# Questions about Sweet Home AK-18



## AaronL (Feb 23, 2014)

I live in a home with a Sweet Home Stove Works Catalytic Fir AK-18 freestanding wood stove.  My wife and I bought the home two years ago and just recently started using the wood stove to heat our home as an alternative to our pellet stove.

The stove was installed approximately in 1988, but nevertheless, it still shows up on the EPA's list of certified wood stoves:

High Sierra Stoves, Ltd.     Sweet Home Catalytic Fir AK-18     3.1         8800-29500      72         Catalytic

It would appear that High Sierra Stoves acquired the brand at some point (probably from Sierra Mfg Co of Virginia).  High Sierra Stoves appears to have turned into Sierra Products, which currently makes pellet stoves under the Sweet Home brand.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get any information about the AK-18 wood stove from Sierra Products.

The previous owners never received a manual for the stove when they purchased the home, and in addition, they never replaced the catalytic combustor.  I've spent a good amount of time trying to dig up any information on the stove with few results.  The most information I've found is in an old EPA document at http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/9100KB2P.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1986%20Thru%201990&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYe ar=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C86THRU90%5CTXT%5C00000022%5C9100KB2P.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=p%7Cf&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=64 .  But, I've found no sources for the manual.

Does anyone have a manual for this stove or perhaps for a similar stove?  Alternatively, what I'm mainly looking for is information for how to access the catalytic combustor, in order to inspect it, clean it, and potentially replace it.  It would appear that the catalytic combustor likely sits under a circular plate in the middle of the stove.  I'm not sure of the purpose of this plate, but my limited attempts to remove it have all failed, and I'm not sure if it is even supposed to be removed in order to get to the catalytic combustor, so I haven't done anything forceful.  The plate has two small holes on opposite ends. It also has a smaller center hole in which an old and and apparently broken Condor Catalytic Thermometer is placed.  I've attached an image that shows the plate in more detail.

On some (more modern) stoves, it looks like the top plate of the stove can be lifted up by unscrewing some screws, providing access to the catalytic combustor, but the top lid of the AK-18 appears to be welded shut with this stove.

Another issue with this stove is that the bypass damper lever is stuck, and I have no idea what position it is stuck in.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

AaronL


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## Spud Monkey (Feb 26, 2014)

Sounds like someone redneck rigged it to what they thought was best thing for output on the stove. Look up or down the pipe to check if that doesn't work trying running a chimney sweep brush to see what you feel.


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