Combustion Throat Hood question for Encore 2550

[Mottman]

Today, while I was at work, the Combustion Throat Hood on our Vermont Casting Encore 2550 was somehow knocked loose and fell to the bottom of the stove while the fire was going.
By the time I arrived home and got it out it was already glowing red hot and now was slightly curved/arced.

I was able to put it back in place once the fire died down and the Hood cooled but now I was curious.
Is the part supposed to be curved a little (the center of the Hood is more toward the back of the stove than the ends)?

I don't really remember it's original shape but the manual seems to indicate that it was straight.
I don't think the stove is in any danger if it is supposed to be curved but I was looking for an "expert" opinion.

Thanks.

 

[elkimmeg]

Yes it is curbed as long as it the damper moves correctly and make a decent seal thinks will be ok

 

[Gooserider]

Mine is slightly curved - it was that way when I got it (lightly used stove), and I had a bit of a challenge getting it on at first. The original part may be straight, but I would say that as long as you can get it on and off, then it's not a problem. Don't worry about it...

Gooserider

 

[sgreen]

Hi,
How critical is that part? Mine also came off several weeks ago and now drops off frequently when I load the stove. Even a slight tap with a piece of wood knocks it off. So, I think it must be warped. Am I not securing it properly? It just seems to sit on little knobs at the back.
Do I need this part? What does it do?

thanks!
Sarah

 

[webbie]

I think it protects the cat and rear chamber from getting as much direct flame....so it is needed. You might want to look at it when cold and perhaps a littl filing or grinding can make it fit tighter - can it be tapped down a bit to wedge harder into the place where it fits?

Or, try a little furnace cement before you slip it in place - that may hold it.

 

[Gooserider]

Hi,
How critical is that part? Mine also came off several weeks ago and now drops off frequently when I load the stove. Even a slight tap with a piece of wood knocks it off. So, I think it must be warped. Am I not securing it properly? It just seems to sit on little knobs at the back.
Do I need this part? What does it do?

thanks!
Sarah

I think it is fairly important, as Web said, it is there to protect the cat and cat chamber... I found mine was a little tricky to get in, and the manual description is really only helpful after you've done it a time or two and can look at it and say - "Ah - so THAT'S what they mean..." There should be a "pin" sticking about 3/4" or so out each side of the hood at it's top edge. On the fireback / damper frame, there should be a pair of projections on each side of the stove that make a sort of hole that the pin will go into.

The trick is to go in through the front doors. Hold the hood so that the bottom edge is facing you, and the pins are facing the fire back (IOW, so it's tilted up about 90*) Slide one pin into the hole formed by the projections on it's side, and then push the hood all the way to that side. This will make just enough room for the pin on the opposite side to line up with it's hole, then line hood in the other direction so the second pin slides into place and the hood becomes centered, and then hinge it down into it's normal position. The projections that the pins go into should then be sitting just outside the edges of the hood, locking it into place.

This is tricky to describe in words, and I probably won't be letting my stove cool down until spring to do a demo with pictures. It might help if you can find a VC dealer with a stove that you could play with to see just how it works.

Gooserider

 

[Mottman]

Thanks for all the helpful information.

Based on that re-installation description, I may not have it in 100% correctly.

Basically, I hold it at a 90 degree angle (parallel to the bottom of the stove) and then place the pegs on the "hooks" on the back of the stove and swing it down. But it sounds like it should fit a little tighter than that.

Still the Throat Hood does seem a bit more curved than I originally thought.

Also, ours has fallen off when we haven't realized it and it's run that way for a few hours.
How damaging could that be to the stove in general?

 

[Gooserider]

Basically, I hold it at a 90 degree angle (parallel to the bottom of the stove) and then place the pegs on the “hooks” on the back of the stove and swing it down. But it sounds like it should fit a little tighter than that.

Pretty much, the trick is the zig-zag that you have to do in order to get the pins to fully lock into the hooks on each side - start one side in, push all the way to that side, then slide it back to the center while engaging the other side. When it's in place, it's not a real tight fit - I've noticed it rattles a bit when loading the stove for instance, but you shouldn't be able to dislodge it in any way other than to reverse the sequence you used putting it in. I'm surprised it fell out to begin with, and wonder if it wasn't installed right initially. Either that or you REALLY overfired and got it to the point where it distorted enough to fall out, but I would have expected the bottom edge of the hood to be really toasted if you did that, since the pin area is less exposed to flames and is heat-sunk by the stove body.

Still the Throat Hood does seem a bit more curved than I originally thought.

I've never seen a new one, but the one on my stove, which was purchased lightly used, supposedly never over-fired, had a pretty good curve to it as well. I had trouble initially getting it in, but once you have the angle right it should go right in w/ no trouble at all.

Also, ours has fallen off when we haven’t realized it and it’s run that way for a few hours. How damaging could that be to the stove in general?

Not really sure. It may depend on how hot you were running at the time, how much wood you had in the stove, whether any wood bits poked in the hole going back, etc... I would say that if you are paranoid you could take the fireback out and look at the cat and refractory package to see if they show signs of damage. Or you could try running it and see if the stove appears to operate properly, and if it does, not worry about it until Spring.

Gooserider

 

[sgreen]

hmm...

I wonder if there are different model years. My Encore dates from 1994 and it doesn't seem to have a "pair" of pegs on the back, only one on each side. Thus, like the other posters above, my throat hood (what a cool name- like a cobra!) only sits on two pegs, one on each side. But I don't understand why it has recently become so easy to dislodge. I've never had this problem before. A few years ago we did replace the back wall of the firebox; maybe the replacement has different pegs??

Anyhow, we're having a major storm so I don't want to let the fire go out. I put the hood back using tongs over a small bed of coals and will just be very careful loading wood.

Thanks for the helpful feedback!

 

[Gooserider]

I have a fire going as well, so I can't really look at where the hood is attaching, but there is either a pair pegs on each side, or a hole in the peg that sticks out, or the peg is hook shaped enough that the pin is held "captive" between the peg and the damper frame... I forget the exact detail from when I installed my hood this fall, but I KNOW that I had to slide the hood side to side to fit it into place. I think my stove is a little newer than yours, but AFAIK there hasn't been any change in the way the hood assembly works on the 2550 model number Encores. (There were earlier models with different setups, the earliest of which had the hood built as part of the damper frame, but those aren't the ones I'm talking about)

If your hood has started falling out suddenly, then you may have a problem with damage to the hood and / or it's mounting points, but that can't be figured out till things cool down.

Gooserider

 

[Mottman]

hmm...

I wonder if there are different model years. My Encore dates from 1994 and it doesn't seem to have a "pair" of pegs on the back, only one on each side. Thus, like the other posters above, my throat hood (what a cool name- like a cobra!) only sits on two pegs, one on each side. But I don't understand why it has recently become so easy to dislodge. I've never had this problem before. A few years ago we did replace the back wall of the firebox; maybe the replacement has different pegs??

Anyhow, we're having a major storm so I don't want to let the fire go out. I put the hood back using tongs over a small bed of coals and will just be very careful loading wood.

Thanks for the helpful feedback!

Maybe I confused everyone by saying a "pair of pegs". Basically the "pins" on either side of the throat hood just sit on two flat hooks (one on either side of the back of the stove). There are no grooves or holes on the hooks to lock the hood on.

Anyway, I'm thinking of ordering a new one just to be safe. The current one actually sat in the hot coals for well over an hour before we even noticed it had fallen.

 

[sgreen]

I've sussed this out a bit further and here's my current theory:

My throat hood definitely does not have any notch or holder to slide into sideways. However, it is important to hold it horizontally when putting it in because the ridge on the top-front of the hood needs to go under a lip at the top of the stove back. That lip protrudes down from the top-rear and seems designed to hold the hood in place.

But, in my stove the critical lip seems to be maybe 0.25-0.5 inches too far forward. So, the hood doesn't fit snuggly behind it, and thus falls out. (If it was snug it would have to be tilted considerably upwards/forward to dislodge.) That lip is not part of the rear stove panel; it's part of the iron box that houses the top damper.

Is it possible that the guys who cleaned my chimney this fall did not put something together quite right? That is the best explanation I can see. My hood does not seem to be damaged and feels like it sits properly in place against the rear wall; it just doesn't stay there when something (wood!) knocks it forward. It just seems that the piece with the lip and the stove-back are not properly aligned.

Can anyone more familiar with the Encore guts support this theory?

thanks!
Sarah

 

[Gooserider]

That definitely could be part of what holds it in. As I said there was a definte trick to holding the hood up on just the right angle, and I know that I had to do the side-to-side slide to get the pins into the right place after I found the angle to get it in at. You may have had something not put together properly, there are two wedges, one on each side, that hold the fire back in place, on my stove they are about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way down - see the stove maint. secction of the manual, about page 30 in mine.

It may be time to bring in your dealer?

 

[HeatsTwice]

Hi,

I have had a Red Encore since 2002. As soon as my throut hood began falling out I got a new one (which was perfectly straight). It cost me $45. But when I went to install it, it would not fit because the fire backing wall which houses it, was also warped. Another trip to the stove store to get another one cost me $150. I decided to replace the catalytic converter while I was at it - another $200 (I think). It took me about 2 hours to replace all of these parts but after just 2 years of use, I now will have to do it all over again.

The guys at the stove shop say I am running it too hot and yes I cruise it at about 550 and sometimes over fire to 700 degrees (about twice a month). I should expect cast iron to warp like this since I run it so hard.

I now have gotten away from cast iron and went with a Napoleon 1900 steel stove. We will see what problems steel stoves have.

 

[Mottman]

I was wondering if ours had gotten warped from overheating, but we don't run it that hot (400 - 450). However I only started to notice it curved shape after it had fallen off and sat in the coal bed for several hours. In our case, I think it was the sitting in hot coals for hours and hours that did it.

 

[Gooserider]

For what it's worth, when we bought the stove it was "lightly used" - and my hood had a curve to it, however I had no problems with it once I figured out the correct angle to slide it into the hooks properly. Since then we've been running it moderately hot - 4-500* minimum, going up to 6-700*F on the griddle top most of the time when it's cold out...

So far at least, our hood hasn't fallen out, and I see no sign that it's likely to. Will see what it looks like in the spring when I let the stove go out long enough to clean it....

Gooserider