Broke the damn latch on my stove

Decided might be worth tightening the door a bit on my stove. With the wear on the latch and gasket it was getting a bit loose.

Well the thing was as tight as it can go from the factory apparently and torqued down by someone that went full retard with the wrench.

I was able to get the latch off the stove, almost had to link 2 wrenches to get the leverage.

Only to fine that the locknut is jammed all the way to the end (ie no adjustment available!). The bend of the latch is in the threads and they ran it into that with an air tool I'm guessing. Tried backing it out with my 3/8" impact gun and it didn't move at all. Not going to step up to the 1/2" or 3/4", just will break the latch or strip it out.

Put it back on the stove and with it tight it sits at around 6:00 vs 12:00. Guess I stretched it out.

How do I go about getting a new one? Is there is a warranty for stuff like this? My paperwork is in my old files out in the shed I think, rather not be searching in there now, it's cold out.

I suppose I could fab something up, but I've got better crap to me messing with.

Yep, latch set up sucks. I adjusted mine once but was very careful and worked it back and forth a bunch. Hiram Maxim made one for his neighbor after theirs broke. He's been promising me one but I've yet to see it.

Latch was broke on the quadrafire 7100 when I bought it from a guy I work with. It was so tight I guess when he wanted to adjust it the handle twisted in two. Quadrafire and hearth and home wanted $200 for a handle set which I think is ridiculous. Had a great guy from this site sold me a good used set for $45.

Were you messing with the handle or the hook that the handle latch's into?

The part of the latch that is threaded into the stove. The part on the door is held in place with a roll pin from what I can tell. That wedge has a bit of wear on it, I'd guess why the door was getting loose.

Stove is still running, I just closed the door with the latch at 12:00 even though it's loose.

Nate, I getcha' as far as the adjustment goes. I'm pretty sure the inside nut is standard 3/8's, NC, and welded to the stove body.
Using NC thread for this is a poor idea, but I didn't build the thing, so who knows.
You could drill out that inside nut and install a longer "L"bolt with NF thread if you wished. But- without that nut being welded to the stove body, you'll end up with some wiggle after a bit.
I plan on cutting out that NC nut, welding in a washer, then adding the NF nut on the inside. S.S. cam/wedge on the handle and the rest falls into place.
The 'L" bolt through the stove can be made fairly easily, wonder why BK hasn't done this already?

oh.
I have adjusted mine twice. The latch has some wear on the cam on mine also.
I did take a pick and used it to pull the door gasket out some..made a huge diff.
On my King the gasket is not even glued into the channel it sits in..is the gasket glued in on your Princess?

I've posted many many times that the latch set up sucks imo. Easy to adjust, sure but it could have been implemented a little better. I think the material used is the biggest issue.

Looks to be 3/8-16

If it comes to it I'll end up having to fab something up that works better, but it'll be this summer. Rather not drag my welding machine into the house either!

Just aggravated that a "simple & routine" adjustment turned to be a headache.

No idea if the gasket is glued or not, I've never messed with it.

Could be entertaining.

The performance is impressive. The construction, nothing to brag about there.

This stove is not the "Be all, End all" heater. It has it's flaws.
Edit- Regardless, it still rocks!

Sorry to hear that.

I thought the Blaze Kings were self-aware and their nanotechnology allowed the to auto-heal? You would think alien technology would be further along at this point.

I hope you get it fixed easily and quickly. I had a door hinge break on me last year about this time. It sucked.

The gasket on my princess door is glued. They used something black and shiny. Probably ultra black RTV, but a little harder.

I adjusted the latch on my BK once and it worked perfectly. Loosen locknut, spin latch one turn in, reset locknut, shut door. Not thrilled with the gasket as it seems that the top edge of the door almost misses the gasket material but it seems to work fine.

Order a new latch, might be warranty but will be cheap anyway, and in the meantime just use the stove with the latch unlocked by the locknut. Hopefully the new latch will have more threads to allow a tighter latch. Perhaps it is time for a new gasket?

These stoves are not built stout. They are built well but use really thin steel. Don't think anyone ever accused the BK lineup of being overbuilt, just superior in function.

Your door latch nuts are welded to the the stove? Mine isn't, it's a Threaded L bolt with a nut on the outside and a nut on the inside. When I tightened mine I loosened the outside nut and tightened the inside nut. Maybe they forgot to weld mine or it's a new design?

New design. It is detailed in the new owner's manual and also shown exploded in the new parts diagram.
So BK is trying to fix it, maybe, or maybe they couldn't figure out how to keep weld spatter from entering the inner nut threads and buggering them up. Or they were having frequent nut stripping issues on that inner nut.

My guess is when people adjust the latch and break it off they were having trouble getting the broken piece of bolt out of the nut that was welded in the stove. When it breaks now the nut falls into the stove and not nearly as big of a deal to fix. A weld spatter issue could easily be addressed by running a tap into the nut after welding.

Is this what you need?
http://www.hechlers.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31_9&products_id=463

I had trouble with mine too but eventually got it working ok, was gonna order a replacement.

Linky no work for me?

Its this at Hechlers

I did the same to fluff up the gasket some,
wanting to keep the door straight with the stove flange, working OK.
Still have adjustment to tighten the door more but no need yet.
Wonder what the door gaskets life span is?

Nate:
Maybe it's time for a new door gasket. You are already past the limits of the door adjustment.

Looks simple to make one, 3/8 X 16 bolt, cut off the head, heat & bend just past 90°. Paint black.
A welder could make one easy.




BKVP had some comments on the latch last year:
http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/blaze-king-contact.73186/#post-924193

Is your door gasket glued in..mine is not.