Sierra 8000TEC Combustor

wkpoor · Mar 13, 2013

Got a friend who needs both replaced. He has a price from Sierra for 135.00ea as there are 2 of them. They are 3"ishx 6"ish. Anyone know if that is good enough price or is there a better place to get replacements. So far my internet search hasn't turned anything up.
His CATs are totally burned up and the one was gone.The housing he thinks is salvageable but in the pics I dunno as they look pretty burnt and warped to me. Makes me want to run right out and buy a CAT stove hehehehe.
I've seen this stove in action first hand. He told me even new it struggles to make an overnite burn. And for all that performance he now gets to sink a couple hundred more back into it.

HotCoals · Mar 13, 2013

Sounds like abuse to me.
Price seems fair.

wkpoor · Mar 13, 2013

HotCoals said:
Sounds like abuse to me.
Price seems fair.

I knew that was coming. I been over there many many times in the past yrs and I see nothing that suggests abuse. Typical stove top I've seen is 500-600. The thing eats wood like a freight train when I've been there. The only abuse there might have been is wet wood but my thoughts are what he is burning is pretty typical. Had I been part of the purchase process I would have steered him towards a tube stove.
Everyone I know with a CAT stove has a burned out CAT and most don't care. They just go on burning without it. They don't hang out on hearth talking wood stoves either. That like it or not, is the typical wood burner. And that is why Steve of Vermont Elm doesn't like to sell CATs. He knows most people aren't burning dry wood and won't maintain it anyway. Its taken a few yrs but I see it now myself.

HotCoals · Mar 13, 2013

wkpoor said:
I knew that was coming. I been over there many many times in the past yrs and I see nothing that suggests abuse. Typical stove top I've seen is 500-600. The thing eats wood like a freight train when I've been there. The only abuse there might have been is wet wood but my thoughts are what he is burning is pretty typical. Had I been part of the purchase process I would have steered him towards a tube stove.
Everyone I know with a CAT stove has a burned out CAT and most don't care. They just go on burning without it. They don't hang out on hearth talking wood stoves either. That like it or not, is the typical wood burner. And that is why Steve of Vermont Elm doesn't like to sell CATs. He knows most people aren't burning dry wood and won't maintain it anyway. Its taken a few yrs but I see it now myself.

I see what you're saying.

mellow · Mar 13, 2013

$135 is a good price per cat, can't find it that cheap at my usual spots. Looks like it is the same cat as a Sierra 4700.

That is an older stove, he might be better off upgrading to something newer, maybe he can switch to tubes and warp the baffle.

raybonz · Mar 13, 2013

wkpoor said:
Got a friend who needs both replaced. He has a price from Sierra for 135.00ea as there are 2 of them. They are 3"ishx 6"ish. Anyone know if that is good enough price or is there a better place to get replacements. So far my internet search hasn't turned anything up.
His CATs are totally burned up and the one was gone.The housing he thinks is salvageable but in the pics I dunno as they look pretty burnt and warped to me. Makes me want to run right out and buy a CAT stove hehehehe.
I've seen this stove in action first hand. He told me even new it struggles to make an overnite burn. And for all that performance he now gets to sink a couple hundred more back into it.

http://www.inandoutlifestyles.com/siwostcaco.html

wkpoor · Mar 13, 2013

raybonz said:
http://www.inandoutlifestyles.com/siwostcaco.html

Thanks a bunch. I forwarded the link to him. I've never owned a CAT stove so I'll have to wave off this one for any more comments. Impossible for me to say without having seen first hand many other stove CATs in normal service if they can or will get like his. My impression is the pieces parts in that area just aren't made of heavy enough steel for the amount of heat generated. But who am I to say. As bad as the CATs were it could be that even in the engaged position the stove was simply performing like a pre EPA stove. But he said even new 8hrs was a stretch. That stove is only about 4yrs old but could have been old stock. I know the dealer he bought from and they have since gone under.

BrotherBart · Mar 13, 2013

The 8000TEC is pretty much the same stove it was in the late 80's when Sierra tried to meet EPA requirements with cats and ended up going out of business. The brand and designs have been sold at least twice since then. As much as I dearly loved Sierra pre-EPA stoves I have always felt that if the addition of the cats had been successful the original company would still be around. The heat generated by a cat is brutal.

If you are over at the guy's house I would appreciate it if you could take a micrometer with ya. The stoves used to have 1/4" plate bodies and 3/8" top plates. Bomb proof. I have always wondered if the ones now have the same construction.

wkpoor · Mar 13, 2013

BrotherBart said:
The 8000TEC is pretty much the same stove it was in the late 80's when Sierra tried to meet EPA requirements with cats and ended up going out of business. The brand and designs have been sold at least twice since then. As much as I dearly loved Sierra pre-EPA stoves I have always felt that if the addition of the cats had been successful the original company would still be around. The heat generated by a cat is brutal.

If you are over at the guy's house I would appreciate it if you could take a micrometer with ya. The stoves used to have 1/4" plate bodies and 3/8" top plates. Bomb proof. I have always wondered if the ones now have the same construction.

Will do. I have another friend that has a Sierra pre-epa in his basement. I have never seen it just heard about it. I'll see if he can get me a pic.

mellow · Mar 14, 2013

Might be old stock, not sure if they have the manufacture data on the UL plate on the back.

Heatsource · Mar 14, 2013

BrotherBart said:
The 8000TEC is pretty much the same stove it was in the late 80's when Sierra tried to meet EPA requirements with cats and ended up going out of business. The brand and designs have been sold at least twice since then. As much as I dearly loved Sierra pre-EPA stoves I have always felt that if the addition of the cats had been successful the original company would still be around. The heat generated by a cat is brutal.

If you are over at the guy's house I would appreciate it if you could take a micrometer with ya. The stoves used to have 1/4" plate bodies and 3/8" top plates. Bomb proof. I have always wondered if the ones now have the same construction.

yes, same great construction.
just sold one last year. very nice stove
(cant say the same about SPI customer service though)

Woody Stover · Mar 15, 2013

wkpoor said:
His CATs are totally burned up and the one was gone.The housing he thinks is salvageable but in the pics I dunno as they look pretty burnt and warped to me. Makes me want to run right out and buy a CAT stove hehehehe.
I've seen this stove in action first hand. He told me even new it struggles to make an overnite burn. And for all that performance he now gets to sink a couple hundred more back into it...Everyone I know with a CAT stove has a burned out CAT and most don't care. They just go on burning without it. They don't hang out on hearth talking wood stoves either. That like it or not, is the typical wood burner. And that is why Steve of Vermont Elm doesn't like to sell CATs. He knows most people aren't burning dry wood and won't maintain it anyway.... I've never owned a CAT stove so I'll have to wave off this one for any more comments.

If it doesn't have the burn time he wants, maybe he should have researched his purchase a little better. I agree, you have to know what you're doing to operate a cat stove correctly. If you are willing to learn how to do that, the payoff is a more controllable stove, less room temp peaks and valleys and less wood burned. You will have to spend a little money on a cat every five or six years ($125 in my case.) If you want perceived relative simplicity you can buy a tube stove, then spend more money than the price of a cat buying additional wood every year, or if you cut your own you can spend more money on gas, equipment and whatever your time is worth. Oh, and be careful...most of the overfires seem to be happening with tube stoves, some resulting in major damage. Maybe they aren't so simple to run after all...
Some of the nitwits you're describing shouldn't be running any kind of wood stove. They are the type that burn down houses and kill people. They can't even be bothered to read the manual and learn how to operate the stove safely, for crapsake! :rolleyes:

Haven't you been reading here lately, WK? Cat stoves are all the rage this year! ::-)

Happy burning! ==c

wkpoor · Mar 18, 2013

Woody Stover said:
most of the overfires seem to be happening with tube stoves, some resulting in major damage.

I don't want to go as far as to say you absolutely can't overfire an Elm but you pretty much can't. I'm winding up my 3rd yr and I fire it daily to 850 and have seen close 1000 many times. It looks and functions just like day 1. Today I loaded in 16 eco bricks and watched it settle into 900 degrees at noon today. Next load will be after midnight.

BTW me and Mart (who owns the Sierra) had dinner last night. To my surprise he said when he first got that stove he might have got it too hot. He said he didn't have a thermometer back then.

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Sierra 8000TEC Combustor

wkpoor

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HotCoals

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wkpoor

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HotCoals

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mellow

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raybonz

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wkpoor

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BrotherBart

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wkpoor

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mellow

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Heatsource

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Woody Stover

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wkpoor

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