Is there anything that will protect stovetop from scratches? (Lopi Republic/Revere Insert has top da

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tickbitty

Minister of Fire
Feb 21, 2008
1,567
VA
My new insert has a bypass Damper, very neat, but you access it with a tool that pulls or pushes the damper in and out when the stove is hot. But it's pulling and pushing it in and out across the top center of the stovetop. One break-in fire and we already have a little scratch there from the tool.

Is there anything thin that would be heat resistant enough to sit there and protect from scratches? And sit kind of stable without moving a lot? It would have to be pretty thin or flat too. Or maybe this is just like what click-n-clack the car guys say, that you should thank the first person who dents or scratches your car because it will be the first of many and you might as well not worry about it...
 
If you identify the specific insert in both your signature (for future reference) and in the title of this thread, it'll more likely grab the attention of the folks most familiar with the unit. As I recall, you were recently musing about leaving the surround off the insert...is that what you've done, or did you go ahead and install it...or am I thinking of someone else? Rick
 
Good point, thanks. Especially since I doubt there are any other inserts that have such a thing on the top so it would make little sense to anyone who isn't familiar with these Lopis.

Yes, that was me with the post about leaving the surround off. So far it's still off, but no final decision has been made on that.
 
So, is the offending scratch inside of where the surround would ordinarily make it "invisible"...or, with the surround in place, would the tool be necessarily inserted in such a way as to preclude the scratching? Rick
 
Can you post of a pic of the damper on your 1750i? I'm not visualizing how it works there as opposed to my Endeavor. Thanks!
 
THanks Rick and Pagey. Rick, no, this part of the stove sticks out about 10" onto the hearth, with an additional few inches for the ash lip and blower. So it's more of a hearth stove type insert.

106972.jpg


I can't get a pic at the moment, but you can just barely see it here in their advertising pic:
It's right in the center of the top of the stove there where it sticks out from the surround. It is a rod with a loop at the end, when it is all the way in, this will only stick out a couple inches, but when you pull it out, using the tool, it opens the damper and sticks out a few additional inches.
 
106979.jpg


OK here it shows up in the diagram. It is shown in the damper closed position, where it sticks out maybe two inches.
 
I think there are things you could do to make it not scratch. The easiest thing would be glue a little felt thing on the bottom of your puller outter thingie. The time touching the top of the stove is very minimal so you shouldn't have to worry about it burning or anything. A lot of times I just grab that and open it with my welding gloves on. My stove isn't really a show horse anymore so I'm not too worried about the scratching, but do notice it. Don't do anything to the top of your stove though, it'll burn off and make it uglier.
 
I like drdoct's idea about just using gloves. If you were doing paint you would probably want to repaint that whole surface, but it would probably look good if you did. If I get some kaowool blanket for a block off plate, maybe I can just stick a little pc on the end of the tool or something - Or duct tape!
 
I like drdoct's suggestion of the felt tip. Or you could do what I do, and just don't let the tool go through the hole and touch the top. It doesn't take much force to move the damper, so you really don't need to get the tool in there too far. Truth be told, I usually just use my gloves!

K
 
If duct tape touched a hot wood stove, you'd have a nasty smudge and smell. The kaowool could be adhered with high-temp silicone, I guess. Or JBweld. Using welding gloves or just plain cotton gloves seems the easiest solution--but they may get misplaced, and then the tool would get used and could make a big scratch that one time you couldn't find the gloves...

Not knowing what the tool looks like, if it is a hook that sticks through the loop pretty far and then touches the stove, you could cut off that much of the hook so it just grabs the loop. You could also make something out of wood, perhaps using 1/4" oak and a jigsaw to make a wooden loop-puller/pusher tool.
 
You are of course right about melty tape! And I like the idea about the stainless pc, but perhaps will try to get ahem, someone, to be more careful and if it ends up being scratched very badly, I could do the stainless pc eventually to disguise it. Hopefully he will be more careful or use the gloves. I did buy some welder's gloves.
 
Welder's gloves are a must for any wood stove operation in my opinion. I can't tell you how many times I've grabbed hot coals and thrown them back into the fire with the gloves on. It's easy when you rake the coals to the front for one to escape. I wouldn't go with tape on the end of the puller thing but just a little piece of felt glued to the end. Definitely not anything glued to the top of your stove. If you are gonna mess it up like that then you shouldn't be worried about a few scratches from it. The amount of time it's actually touching the top is around a second. It will be perfectly fine unless you decide to leave it there which isn't a good idea anyway because it gets hot up there. I also like the idea of the person who said to cut the rod so it doesn't hit. Shouldn't be but a 1/4" or so off.
 
Here are some pictures of my 1750i with the scratch. I admit, I have been using my poker to pull the bypass instead of the Lopi provided stick (see pictures of the stick). I have my Lopi stick under the fan guard and in a mortar joint of the hearth to stop the fan from rattling. I will probably just use the touch-up paint at the end of the season.
 

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I've been using gloves to open and close the damper. I also need them to pick up the cast iron water bowl thing on top so I can get to the damper in the first place.

Cheers!

Jim
 
coolnick73 said:
Here are some pictures of my 1750i with the scratch. I admit, I have been using my poker to pull the bypass instead of the Lopi provided stick (see pictures of the stick). I have my Lopi stick under the fan guard and in a mortar joint of the hearth to stop the fan from rattling. I will probably just use the touch-up paint at the end of the season.
Click to expand...

You just need to cut about 1/4" off the hook, so it doesn't stick through the other side of the loop.
 
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