Homemade Catalytic Wood Stoves

Catalytic Converter

• A catalytic converter uses high temperatures to change materials' chemical components. It uses materials designed to enhance the combustion process without sustaining heat damage from ongoing exposure. A wood stove fire box's squared construction gives it a characteristic that makes a catalytic converter useful. Partially burned pieces often end up in the corners of a firebox, where combustion effects are weakest. A ceramic catalytic converter will enhancing a stove’s wood-burning efficiency, reducing the amount of wood it uses and the amount of combustion byproducts it produces, such as creosote buildup along stovepipe walls.

Catalytic Converter Placement

• The placement of a catalytic converter within a homemade wood stove has a bearing on its effectiveness, since certain spaces within the firebox sit outside of the prime wood-burning area. A catalytic converter must reach a minimum temperature of 500 degrees in order to function, so the closer it sits to the heat source the sooner it will engage. Since temperature levels run high within a wood-burner compartment, a steel or iron enclosure provides the durability needed to withstand ongoing use.

Catalytic Converter Components

• The components needed for a homemade catalytic converter include the actual catalyst material and an insulating layer to protect the catalyst from heat damage. Ceramic blocks make for a durable catalyst material that acts as an efficient heat conductor within the firebox chamber. As the blocks will need to be fastened to a wall within the firebox, placing them in a steel box casing makes it easier to fasten the units to the wall. The ceramic blocks also require an insulating gasket layer inside the steel box to prevent the steel surface of the box from damaging the ceramic material.

Airflow

• While beneficial as a heat-conducting element, a catalytic converter piece can restrict airflow, or draft, within a wood stove compartment. When a fire starts, combustion processes require a certain amount of airflow to get the fire going. Airflows also help prevent smoke from spilling out of a wood stove when the doors open. To help generate needed airflows, a homemade catalytic device should include a bypass valve. Whenever the bypass valve is engaged, the resulting air flow directs smoke around the converter piece.