I was thinking of changing the door gasket? Is it hard to do? The manual says its 3/4", and it looks like there's a bracket holding it in place.
velvetfoot said:I was thinking of changing the door gasket? Is it hard to do? The manual says its 3/4", and it looks like there's a bracket holding it in place.
DaFattKidd said:How often do you guys change your door gasket?
DaFattKidd said:How often do you guys change your door gasket?
Hogwildz said:Personally, I found that hi temp silicone is easier to apply and holds better than the gasket cement.
Had the cement let loose on me. Never had that problem with the silicone. Silicone is easier to clean off with a wire wheel & some alcohol on the next change.
The cement almost has to be chiseled off with a flathead screwdriver. Wire wheel works pretty good either way.
DaFattKidd said:How often do you guys change your door gasket?
I had basically the same experience with our last stove, the VC Encore cat. The door gaskets were replaced once in 23 years, at about the 10 year mark when the stove was rebuilt. They were not leaking yet, but were replaced as part of the rebuild process. Never had any leaks on the front doors or the ash pan door. I did have to replace the top-loading door/griddle gasket twice, but that was how we loaded the stove almost always. I think the key to gasket longevity is just not banging into it or otherwise disturbing it. Also, adjusting the door latches so the gasket seats just barely hard enough is important. If you smash the gasket to oblivion right from the start, then you can't extend the life by snugging up on the latch adjustment later.Backwoods Savage said:DaFattKidd said:How often do you guys change your door gasket?
I had my last stove over 25 years and replaced the door gasket exactly one time.
How often does the gasket need changing? Let the door and gasket tell you. If it is leaking, change it. If not, leave it alone. Sometimes if it is leaking a bit you can just tighten up the latch. If so, then when you change you'll probably have to loosen that latch then.
BrowningBAR said:Hogwildz said:Personally, I found that hi temp silicone is easier to apply and holds better than the gasket cement.
Had the cement let loose on me. Never had that problem with the silicone. Silicone is easier to clean off with a wire wheel & some alcohol on the next change.
The cement almost has to be chiseled off with a flathead screwdriver. Wire wheel works pretty good either way.
Any special brand of Silicone? I haven't tried it, but I am quite familiar with the chiseling that is needed to remove the old cement.
realstihl said:THe hardest part of changing a gasket is the butt ends. They fray out easy. Anyone got any tips? Otherwise it's easy.
Todd said:I've seen different stove manufactures state different lifespans of their gaskets. Lopi states every other year right on their web site, Woodstock told me 3-5 years or more depending on use. There are also differnt kinds of gaskets, high and low density and I don't really know what the difference is, maybe one lasts longer?
velvetfoot said:Thanks. I didn't know cement was involved. I'll have to get me down to my local hardware store.
I'm heading down to Port St. Lucie this spring - a first for me.
Let's go Mets!
Rob From Wisconsin said:How hard is it to change a stove gasket??
Plenty hard when the new gasket causes the cast-iron door frame
to crack it's tab point......now that needs to be replaced!!
Makes me wonder.....are all 3/8" gaskets the same?
I had pruchased a Rutland kit, and it was labeled as 3/8" per
the stove manual. Regardless, I won't risk it again.
I'll get the Hearthstone gasket kit this time!!
gyrfalcon said:Rob From Wisconsin said:How hard is it to change a stove gasket??
Plenty hard when the new gasket causes the cast-iron door frame
to crack it's tab point......now that needs to be replaced!!
Makes me wonder.....are all 3/8" gaskets the same?
I had pruchased a Rutland kit, and it was labeled as 3/8" per
the stove manual. Regardless, I won't risk it again.
I'll get the Hearthstone gasket kit this time!!
Oh, wow. The exact same thing happened to me with the same stove.
The dealer told me I'd have to replace both the frame and the door itself, since Hearthstone won't even make them available separately because they won't align properly if one part is new and the other has been in use for a while. Is that what you were told? Since I got mine secondhand, they tell me the warranty doesn't apply and I'll have to fork over the $500 or so out of pocket, and that's likely more than I could get for the stove if I triied to sell it.
At this point, I'm having to brace the door closed with my ash bucket, which works well but it's a pain. Even with that, I had to scrape down the gasket material to get the door to close well.
Do you know for sure there actually is a Hearthstone kit for the Tribute? The dealer I talked to just said to get the Rutland 3/8 when I asked about replacing the gasket. Sounds like the low-density gasket rope described here would be just enough softer to do the trick. Or I was thinking of experimenting with the 1/4" gasket.
What a disaster. Once burning season is over this summer, I'm planning to take out the frame and bring it and the door up to the dealer's repair department and get them to replace the gasket.
raybonz said:I seriously doubt that Hearthstone makes their own rope gasket that's a business unto itself.. The Imperial gasket kit I bought at Lowes worked fine.. Are the frames that weak that you can break them with the little stove handle that comes with the stove? Sounds like a design flaw or a defect in manufacturing to me.. On this stove the handle is just big enough to wrap your hand around it so you can't put too much leverage on it.. You can also adjust the latch pressure if needed on this stove too.. Something doesn't sound right to me..
Ray
gyrfalcon said:raybonz said:I seriously doubt that Hearthstone makes their own rope gasket that's a business unto itself.. The Imperial gasket kit I bought at Lowes worked fine.. Are the frames that weak that you can break them with the little stove handle that comes with the stove? Sounds like a design flaw or a defect in manufacturing to me.. On this stove the handle is just big enough to wrap your hand around it so you can't put too much leverage on it.. You can also adjust the latch pressure if needed on this stove too.. Something doesn't sound right to me..
Ray
Well, on my stove anyway, the lip on the frame that the handle latch slips behind didn't crack, it seems to have worn away from the scraping of the latch.
It's a long story, but the first thing that happened after the gasket was replaced was that the door required major pressure to close enough to get it to latch. I was told that was normal and that it would loosen up after a short time. It did, but not enough. Then one day I heard a little pop and the door swung open slightly. The tip of the latch tongue had broken off. Got a replacement part and put that in and got through the winter. The next winter (ie this year), I found the door open a crack in the morning, but this time the latch tongue hadn't broken, the lip on the frame had worn away to the point that it would no longer hold the latch.
Believe me, I've fussed and experimented and added and subtracted washers, etc., and there simply isn't enough lip left on the frame to hold the latch. The handle on the Tribute is also quite small, but there's no good way to adjust the pressure. Loosening the handle just gives you a loose handle.
If you think about it, the latch mechanism is a particularly vulnerable place in a small stove because it gets a great deal more frequent use than on a larger stove. Small firebox=short burn times=more frequent reloading=more door opening and closing.
The 3/8 inch high-density gasket is simply not the right gasket for this stove and it cannot be what Hearthstone puts in there in the factory. I wish I'd kept the old gasket that came on the stove to try to see what's different about it or to match it somehow.
It's definitely a design flaw. I really like Hearthstone stoves, but at least with the Tribute, they don't seem to be paying attention. I still hold a grudge for the fact that the manual says it takes 16-inch logs, even though the firebox is barely 16 inches long and the door is only 13x8. They've been making this stove a good while now, but the manual STILL says it takes 16-inch logs, even though everybody who's bought one has found out it doesn't, and surely a fair number of them have called their dealers to complain about it.
As I say, I love the stoves, but this all makes me unwilling to believe anything they say.
raybonz said:That's really a shame for a company to let their name get tarnished when there clearly is a problem.. The gasket kit I got at Lowes is the low density stuff similar to the original.. While I agree a larger stove door will get less use I feel the design should allow for the use the stove will receive in normal use.. My stove is over 20 yrs. old and the latch surface is not worn that I can see.. I can't even imagine how many times it's been opened.. Is it possible to add a steel plate to the worn area and bolt it in with maybe some stove cement to ensure an airtight seal? This would give a replaceable wear surface that essentially would be sacrificial.. For what it costs for a nice stove like that I would expect it to last for generations with no major part replacements needed due to normal usage.. I did go to the stove shop for some 1/4" rope for the cooktop seal above the cat and they had the coil stuff and sold it by the foot.. Maybe if you post some detailed pics we can try to come up with some ideas?
Good Luck,
Ray