Cleaned my fireview cat and I snapped one of the mounting ears. This would be my 4th year with the cat, I think it had at least another decent year in it and another year of diminished performance. I already have a spare cat so ill install it this fall. No mistake I perform stove maintenance well before I need the stove.
I used a craftsman welder this afternoon and it looks not so great but it is more solid than it was originally. Ill keep an eye on it and see if the welds hold up to heat cycling. The one weld is cracked on top but looks better on the underside. I figured if I burned through it or made it worse the cat was already ruined. I'm hoping I get another year out of it.
There's no way JB would take that heat. But Dennis bring up a good point, IF that tab even needs to be there, I'd get a welder dude to tig it on...
The manual says to attach the bolts to secure the combustor to the gasket below. So that's what I did.
Sadly the manual is not up to date. I stopped bolting it the first time I changed cats. The first cat we had was ceramic but all are steel now.
That was my backup plan. I noticed one one of their YouTube videos woodstock said to replace the bolts when done cleaning the cat and the other they didn't. Good to know, thanks Dennis!
The old ceramic cats in the cast iron frame was heavy enough that it was not needed to bolt down. The lighter steel cat and frame is much lighter and they state to bolt it down. I bet if there was a back puff it might move it around a bit?
