

Dean-


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