As we've already mentioned, the single most important precaution is to always bypass the converters when the doors are opened. That bit of background should make the advantages offered by a catalytic converter pretty obvious. We have no way of knowing whether this variation is due to experimental error or an actual change in the stove's operating efficiency, but it could easily be either or a combination of the two. During the hours immediately after loading, the catalyst will be very active, handling the volatile hydrocarbons being released from the wood. Subsequently, the catalysts were removed from their steel jacket, and the heater was operated under the same conditions (equal burn rates, time, and wood poundage) with the bypass valve closed to move smoke through the empty converter chamber. The Coleman SportCat catalytic heater is a safe, portable propane tent heater that is ideal for cold weather camping. [RIGHT] The creosote left when using the converter is dry and flaky and often falls away of its own accord. The bypass valve should also be built to seal tightly. And should the catalyst go out for some reason, we've found the thermometer to be the only easy way to tell. We strongly suggest that you incorporate such a baffle arrangement, since eliminating it could result in drastically shortened catalyst life. What kind of fuel do Catalytic Heaters use? The latest high-tech wood burners use 30% less wood and emit up to 90% fewer pollutants than did the best heaters built only ... yourself model in A Wood Stove Catalytic Converter You Can Build.) International Subscribers - Click Here Many of us have eyed them longingly, wishing that we could justify replacing our old metal boxes with state-of-the-art heaters. Research Campgrounds, Plan RV Safe Routes & Turn your phone into an RV GPS. Already a Member? In fact, we developed several early versions that attached to the stovepipe outside the firebox, and at that location our attempts to keep the catalyst active at low burn rates weren't very successful. (It's important for you to understand what these statistics do — and don't — mean. Still, one obvious limitation involved in using rectangular catalysts is that the outer corners are often not as active as are the more central areas of the monoliths because the flow patterns and/or mixing are not perfect. Only 5 left in stock - order soon. On one cast-iron stove that we've equipped with converters, a thermometer set in that location rises to better than 800°F soon after the converter lights off. ProCom Liquid Propane Ventless Ice House Heater - … A catalytic converter can reduce the ignition temperature of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons from upward of 1300°F to the 500-700°F range. During the entire test, we prevented stack temperature from ever exceeding 600°F at the bottom of the connector, so that deposits wouldn't be burned away by the heat. If the fan had been operated on automatic, it's very possible that the efficiency would have been higher still with the catalysts in place. Secondary-air preheating is accomplished by pulling the air through the fire zone to the catalyst and, by all indications, has been quite effective. As a result, catalyst life should be extended when the thermostat is used.). On the other hand, the worst run without the catalyst compared to the best run with it shows an improvement of better than 20%. In order for the smoke to burn in the catalyst, it must be well mixed with a sufficient supply of air. After the phase was completed, we removed the connector and reweighed it to judge the amount of creosote that had built up. In this regard, it's likely that a well-designed "from scratch" catalyst stove may perform slightly better, but everyone who's been involved in this project feels that such tradeoffs are easily compensated for by the cash saved when you retrofit instead of buying new. That fact demands some ingenuity on the part of retrofit-minded stove owners. This easy catalytic RV heater mod with freestanding base and mini-propane bottle saves energy and lowers interior heating costs during every camping season. Our testing methods were quite basic and somewhat limited in scope and accuracy when compared with the sophisticated calorimeter rooms used by some laboratories. Once you get the hang of it, operating a stove equipped with catalytic converters is only a little more difficult than managing a heater without them. Catalytic RV Heaters Offer Safer, More Efficient Warmth. Well-warmed primary air encourages efficient primary combustion, and hot secondary air is vital to maintaining ignition temperature at the catalyst(s). Well, we're glad to say the latest wood stove catalytic converters and secondary-combustion stoves do seem to fill the bill. Canadian Subscribers - Click Here If you need a quick turnaround or only want to rebuild a few heaters at a time, then our shop service would be the better option for you. They don’t make use of actual fire, and are designed to be used in close quarters. Once the research crew was satisfied that the prototype was achieving performance in keeping with what they'd hoped for, the unit was subjected to a period of extended testing. As a final precaution when using catalytic converters, you'll have to avoid burning anything but natural wood and perhaps a little newsprint (without colored ink) to help light your fires. If we took the best run without the catalyst and compared it to the worst with it, the improvement would still be about 11%. For that reason, there must be a valve that allows you to shunt smoke around the catalyst while a new fire gets going and whenever the stove's doors are opened. Also, NuTech, Inc., a firm which the research team dealt with extensively during development and which makes a retrofit package of its own, has a similar offer. Approximately five minutes after the bypass is closed, depending on the specific stove and the intensity of the blaze inside, the heater can be damped down to achieve the burn rate you need. Catalytic heaters like the # CAM57331 Wave 3 do indeed put out moisture as a byproduct of the heating process, it's unavoidable with that type of heater. The combination of the two rectangles and the steel box takes up 2 inches of firebox space to a point 6 inches above the stove floor. If your heater has a heat shield make sure it is in place before the heater is light. Many of us have eyed them longingly, wishing that we could justify replacing our old metal boxes with state-of-the-art heaters. First, the stove was run for approximately 150 hours with the package in place. First, Buck Stove has offered to sell pairs of rectangular converters to readers through its dealer network for less than $100. 87. In the test stove, for instance, a burn rate of two pounds of wood per hour produced a stack temperature of 250°F at the exit to the stovepipe. Since the converter must reach a temperature of at least 500°F before it "lights off," a location close to the fire will insure that the unit starts working as soon as possible and continues to do so throughout the burn. The stove was set in a small, well-insulated room that was equipped with blowers to extract air and a generous inlet to admit air at the ambient temperature in the building. Testing Chemical Chimney Cleaning Products. Therefore, the most important information we can provide you will be the fundamentals of good design rather than a single, rigidly limited set of instructions. order to make it easier to start it is possible to use a flameless heater in which the vapor from liquid fuel (gasoline) is oxidized by the oxgen of the air in the presence of a catalyst. Our Shop. Chemically, a catalyst is a substance that will facilitate a chemical reaction without being changed by it. When you stop and add up the time and money you expend cutting wood and cleaning your chimney, we're pretty sure that — no matter who you are — you'll find a do-it-yourself catalyst conversion will pay you back for its cost in two years or less. The heaters are built with an automatic Piezo electric sparker that lasts about 20,000 starts. And in the late 1970's, engineers at Corning Glass Works (then a major producer of ceramic monoliths — a trade term used to describe the honeycomb structure — for cars) recognized that the emissions from woodstoves were similar, in many ways, to those from autos. By paying with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS for only $12.95 (USA only). At 6:30 I went to rake what I thought would be just a few coals forward to start a fire. So, once the smoke passing through the catalyst reaches that threshold, it will oxidize as long as the combustibles in it are well mixed with a sufficient supply of air. account? (For that reason, the package should be kept in the middle of the stove's back wall well away from the firebox sides.). The catalyst is typically an electrically charged, platinum-coated plate. I was wondering if anyone has ever put a catalytic combuster under the hot plate on a rayburn... this is not in the direct burn box, but where the smoke goes over the top of the oven and up the flue. Since that issue went to press, B.V. has accepted a position directing engineering at Buck Stove Corporation, and the final prototype was developed and tested in cooperation with that company. Later, when the bulk of the burnable combustion waste is carbon monoxide, temperatures will drop, but the catalyst will still be doing its job for almost as long as coals remain in the firebox. On the stove we tested, air was admitted through an automatic thermostat set about midway up the heater's door. “So far, I have used the furnace (DC power) and a small electric space heater (AC power), but I have ordered an Olympian Wave 3 catalytic heater. A catalyst will start burning the smoke coming from the fire when it has reached a temperature of between 350 and 600F. To use the heater after assembly, fill it with fuel, then turn it upside down until a fuel wet spot about six inches in diameter forms on the dome. [4] Hotter air (both primary and secondary) means better performance. The monoliths mount side by side, low on the stove's back wall. A catalytic heater is 99+% efficient compared to our furnace which is only 60% efficient. Check your yellow pages for Buck Stove Energy Centers. After the charge of wood burns down — but not out — you can open the bypass, add more fuel, and then close the bypass immediately. You should use metal that's at least 1/4" thick too, since the temperatures in the valve area are likely to be high enough to cause warping in thinner material, and the hinges should be of substantial thickness for the same reason. (Throughout the tests we used a stack temperature thermostat and recommend it highly. One great way is using a Catalytic Heater for heating the Airstream instead of the furnace. 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