Side Door Latch on Equinox

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jlow

jlow

Feeling the Heat
Jan 19, 2009
260
Sterling Heights, Michigan
On Friday evening, we had our inaugural burn of this season. Got the fire started and when I went to add logs through the side door, it would not latch. Saturday morning after the stove cooled overnight I adjusted the latch to no avail. The latch was fine, but the cast iron had worn away ( see pics). I went to my stove salesman and showed him the pics and also compared to a new Equinox ( see pics ). He will get it replaced under warranty, but, I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone. I got the stove in January of '09'. Could it have been a defected latch adjustment at manufacturing. Could this have given me an improper seal thus not providing me longer burns?

Thanks, Jeff
 

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I have the heritage which also has a side door that latches against a little slot in the door frome. The handle side of the latch looks to be a pretty hard piece of steel. The door side of the latch looks soft and flimsy. I am acutlaly afraid of this thing failing. I spoke with Hearthstone and they've had at least half a dozen hertage's fail in this way. What happens, same as your EQ, is that as you turn the handle the latch scrubs at the back of that cast iron catch. The cast iron wears thinner and thinner until it snaps off and you can no longer shut the door.

What did you do with a door that wouldn't stay shut? Did you prop it up with a stick? I'm most worried that the door will pop open at night and overfire.

Lifetime warranty on the casting, but replacing the door frame isn't easy at all. Some pretty major stove disassembly.
 
Thanks for the input!!! Yeah, I propped it with my ash shovel and some heavy bricks on the hearth to keep it from sliding. It seemed to work OK for the type of burn I wanted. I knew it wasnt airtight so I just closed the air and it burned without trouble.

The install looks to be two screws on the outside and two on the inside. My salesguy said that they would install it. I hope that is true. He also thinks that they will ship the whole door assembly to insure a good fit. Once again, I will see what happens.

Thanks, Jeff
 
Just an update on the side door install. I have been informed that the install of the door is not covered by my warranty. The door arrived at my dealer today and I will be installing it Wednesday. Any tips to installing it. I will chronicle the whole procedure pictorially and post it for those who may need to do it in the future. I also posted last year about excessive noise with the door, so, they have also sent a spring assembly which is suppose to reduce the noise@@??!!
I wonder what that will look like!!
 
I just replaced the door frame on a Tribute that was traded in, same problem, I thought the guy had trimmed it with Dremel tool or something. He had the handle removed and was complaining about it not latching correctly. This assembly had four screws on the outside and that was it. I find it hard to believe it wasn't covered by your warranty, maybe you should call Hearthstone, the one I replaced was 2 years old and it was covered by warranty.
 
The castings such as this door have a lifetime warranty. The labor to replace the part does not have the lifetime warranty. It's less, like maybe a year or something. I wish it was a simple bolt on replacement for the heritage door but it appears to be similar to replacing a stone. Remove the top of the stove, remove the rod on that side, and slide the door frame out.
 
I've stopped using the side door completely on my Eq. but not for this reason. It's just for me, the front door easier to use/load/clean. What I have found and now I'm going to investigate is when I do open the side door (my Son seems to prefer using this door) it's hard to get latched, you need plenty of force to push the door hard enough for the latch to engage. I've checked for ash/debris around the sealing surfaces but all seems ok, gonna have to inspect the flange on the stove side frame......hope that thing is strong as there is some constant pressure on it right now. I wonder if applying some graphite lube would help prevent wearing the flange down.
 
I have also had issues with getting the door to close and latch easily. When I have the door off this evening I will be replacing the gasket. I will see if I can get it a a bit flatter to maybe get the door to close better. The graphite sounds like a good idea. The side door is much easier for us to use as it is easier to clean up and the wife can toss in splits during the day with ease. We usually set our splits east and west because of the width of the stove. I do clean out the ash from the front. I will let you know what I find out when I install the new door frame this evening. Pics will be included.
 
Good luck with the replacement!

Did you get any idea that the replacement was redesigned in a way that would prevent the same thing from happening in another 2 years?
 
I will compare units tonight (side by side) and see. They did not say there were any changes, just something about a spring to prevent squeak.
 
FireWalker said:
I've stopped using the side door completely on my Eq. but not for this reason. It's just for me, the front door easier to use/load/clean. What I have found and now I'm going to investigate is when I do open the side door (my Son seems to prefer using this door) it's hard to get latched, you need plenty of force to push the door hard enough for the latch to engage. I've checked for ash/debris around the sealing surfaces but all seems ok, gonna have to inspect the flange on the stove side frame......hope that thing is strong as there is some constant pressure on it right now. I wonder if applying some graphite lube would help prevent wearing the flange down.
Click to expand...


I do the graphite thing and have had good luck with it!!
 
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