If you don't have a Testo ...

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53856e1ee4b00c6f1fc1f602/t/5d68adbab98ae80001434c41/1567141312428/Islam+Cat+Piss+ESD+19.pdf

Finding a clean woodstove – A 300-year quest
Nazrul Islam a
, Kirk R. Smith b,
⁎
a ABC Research & Development, 789 Kamarjury, National University, Gazipur, Bangladesh
b Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA

Such work, however, has a long history (Brimblecombe, 1987). Indeed, the very first volume of the venerable Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Academy of Science published in 1687 in London contained
a description of a woodstove that burned wood extremely cleanly
(Justell, 1687 – see Supplement 1). This J-stove would be defined as a
cocurrent combustor in modern terminology and was subjected, by
the author, to a rather unique emissions monitoring technique to
prove clean combustion. The author applied an organic, widely available, renewable odorant, “cat piss”, to the fuel and if it was not detectable by smell in the exhaust, it was considered clean.

the tricky part

collecting the cat piss

Just came across this at the local DIY store.  This looks like just standard wood pellets so use this for the cat litter and then burn in your wood stove.

Mitre 10 also sells wood pellets...$9.98 for 15 kg. That's about 1/3 the price of the kitty litter and I'd bet the price of a bag it all comes from the Nature's Flame plant in Taupo.

:-)

I love this solution. The only problem I have is that my daughter's cat has never used her litter box in the past two years. As soon as she got outdoor privileges, that was it.

Kia Ora

Is it any old cat piss or is it male scent spray?
Surely we have a good alternative in this day and age.

This is a permaculture forum. Things are done on the ultra cheap!  A Testo 300 goes for USD1,400.  Some wood pellets costing just a few dollars and your nose might be a useful screening test.  Perhaps someone who owns a Testo and has access to a cat can advise if this cat scanner works.

Phil, that picture was taken at Mitre10.  And those cat litter pellets were stacked next to the fuel pellets which were priced at $10 for 10 kg!  I guess that was done as a joke to show how over priced the cat litter was.

this smells like some ones taking the piss ---and not from the cat

One source claims that the human nose is finely tuned to detect the smell of combustion products which makes sense in that it would be an evolutionary advantage to detect a fire heading in your direction (or dinner is being cooked).  Incomplete combustion releases polycyclic aromatic compounds - aromatic because they smell.  Some noses can pick up trace molecules in the air which may even surpass some modern testing equipment so I think that's the claim being made here that a trace organic compound if detected in the riser emissions means that you've got a dirty burn.