1990
Please let me know how the conversion worked out. I have a Series 8 AP from 1993 that also has fried cat components. The rest of the stove is mint so if I could use modern EU pieces to convert to non-cat I would.
Joehonee,
I am finishing up the project now. I was waiting for 3 long lead time parts. Just got the 2nd one today. The last is on it's way from England and I expect it shortly. In the mean time I have replaced all of my chimney and stovepipe with new 6 inch, so the old Jotul 8 should be ready to go once I get that last part (a 6 inch flue collar). When it is done, and I've gotten to burn it, I will certainly report back on how it all worked.
Now, regarding your project. Unfortunately, you will have to do a bit more work on the stove then I had to, in order to convert yours. Your 1993 Series 8 AP is significantly more "evolved" from an old pre-cat Jotul #8 than my 1990 8-TDIC was. Jotul came out with the original #8 in 1981. Then in the late 80's, new EPA emission requirements were about to be implemented and Jotul (all stove makers) had to quickly scramble to find solutions to meet them. Jotul USA in Portland Maine took the #8's coming from Norway and tried various ways of sticking catalysts in them. The first thing they tried was just putting a circular cat in the flue connector. That was called the 8C and didn't last long. Then in 1989 they configured the catalyst inside the stove with a bypass mechanism and added a new top draft with slider control (replacing the old spin draft on the door) . They called this the 8 TDIC (Top Draft Internal Catalyst). This is what I had (made in 1990). This configuration had a lot of operational difficulties, so Jotul did a major reconfiguration in 1991. They basically took the catalyst from inside the burn box and mounted it on the back of the stove. They also moved the bypass control from the side and put a push rod mechanism in the front of the stove. In order to do this, they had to completely change the back panel. This new design was called the Series 8. They made these for 2 years before adding an integrated ashpan in 1993. They called this the Series 8AP. Other than having an ashpan, it is identical to the Series 8. They made these until 1998 when the entire series 8 line was discontinued. So the final catalyst configuration was used for 8 years (1991-1998). One advantage of having that configuration is that it had a 6 inch exhaust flue connector, so it works with most modern wood stove chimney installations, without needing any adapter. The earlier models were all 7 inch. Sorry for all that history, but it will help to explain the process of "downgrading" your catalytic stove to a pre-catalytic state.
For my my stove, all I had to do was take out the catalyst housing/draft bypass assembly. This essentially left me with a Jotul 8 shell. To make it virtually identical to the original Jotul 8 model, all I needed to do was then replace the back burn plate and install a top baffle. At that point, the only difference is a front top draft instead of the circular door draft of the old 8's. I decide to modernize it one step further, by taking off the 7 inch flue connector and putting on a 6 inch. This was possible because Jotul currently sells a model called the F-8TD in Europe. This is an old Jotul 8 with a top slide draft and a 6 inch flue collar. I ordered that 6 inch collar from England, so I will essentially have a current European model.
For you to do this conversion, you will have to replace the back stove panel with a pre-Series 8 part (or for the current European F8-TD). If you want to exhaust the stove from the back, you will be good to go. If you want to vent it from the top, you may need to get a new stove top. (I am not sure, but the Series 8 may have lost the covered circular opening of the earlier models. Can you let me know? I am curious). At this point you would basically just need the back and top baffle plates that I needed. These were both available to order online, since they were old USA stove parts AND Jotul still makes them for the Europe (also for Australia, South Africa and maybe other markets as well). If you want to use 6 inch stove pipe, you would need to get a 6 inch flue collar from Europe/England. You need to order these from overseas, because they were never used on any USA model (of course you can use an adapter if you have larger pipe).
There may be simpler ways for you to convert your stove, i.e. just removing the catalyst and adding the baffles, but I am not sure how this would work. The approach I mentioned above would actually give you a marketed equivalent, so it should be successful. Anything else I'm not sure about.
Hope this is of some help to you (or others).
)
