Cracked cast iron door - Morso 1125

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VTHC

New Member
Nov 12, 2009
119
Northwestern Vermont
While my wife and I were eating dinner (just re-loaded the stove) I heard a loud POP coming from the woodstove. I walked over to inspect i and saw a very large crack in the middle of the right hand door (door with handle) starting at the bottom and going up about 5 inches... Couldn't close the door completely - was kind of scary because i had a full load of wood in the firebox...
ANyhoo... this is a huge problem because now i can't use my woodstove. Was wondering if there are any good place to get stove replacement parts for a 20+ year old stove? Could i somehow safely seal the crack (eventhough the doors won't line up properly now) or do i have to get a replacement door? Or should i suck it up and use the tax credit and buy a brand new stove?
 
As a former Forum member used to say, after twenty years of service that stove owes you nothing. Go stove shopping. I can tell you from experience you can spend a lot of time and money trying to save the old one out of love for it and end up buying the new one anyway.

Take the shortcut that I didn't take. Go stove shopping. You are gonna love the performance of these new stoves.
 
yup...
Going new stove shopping tomorrow. No use trying to limp along w/an old stove.
I wish the newer Morsos still came in the green enamel...

Looking at Morso 7110, Jotul f500 Oslo and the VC Encore. I think we're leaning toward the VC at the moment. Big question now is cat or non-cat?
 
You are used to a simple reliable stove. I would look a lot harder at the Oslo.

If you want to try a cat stove maybe consider visiting the Woodstock Stove Co. in W. Lebanon, NH and look at the Fireview.
http://www.woodstove.com/
 
Seems these guys got you talked into a new stove, but if you want to limp through this season and even more, have it repaired. To find the right person, find a shop that does antique or vintage car repair and ask who does their forge welding. It can be repaired, the enameling is the problem. Because there is no sustained pressure on the repair, it often works well, but is not a permanent solution. I have seen Antique stoves in pieces and not disassembled, but broken put back together nicely. You may even be able to find an artist who does enameling to touch up the repair. It will not be perfect, but even you after twenty years have a few blems and wrinkles.
 
Thanks for the advice/feedback Brother Bart and BeGreen!

BeGreen - is the VC not very reliable/straightforward? I've read pretty good things about the VCs on this board...

I will admit i'm partial to the Norwegian stove design and I'm seriously contemplating the Jotul. I guess I'll see what kind of deals are available.
 
littlesmokey said:
Seems these guys got you talked into a new stove, but if you want to limp through this season and even more, have it repaired. To find the right person, find a shop that does antique or vintage car repair and ask who does their forge welding. It can be repaired, the enameling is the problem. Because there is no sustained pressure on the repair, it often works well, but is not a permanent solution. I have seen Antique stoves in pieces and not disassembled, but broken put back together nicely. You may even be able to find an artist who does enameling to touch up the repair. It will not be perfect, but even you after twenty years have a few blems and wrinkles.

I'll save her for now, and keep my eyes open for a parts stove on Craigslist, because I do have a soft spot in my heart for the stove [i grew up with it at my parent's home and aquired it from my Dad when he went pellet last year].

More short term i need a heat source that is not my furnace, but thankfully, i have that as back up.
 
VTHC said:
I'll save her for now, and keep my eyes open for a parts stove on Craigslist, because I do have a soft spot in my heart for the stove [i grew up with it at my parent's home and aquired it from my Dad when he went pellet last year].

More short term i need a heat source that is not my furnace, but thankfully, i have that as back up.

You can usually keep a crack from propagating further by drilling a small hole through the end of the crack. If you plan to have it fixed, you shouldn't use it until the repair is made - heat/cool cycles will cause the crack to lengthen.
 
Get the Jotul F500 Oslo. You'll be glad you did. Also, you could go pick up one of those stoves on CL for cheap and keep your existing stove going.
 
Just got back from the stove shop.
Was originally looking at the Jotul F500 and the VC Encore. I dropped the idea of buying the VC when i saw the price tag... too much money/too many parts etc.

The Jotul was the one, but then the sales rep showed me a Hearthstone Shelburne that was on sale for almost $1000 cheaper [installed] then the Jotul. The stove looked almost identical to the Jotul, and comes in a green enamel very similar to my old Morso (which matches the room decoration - very important for the wife). I'm going to pull the trigger on the deal but wouldn't mind getting some pro/con feedback before i do. I really like that the Hearthstone is made here in VT (about 30 miles from where i live), and has a lifetime warranty on the glass/firebox/secondary tubes. I don't get the benefit of the side loading door, but i didn't have that benefit with the old Morso either... Plus i can get the stove delivered/installed next week.

Comments appreciated!
 
I have owned one of the orig VC stove and really liked it. But unfortunately, they are now more complex and costly. How well the new company will make and support the current stoves is unknown. They seem to have a success with the Montpelier and I hope they get back to their traditional quality in the rest of the line. Though right now the downdraft, refractory stoves appear to be their Achilles heel.

I've only looked at the Shelburne on the store floor, but I liked what I saw. It looked like a stout, well made stove.
 
The Shelburne is a pretty cool stove. I almost bought one so I researched them quite a bit. It is fairly well built and has a nice design and look. It is a reasonably substantial stove with a 2.0 cu. ft. firebox. The only two complaints I have found are related to the ashpan and the door hinges. I guess people just don't like the ashpan and some people have had problems with the door hinges, alignment, and door latch. The Jotul Oslo is a slightly larger stove. I can't recall the exact dimensions, but if you put a tape in the firebox it will measure bigger than the Shelburne, maybe 2.3 cu. ft. The Jotul door latch is arguably the best in the industry. I feel the Jotul is a slightly more durable and better designed stove, but that's just my opinion.

One consideration would be stove size. If you want a larger stove, go with the Oslo. If the Shelburne is big enough and you like the green color, then it'll prob work out okay.
 
VTHC,

Please let me know what you think of the Shelburne after it's installed this week. I ordered one last week...not sure how long it will take to arrive.
 
VTHC said:
Just got back from the stove shop.
Was originally looking at the Jotul F500 and the VC Encore. I dropped the idea of buying the VC when i saw the price tag... too much money/too many parts etc.

The Jotul was the one, but then the sales rep showed me a Hearthstone Shelburne that was on sale for almost $1000 cheaper [installed] then the Jotul. The stove looked almost identical to the Jotul, and comes in a green enamel very similar to my old Morso (which matches the room decoration - very important for the wife). I'm going to pull the trigger on the deal but wouldn't mind getting some pro/con feedback before i do. I really like that the Hearthstone is made here in VT (about 30 miles from where i live), and has a lifetime warranty on the glass/firebox/secondary tubes. I don't get the benefit of the side loading door, but i didn't have that benefit with the old Morso either... Plus i can get the stove delivered/installed next week.

Comments appreciated!

The Morso gave you 20 years of trouble-free burning . . . I would say you got your money's worth . . . there aren't too many things that are subjected to the same amount of stress (i.e. being subjected to high temps constantly) and that can go 20 years with few to no issues.

I love my Jotul Oslo, but I'll confess that I also looked at the Shelburne . . . I too liked the looks . . . then again I kind of liked the looks of all of the Hearthstone stoves. VC . . . never considered it . . . they look sharp, but there are way, way too many folks here with VC horror stories -- specifically regarding warranty work. That's not to say all VC users are not happy -- some really love their VCs, but I wasn't willing to take that chance.

I ended up going with the Oslo because of the glowing hearth.com stove rating section reports -- I looked high and low for negative comments and it seemed as though the only real "negative" I could find was the complaint about the front door spilling ash on to the ash pan lip . . . and that was something I could live with as I would readily sacrifice a short term mess for reliablity in the long haul. I also asked several dealers who sold both types and most were a little more favorable to Jotul (of course this could be based on profits or personal preferences).

That said, I still like the look of the Hearthstone line up . . . and I tend to hear a lot of good things coming from Hearthstone owners.

Finally . . . re: side door: Oh yeah, it may not seem like a big deal, but I cannot imagine having a woodstove without a side door to load. Then again, I am a long time side loader and I'm used to it . . . much like folks who are used to top loaders cannot imagine running any stove without a top loader.
 
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