Today I partially disassembled the wood stove to clean and inspect the catalytic converter.
The good news is that the catalytic converter looks like it’s still in good shape. The bad news is that it was 60-70% blocked by a layer of ash sitting on top of it. Also, one of the retaining clips that holds the plate in the back of the stove was off, which was probably allowing smoke to bypass the cc. ALSO, the channels for smoke exiting the cc were at least half blocked with ash. So put all that together and we were getting very poor results from our stove when directing smoke through the cc, which was pretty clear when we tried to do that and the fire just died.
The longest the cc is supposed to last is 7 years, and we installed the stove in 2002. However, since it’s been blocked, it wasn’t really being used, so I’m reasoning that it might have some life left in it — at least another year.
That was the first time I took the stove apart and looked at the cc, so that was 7 years worth of ash that was built up in there. That’s something I should do every year, and will do so from now on.
Why anyone would make a stove with a cc in it, when designs exist that can meet EPA requirements without one, is beyond me. I suspect the profit motive, and a desire to continue the income stream by selling replacement catalytic converters. I would never buy a stove that used a cc again.
Also, swept the chimney.
Ending and Beginning 
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