Woodstock Fireview Catalyst Price Increase!

[Todd]

Holy crap! Was thinking of picking up an extra cat and noticed the price has doubled!

Fireview 205 Catalytic Combustor (SS)

The K-530-SS Catalytic Combustor is designed to fit the Fireview 205, manufactured 1996 - current. You can identify a Fireview 205 in several ways: 1. The loading door is a solid cast with no air vents, 2. Opening the top lid, the catalytic combustor is visible in the center The stainless st

www.woodstove.com

 

[Todd]

I inquired to Woodstock about this and this is their reply

Good afternoon Todd,
Yes, unfortunately it is accurate. Tom is working on writing up an official explanation to post on our website which will outline in painful detail the reasons for the required increase. In the meantime below is a brief overview.
The cost of raw materials has been crushing and in the case of the catalytic combustors the cost of the precious metals coating alone was essentially the price we were selling the catalysts at. That did not account for the raw substrate material, the cost to heat oxidize the material, the stainless steel framing or the labor involved. Each catalyst we sold we were losing money and that is just not sustainable.
The same is true for cast and steel parts. Last year we paid 50% tariffs on all of the cast iron (plus high transportation costs) and those tariffs fees are not refundable. While the tariff amount did go down for cast and steel, it is still between 15-25%, plus even higher transportation costs.
While all the cost of raw materials have been going skyward, we have also been subjected to extreme delays at the EPA. A few years back 10 state air regulators sued the EPA (you can read about this online) and the EPA in turn revoked the cord wood test method. This is the method that the EPA pushed and actually requested manufacturers test with to achieve the new 2020 emissions limits. The loss of the cord wood method meant that any wood stove that had used the cord wood method would not be allowed to request recertification (a perfunctory task), but instead would have to retest using the crib wood method at the manufacturers expense. The loss of the cord wood testing meant roughly 100 different stoves from multiple manufactures had to go through the retesting and certification process. In the past it might take a few weeks for the EPA to review a certified test report and issue a new certificate and it is now averaging over 8 months. This delay is important because without a valid certification the stove(s) cannot be manufactured and shipped once the certification expires. As an example we tested the Progress Hybrid for the new certification in Nov/Dec of 2024 but didn't receive the Progress Hybrid certification until early December of 2025. Last year during our busiest time of year we were unable to ship our two most popular stoves, the Progress Hybrid and Ideal Steel Hybrid (still waiting for the Ideal certification).
This should give you a quick glimpse into the ugliness of being a small manufacturer at this point in time. As Tom would say it is the most difficult set of issues that he's encountered in his almost 50 years of running this company.
Please excuse any typos and my apologies for a long answer to your seemingly short question.
All the best,

 

[begreen]

The situation sucks for all, but especially for smaller manufacturers.

 

[John Lehet]

I just looked, and the Progress cat has gone up to $325 (used to be, if I remember, $185). Still not in stock. I’ll get a spare one when they are available. I dropped in there I guess a bit over a month ago, and Lorin said they should be available in August.

Sucks to pay more, but I want the company to stay in business.

 

[reaperman1]

Tube stoves will be way more popular if the cat prices keep increasing. Id like to know just how much platinum is actually used in the average cat.

 

[Highbeam]

I just checked and the BK princess cats are still $240 shipped to your door in the us.

 

[stoveliker]

Tube stoves will be way more popular if the cat prices keep increasing. Id like to know just how much platinum is actually used in the average cat.

None I believe
Pd and Ru mostly I think.
Maybe Rh