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

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.

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 later......40 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 2.5..... 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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

Thank you. Great explanation. I just put a deposit on a catalytic stove, but didn't really understand how it worked until now.

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.

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.

Thanks ,that was very informative now I know the difference. We have a Osburn 1100 model in our cabin and harvest alder hemlock and cedar from the property, my spouse Vickie always likes to see the flames so yes we burn a lot of wood.Cheers from Bowen Island ,BC Canada.

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. 🤠🐂🏞️🛩️

Honestly man, really good explanation of these things! Thanks for the video

My woodstoves are old but extremely well built. Both have thermostatic cold air inlets so the burn is fairly efficient. I also have 2 Wiseway Non-electric pellet stoves. I use all 4 stoves during the winter. One woodstove to heat my barn and one to heat my "shop." I use the pellet stoves to heat my house. If pellets become expensive I have 2 spare woodstoves stored for "kust in case."

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

I tend to favor hybrid burners that feature the best of both types of stoves like the Jøtul F 500 V3 Oslo or the Woodstock Progress Hybrid stove. They deploy both technologies described in this video and allow you to decide whether to go for a hotter, more attractive fire or a longer burning fire. The Jøtul stove has a new type of combustor that is guaranteed for 20 years and doesn't require a bypass damper for when the stove is heating up, so its first hour emissions are extremely low because it always burns in a clean mode. Catalytic stoves have very high emissions while their bypass dampers are open, and require you to pay close attention to the catalyst temperature after lighting a fire so that you know when to close the damper. If you happen to get an engrossing phone call or you fall asleep right after lighting the stove you may burn all the wood up with the damper open. Catalysts have come a long way but are still often the Achilles heels of catalytic wood stoves. When they are new and undamaged they do a great job of giving you a high efficiency burn but if they become damaged or worn out the efficiency of the stove can drop substantially.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Good job.

Thanks, great job explaining the difference.

had both types and like the secondary air stove MUCH BETTER. No waiting for the combustor to heat up. The best way to tell if a stove is burning efficiently is to see what is coming out of the chimney. If you see smoke (unburned gasses) it is not efficient. If you see shimmering wavy exhaust with no smoke you are burning most efficiently. The secondary air stove is better in that regard in my 45 years burning experience. No smoke is most efficient (and no creosote).

There are only so many BTU's in each stick of wood. Each type of stove will release basically the same amount but the cat stove has the capability to release them slower and longer. This is good for those relatively warmer Spring and Fall days where you dont need that much heat but when its colder expect to run it hotter like the non cat stove. The catalyst will only last 10-12000 hours so if your a 24/7 burner in a cold climate expect a pricey $200-300 replacement every other year after your warranty is up.

Really great video. I am looking to buy a wood stove or backup heat. Learned a ton from your video. Thank you So MUCH for making it ! ! !

Great video and comparison of the two.

Great video, thanks for posting! I've got a Princess insert and couldn't be happier with it!

EXCELLENT VIDEO! I had no idea! Very informative! Many thanks. Cheers from northern Ontario, Canada!

Very informative. I've heard of catalytic stoves; they sound amazing. I've had a New Zealand built stove(Meridian) for 37 years and it is amazing as well; very efficient but probably not as efficient as a catalytic stove. My maximum burn time is about 18hrs with the air turned right down BUT it does blacken the glass at that setting so I tend to leave the air at around an eighth to a quarter open overnight; no dirty glass when I get up but plenty of coals to re-ignite a fresh load of wood. Thanks for the information.

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!

I have a lopi evergreen which is a secondary burn stove. I get about 10 hour burn times and will still have a nice bed of coals in the morning to start the next fire. I dont want to deal with a replacement catalyst every so often and i can make my own reburn tubes if i wanted. And seeing the floating dancing flames when I shut down the air is amazing to see

Excellent video. I think for my case where I will be using my cabin only on weekends, the secondary air stove will work better for me. I will need the cabin to warm up quick vs keeping it warm for long periods of time. However my buddy will be living in his cabin all the time and he has a Blaze King which will be going all day, every day in the winter time and that one is a lot better suited to him.

thanks for clearing that up.

I have an old, 1990 Osburn with secondary air. I have coals after 10 hour overnight burn. Very happy with it. Mine has solid black metal in back for secondary air. Thick metal with air holes across the upper back of firebox. These new ones have all these tubes that may not last as long. Curious when they get rotted out like a BBQ but they are probably more efficient being over the whole top of fire. Cheers

We bought a Princess 32 and installed it on Valentine's Day. The fire has never gone out, and the house stays at 70 deg. Load it a night, top-up in the morning, good for the day. The best part is that we're burning HALF the wood we were burning before. What a great stove for a home.

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.

I do mind getting up at 4am to reload but I like the quick starts and hotter fires and flames. I get wood dropped off for free so not worried about how much I use.

Really helpful video. I have an older avalon wood stove, that clearly has reburn tech in it. I was always curious about cat fireplaces , I really love the idea that I can get long burn times. It would be perfect for me cause I generally run my stove around 500-600 during the day in winter. But i let it die out for bed time, mainly cause It doest really get many hours of run time. But a cat stove could really get 10+ hours which would last me till i wake up and keep the fire going.

Appreciate the good explanation & description & comparison.

Thank you. Well explained and unbiased info.

Excellent explanation. Thanks a million.

You can make any stove more efficient by feeding it outside air rather than having it consume your warm air which forcibly draws cold air into the house.

Wow, this was excellent!! Thank you.

Great video. Answered most of my questions.

I miss my blaze king, those stoves are incredible.

Having used all types of wood stoves I would say I prefer the reburn. Although, the catalytic stove is an old Vermont Casting and they don't have the best reputation. Whatever stove you buy, get one with the lowest possibility of an air leak. i.e. no ash dump, few gaskets. That Vermont Casting has an ash dump and six different gaskets of varying sizes. After the last time I took it apart and cleaned it up it feels like it burns through the wood faster so it must have an air leak somewhere.

Fine presentation. We had Vermont Casting cat stoves for 2 decades when they first came out. Except for parts replacement the 3 VC Encores were fine heaters for primary heat in Maine. When the last Encores became too costly and time to repair we tried the "NEW AND IMPROVED" Flexburn models with the same form factor as old Encores. They did not function and were dangerous since the primary air controls malfunctioned on 2 Encore Flexburns with uncontrollable fires. The dealer ( a true pro ) refunded the full costs and took the stoves back. VC corporate was AWOL, even angry. Blaze King was on the agenda but high $$$$ and it would not fit our clearances since their thermostatic control at the rear needed too much spacing. The choice for the past 5+ years has been 2 Jotul Rangelys ( no longer made) non cats for 99% primary heat ( we have no central heat or thermostat like most set at say 65 F ) with NO problems including original gaskets and air tubes. We are home often enough to load when needed for heat. JMNSHO

Great video. Very informative! Where does the secondary air generally pull from? Specifically asking for our Jotul Oslo F500 secondary air stove. It’s hard to tell where the pipes draw from.

My Drolet HT2000 also has an airwash system to help keep the glass a little cleaner or is it all part and parcel with the secondary air....And thanks for the explanation/video.

I have a catalytic wood stove, and the biggest downside is the delay in getting heat when you start them cold. It is like preheating an oven. First you establish the fire, then you run the stove with the bypass damper open for at least 20 minutes to get the stove and the catalyst hot. Then you shut the bypass damper and start getting meaningful heat out of the thing. For a cold cabin that is maybe 30 degrees inside, that is a long time to be cold. But once you get past that slow start up, they work great, as long as you are burning seasoned, dry wood.

Great topic, Thanks for posting.

I didn't even know catalytic stoves were a thing! Thanks Man!

Excellent tutorial! Thank you

When we replaced our old Fisher stove about 30 years ago, cat stoves were really being pushed. What I learned by asking lots of questions was this: Is there a warranty on the catalyst--and for how long? (its perfectly possible to "poison" one). What's the catalytic efficiency at the end of the catalyst's life, compared to what it is at the start? Should your company go out of business or be sold, how long will replacement catalytic cartridges be available? Can I get a replacement cartridge, say, for my Oregon Woodstove (long defunct)? One thing that was a real stopper for a couple of candidates was "You show a left-hand hinge model. but we need a right-hand hinge one. Can you sell me one?" You would be amazed at the number of "no" responses we got on that one. After all the research, we wound up with the secondary burner. It cost more than the catalytic models, but it still works just fine. Heating efficiency isn't a big thing, as we own our own woodland and usually have far too much downed wood to be able to burn it all.

Best explanation I've heard👍 Thank you

Great explanation thx. And yes, the double wall stainless chimney in Calif is $100/foot.

I live in South Florida and only have to turn on the resistive heat in my central AC about 2 nights a year but an fascinated by these wood burners on YT.

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

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.

I have a secondary air stove, it’s actually an Osburn. I found a way to close down the secondary air intake to slow down burn time while still getting A clean burn. Extended burn time sun but it doesn’t compare to a cat.

Thank you for the information.

excellent info, super appreciated

I have a blazeking princess 32. At 1st I didn't like it and was disappointed.. but learned I wasn't burning "truly seasoned wood" once I ordered kiln-dried wood and my own seasoned firewood mixed. Blazeking. IMO are by far superior compared to my napolen wood stove. Yes. It does take some patience but once you get the operating system down 6 pieces of wood burns/heats my whole 1600 sqft home nicely for a good 12/14 hrs on a high. To each and they're own. I personally prefer longer burns with more consistent heat output not worrying about loading up the fire box every 4/6 hours especially at night.

I sell wood stoves and inserts at our hearth store. The one thing that no one can seem to answer is "Define a 20 hour burn time" . What does that mean to the consumer. 20 hours at WHAT temperature. Sure the stove will burn down to embers and decrease down to 200 degrees, but you're not "heating" the house anymore. We tell our customers who come in and are concerned with "efficiency". " If you don't have a free source of firewood, then you have lost your efficiency because you are now paying for wood". We get a lot of customers who think wood stoves are romantic and nostalgic and then the opposite ones who know what they are doing and use it as main heat for their home. Over the years, I have heard some pretty stupid stories from consumers about how they use their wood stove.................... Honestly all of us in the industry are surprised more homes have not burned down over stupidity and ignorance.

Thank You! That explained it well!!! Much Appreciated!

Thankyou for a very informative video. But you left out a very important point regarding these two fire places that people should be aware of before making a decision on either. Maintenance! The secondary fire place has minimal maintenance where as the catalytic fire place has much more required maintenance that has a fair cost associated with it due to cleaning/replacing the catalytic unit that is made of quite expensive materials. Happy to be corrected if I am not on the money here...

I have the secondary air stove and love it. Long burn times. Only time I get smoke out of it is when I load it and that maybe for 10 minutes. MUST have seasoned wood for efficiency and for long burn times 9 to 10 hours. I lay my logs left to right for long burn times. To get quick heat I place my logs front to back. Heats a 1,500 sq foot home. It was 80 degrees when I woke this morning and I loaded it up 8 hrs before hand. I open the door in the morning so it can burn down and I can remove some ash, then after a couple of hours I will load it up again for a long burn. It was 28 degrees over night nice and comfortable in here. I have a unit on my stove pipe with a thermostatic fan to capture heat going up the 10 ft tall chimney. I removed the top sheet metal ( for an optional factor fan unit) to make for a larger cooking area. Heat feels better and food taste better. I am sure that's all in my mind but it does to me. Great video!

For me the ambiance of flames 🔥 is important. The long slow burn I doubt would give a pleasing glow and offer that much desired effect. I could see it being useful for overnight heat, we used to bank up our open coal fire and turn off the draft so it baked the coal and the crust formed kept the house toasty warm then in the morning break the crust and away it would go. Thanks for explaining the two.

I didn't hear you mention one of the BEST features of the Blaze Kings. The automatic air control !!!! That works like a thermostat for a furnace and automatically adjusts the air supply damper to maintain constant temperatures throughout the burn cycle. This one feature of the Blaze Kings that I would never give up and of course it helps that they are the longest burning wood stoves available. I have a Princess in my shop and a King Ultra in my house. I bought both of them new and still use them every burning season. The Princess is about 20 years old and the Ultra is 14 years old and both still work great.

Osburn Stoves made by SBI. SBI also make Drolet and Century Stoves, as was mentioned in the vid. My budget Century stove works great. Curious, when the 30 hour burn times are mentioned with a catalytic stove, at what stove top temps? If the STT is not 475+, it does not do a good job of heating the house. Ideally for our house, 475~550 STT is a sweet spot for duration and providing desired heat output.

Well done!

wonderful explanation!

Thanks for teaching me.

I have an Earth Stove brand that I've used since 1985. It has a catalytic converter in it but it smokes up the glass and you get smoke back up if not kept extremely hot. I burn mine open most of the time.

Could you discuss what the burn rate of the catalytic stove turned up to flat out or did I miss that bit. Do they generate the same heat per hour when turned up to max. Thank you.

👍Thanks for the information, very informative

There are also Hybrid stoves that take advantage of both technologies. Woodstock Soapstone based in Lebanon NH is a well know producer of those. There may be others as well, I'm just not sure.

I wonder if that Catalyst makes the air outside smell like a Flatulant? Back in the 80s, I built a stove from a piece of 18" pipe. Had a top Horizontal 6" exhaust, a large baffle forcing the exhaust to go around the ends before exiting into the Flue, (which was 20 feet tall). Since the Stove was ROUND, there was no need for Fire Brick to keep the corners from splitting open, and it made a LOT of heat. Round stoves make the fire fall into itself, so burns are much more complete. After 5 YEARS, I swept my flue pipe, to get 1/8 cup of tan dust. NONE of these new square stoves would do that. But thanks for the good info. Nice video.

Amazing. Thank you very much. Bought the wrong stove. I am a Queenslander now living western NSW Australia. Winter is only short. However, wood is extremely expensive to buy. Oh well. I put my ceiling fan on reverse. That helps. Small cottage. It is warmer. However, not economical. $1,050.00 Australian dollars so far for wood? Down under Australia is not at all a cheap country to live in. I will be leaving country life too hard, expensive and boring. I live near Wyangla Dam. Closest town Cowra. WWll history here. Thank you very much. Great video. Very well explained. Fire box was $1,500.00 and too have it installed $900.00. All Australian dollars.

This was a very informative video. The comment section was just as informative with lots of experiential comments from people that use wood stoves to heat their homes every year.

We own a blaze king sirocco , and we have owned many different types through our 30 years of heating with wood and we have owned a secondary air stove as well , and as far we are concerned there is nothing more efficient than a catalyst wood stove , for heating with the least amount of wood it is the way to go . We heat from October to May and on our coldest season we only used 6 face cords of wood .

Good Stuff, Great Tips👍🏿😀

Very helpful. Thank You

Hey great review I have the Blaze King Princess and I love it. I burn a mixture of hard and soft wood with no problem and I get a good 11-12 burn time with stove turned up 1/4 or so and where I live there are lots of windy days. This is a great thing to know when a storm has gusts up to 100km hr the Blaze King burns the same no out of control fires and burn time stays almost exactly the same and another note. Very very low soot build up in the chimney which eliminates chimney fires. I had two cup fulls of ash in a full season of burning which is 4-5 months with really dry fire wood. Secondary stoves are good too but lighting my fire once every few weeks and getting a long burn time is great for a home owner. God bless

Extremely helpful, thank you!

Thank you. We have a 12-14 year old QuadraFire 7100. This is a secondary air unit. I have absolutely perfect cut and cured firewood. It’s kept in a shed and dry with good airflow. I also burn Enviro Brick fire logs. These fire logs are 100% hard wood sawdust compressed under 25 tons of pressure. This compression forms a hardwood brick Anyway the firewood will burn about 5-6 hour and put off heat for an additional 3-4 hours. The Enviro bricks stacked with about 1” space staggered two packages and we get a 6-7 hour burn with additional heat of 3-4 hours. With both kind of fuel, the peak heat at is from about 30 min after lighting and maintained peak heat for about 4 hours then it begins a gradual decline. The quadrafire 7100 is a discontinued model. It has some issues, we have owned two of them over the years in different homes. The issues we have had is: (1) glass always smokes up as the fire begins to cool. (2) the auto air controller needs to be serviced or replaced every 4-5 years. (3) the door handles melt if left in the open position (4) the door seals and glass seals go bad every 2 years. We are getting ready to remodel. Im thinking we will go with a stove this time. We use the QuadraFire as primary heat once temps are below 40F. I need stove that will heat about 3000 Sq ft.

I/we had a Blaze King fireplace insert at our beach house on the Oregon Coast. Read cold & damp weather most of the year. It was AMAZINGLY efficient! Burning anything other than WOOD, like newspapers, magazines, or “other” would damage the catalyst, tho. Catalysts can be replace, but you don’t want to do it often $$. Just something to be aware of if your making a choice. I would buy one again (!), and I would tightly control who feeds it again.

Thanks, this is the best explanation on this subject I have seen.

Thanks, very informative! I wasn't aware that catalytic wood stoves even existed! They might be banned by my countrys legislations. I have had a secondary air stove for 15 years now (Jøtul F350) and get through 9000 liters of fuel every season.

I had a catalytic stove at one time. The catalyst grid was constantly getting fouled with fly ash. Performance declined rapidly and It needed cleaned every few days. It also failed to work entirely after a few weeks and was expensive to replace. I now have a "secondary air" stove that I find entirely satisfactory.

I have a jotul 600 "secondary air" stove. It easily maintains a fire overnight. I also have unlimited quantities of various types of oak firewood. This allows me to heat my house with a 28 ft vaulted ceiling with 24 ft of vertical single wall pipe.

Great video. I didn't know catalytic stoves could give you burn times of 30 hours. That's crazy. Still, I think I prefer non-catalytic stoves. I have a Pacific Energy Super LE (non catalytic) and I'm pretty satisfied with the 6-7 hours burn time. This stove is very efficient and well built. The only thing I don't like about these secondary air EPA stoves is that they prevent you from closing air intake completely. I have a straight and tall chimney and that gives me a very strong draft. Sometimes when the temperature outside is cold the fire becomes uncontrollable even with air intake shut all the way down. Second combustion goes nuclear and the only thing I can do when it happens is look at my fire hoping it calms down. Not cool.

My home made wood stove works great. I love it!

Great video

I have a catalytic stove (Dutchwest by Vermont Castings) and I hardly ever use the catalytic converter, mainly because where I live (north Alabama) the weather never gets cold enough to run it because it won't work if the outdoor temp is above 25 degrees. It has to do with the way the stove draws in cold weather.

Nicely informative video. But 5 sec of silence on a static card at the front had me wondering if it was playing. Need either motion or audio or both, right up front.

Good info to have. Thank you.

This is good info, thanks for putting together the video. One question I have is what about burning engineered logs, such as North Idaho Energy logs made of pressed saw chips? I burn them in my 13 year old Lopi secondary air style stove with great results. I have a friend with a soapstone style of stove. The directions/warnings very specifically state not to burn energy log style products because they burn too hot. Is that at least in part because of the catalyst system?

Great Video, Nice comparison- I have a LOPI Cape Cod- it actually has both, Secondary burn and a Cat- when I got it (second hand steal) It was one of the most efficient and has cut my overall consumption in half, I have a 3600 sf house and this will cook us out if I let it go, burn times are 8-10 hours but it likes to burn hot, I have a 40' chimney and had to put a baffle in it as it was running away at night. Just couldn't put enough wood in it and choke it or it would backfire. Now 3 logs and almost choke it out completely and I have nice embers to start up in the am.

Great info. Thanks

Good video! Thank you.

Very informative!