Baffled by moving baffle

[Yooper Burning]

Something wierd going on here. Has since I bought the stove, but I've just been dealing with. Thought I would finally ask the question. I have one of the CFM Century steel stoves, model FW30000011 (+/- a few 0's). The baffle tends to move towards the front of the stove, allowing some of the heat and smoke to shoot straight up the back into the stack, and every 3rd or 4th load I have to push it back 1/4 to 1/2 inch. If I forget to do it for a while it will move as much as 1 inch. The first time I noticed it last heating season I had to move the thing like 2 inches. At that time I figured is was just an artifact of installation.

The baffle freely rests on 4 secondary air tubes. The stove is level on the hearth, and the baffle is angled up slightly to the front so the thing is moving against gravity somehow. Could the expansion/contraction of the metal be moving the baffle this much? Any other explanation? Thanks for any input.

 

[webbie]

It must be!

If it was mine, I might try drilling a small hole (or 3) in the baffle and using some ss wire (available at the hardware store) to keep it in place....OR, if you think the baffle is fairly tight against the left and right firebox wall, try removing it and grinding a small amount off the width.

 

[Yooper Burning]

Thanks Craig. I'll try the wire route as the baffle has some play side to side and isn't tight to the firebox. Good time to do it right now as were having a heat wave with temps getting to the low 40's and I can probably get this done before the furnace even thinks about turning on.