Gaskets... how I loathe thee

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briansol

briansol

Minister of Fire
Jan 18, 2009
1,916
central ct
I did my annual pre-season cleanhaul this weekend.

the biggest PITA for me is the combustion blower fan. The 11/32 nuts (really, you couldn't use 3/8" ?) are a pita to reach in the back and of course, every time i take it off, the gasket just disintegrates to nothingness.

$21 later, I have a new gasket in place and a fully cleaned stove for the season.

I'm in the wrong business. $21.... it's what, 8 cents worth of felt cut out of a template? online it's $15 + $5 shipping most places too, so getting it from the local dealer isn't exactly a rip off.

20141025_132540.jpg
 
Here's what I did once and it worked out great. I took a piece of self adhesive flat stove gasket rope and applied it all around the mating surface between the blower and housing. Snugged it up and good to go. Lasted for years and never once leaked.
 
I have used flat rope and adhesive to replace these type of gaskets and will last for years. Takes a bit of time to allow adhesive to setup with clamps-clothes pins but not having to probably ever doing it again is well worth it. Flat rope kit with adhesive is around $10
 
briansol said:
I must research this flat rope stuff :)
Click to expand...
Should be available at most hardware stores in the wood stove area, right next to the round rope gasket material.
 
DSCN0501.JPG
 
So, how do you make a cirlce out of this without it bunching up? do you cut 45's into it every bolt section? use one piece?
 
briansol said:
So, how do you make a cirlce out of this without it bunching up? do you cut 45's into it every bolt section? use one piece?
Click to expand...
Its very loosely knit and very workable and easily works around a 4 inch or so circle without any pleats etc.DSCN0502.JPG
 
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Not bad :)

If i cut the notches for the bolt circle, will it fray to pieces? use a lighter to 'seal' it back up after a cut?
 
If you use a liberal amount of adhesive that the kit has and let it fully setup then drill through after clamping on to a wood block should have minimum fraying or use an awl and ream a nice tight hole. Dust with some graphite and should not stick to mating surface.
 
You think $21.00 is expensive, you should see how much factory stock Enviro gaskets sell for - its all ridiculous if you ask me. Once i started really working on my stoves, making my own gaskets was the first thing i did. Lots of members here do this and use lytherm or some other sheet-like gasket material. I've been using this hi-temp gasket sheet material for a while now with no problems - it's rigid and takes time to cut, but it has saved me a lot of money.
 
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As others have said, You can make your own gaskets or use no gasket at all. Just put a bead of high temperature silicone around the blower flange and bolt the fan on, let it set and you are good to go.

Dave
 
Auto parts stores usually carry flat gasket material that works also.
 
Personally the shop I work for stocks two combustion blower gaskets, one from harman that comes in a three pack for $14 retail, so we only have to charge customers $4.67 and the one from quad has come out with that is the same material as the AE stove gaskets but for the rest of the line up of their stoves so you can buy it once ($24) and forget about it. I dont know why any shop would buy anything but these two gaskets for 90%+ of stoves out there they work perfect for.
 
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My Whitfield combustion blower has the rope seal on it. It seems to be fine the last three seasons since I owned the house. I have no idea how long it has been on there. Haha
 
I use the 93285K18 35.57ea
 
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