Catalytic vs non catalytic wood stove Reddit

Hey, warm and toasty friends!

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Which is better catalytic or non catalytic wood stove?
Do catalytic wood stoves produce less creosote?
How long does a catalytic converter last in a wood stove?
What does a catalytic converter do on a wood stove?

Has anybody faced this debate before? I'm struggling to know what to do.

I want to have a stove installed in an old (1840) house I'm buying. To that end, I've consulted with two local chimney contractors in Southern New Jersey. #1 seemed more than happy to install a big Blaze King Ashford 30 catalytic stove (for a pretty penny, mind you) and #2 said catalytic stoves gunk up the chimney and to avoid them.

I want a catalytic stove, though. I love the idea of doing long burns at low temps with the catalytic stove and pushing out ~11k BTUs for extended periods on very little wood. That is my theoretical ideal. The efficiency and capabilities of the catalytic stoves speak for themselves and I need no convincing there.

However, contractor #2's cautionary advice definitely resonates. In essence, he said:

Low chimney temps cause more creosote buildup because science.
Catalytic stoves create more creosote than non-cat because they put more heat out in your house and less up your chimney. cool chimney = more gunky chimney.
The catalytic combustors get gunked up, need to be inspected, and replaced. They're hard to clean, too. They never run as clean as you think they will.
My chimney is going to have a 6-inch liner and will be 25+ feet high. Tall chimneys get colder at the top than short ones. Putting a cat stove on that chimney at low temps could cause more creosote.
I should get a cheap new non-cat stove and run it for a few years to see how the chimney collects creosote. BUT I'm going to have to keep it running hot enough to keep the chimney warm which means more wood and less efficiency (which I dislike). If I have to keep it running non-stop to keep it hot, it should be a small stove so I don't cook my family out of my 2400 sq foot house.

I don't like creosote, but I DO love burning less wood at low temps in a bigger stove like the Ashford 30. What should I do?

I could go with a cheap new stove for a couple of years and then upgrade to a catalytic one later I guess. We'll be using it for supplemental heating, and it doesn't get THAT cold in south Jersey. The cost of the Blaze King is very high, but I would invest if it means less wood and more efficient burning. Maybe we could make the cat stove an energy cost savings if we split our own wood. I just don't know what to do here. Help!

**EDIT**

Wow, thank you all so much for the feedback and thoughtful opinions! The big takeaway for me is that Catalytic stoves run cleaner (less buildup) than non-cat IF OPERATED AND MAINTAINED CORRECTLY. They are more complicated, so there is more that can go wrong, and people mess it up all the time. The non-cat stoves don't have the low and slow long-burn feature but are still great at heating, and can be quite efficient.

I still don't know what I'm going to do, but this is all extremely helpful. I'm leaning towards getting an efficient non-catalytic stove. My main reasons are:

This stove will be a secondary source of heat only. The rest of the house is heated with a forced-air gas furnace. We likely won't use the stove every day.
We want a stove that can display a nice fire for a pleasant ambiance, not just smolder with low flame while making heat.
Less can go wrong with the non-cat stoves, and they are easier to operate. I.E. if my in-laws come over or my kids start fires it's less likely that they'll make a mistake and ruin the cat plate.
Maintenance seems easier without the cat.
The low and slow cat burns might not even make enough heat to warm up my drafty old house. I'll take shots of high heat instead of the low and slow in that case.

I have an older Waterford Erin wood stove

I feel like we crank through wood, probably a couple splits an hour. I run a fan behind the stove as well as a ceiling fan to circulate the air as best we can. We close off the upstairs and it does a decent job heating the first floor of our small house (600 sq. ft first floor). I replaced the door gasket which did help.

My buddy just got a Hearthston Craftsbury which is catalytic converter wood stove so definitely more efficient. It looks about the same size as mine, he has probably a 2,000 sq ft house and he says it heats the whole thing and his wife was even saying its too hot. He said he was feeding it once every couple hours.

Lot of subjectivity and anecdotal comparisons I know. But considering the size difference in our places are these new stoves really that much better? Or is there maybe something wrong with my stove?

Just hoping others can share their experience or knowledge

Former chimney sweep here, let me see if I can help you out.

The old Jotul stoves are workhorses; my parents used theirs until I spilled a bucket of water on it and cracked the hell out of it when I was 14, so almost 25 years. I never encountered a stove that was easier to use, easier to clean, and longer lasting than Jotul's older models. That being said, they are not particularly efficient. The stoves they're coming out with now with catalytic combustors, self regulating dampers, and multiple baffles are dramatically more efficient and cost effective, even including the steep initial cost of a new stove.

You know what's even less efficient? Anything from Home Depot. Go to the hand tools section. See anything you would bother giving a woodworker as a gift? How about the garden section? Anything a serious gardener would bother with? Welders? Car mechanics? Nothing at Home Depot is top of the line, or even particularly good, including stoves, with the exception of a few power drills and the odd consumable.

I once encountered a customer who bought a brand new US Stove (don't remember which model) and was very proud of themselves, but after a single winter they had gone through six cords of wood. Six. And this was supposed to be a supplementary heating system to their oil heat. He knew something was wrong and wanted my boss (brother) to troubleshoot. My brotherboss told him flat out that the best he could do is give some really generic tips about dampening, draft and flow and types of wood to use, because the stove he bought was essentially a keg with a pipe coming off the back. The poor guy had bought a very good looking incinerator for about $900.

If you have any further questions, I like answering them.

Which is better catalytic or non catalytic wood stove?

You can still use a non-catalytic wood stove as a primary heating source and get long burn times, high efficiency ratings and warm a large area, however catalytic wood stoves offer extended burn times and a more stable heat output when compared to the non-catalytic versions.

Do catalytic wood stoves produce less creosote?

Because of the way the catalytic wood stove operates, the burn time of a load of wood is significantly increased, the amount of wood required to heat is reduced, and there is less creosote deposited in the chimney lining.

How long does a catalytic converter last in a wood stove?

The catalytic combustor in your stove will have to be replaced every 4-5 years. Its replacement cost (about $100) is a small price to pay for the increased efficiency, clean- burning, and peace-of-mind it offers. And, it's much easier to replace a catalyst than a warped firebox.

What does a catalytic converter do on a wood stove?

A wood stove catalytic combustor is comparable to a catalytic converter in a car. Inside the stove, the smoky exhaust passes through a coated honeycomb (the catalyst). The device is chemically coated with a metal that reacts with smoke and other combustion byproducts.