Door gasket update-- broken door latch

[gyrfalcon]

I posted a while ago about my problems replacing the door gasket in my Tribute-- ie, the new gasket material was so thick that it took considerable force to get the stove door closed and latched. That got better over the next few days of opening and closing the door, but then the door popped back open a couple of times after I thought I had it latched. Long story short, Friday morning the door would not latch at all. Luckily, I discovered this before I got the morning's first fire going.

I'm now pretty sure but not positive that the tip of the latch broke off under the pressure of holding the door closed against the new gasket. At least I'm hoping that's what the problem is. I never looked closely at the latch before I started having problems with it, so can't tell if it's shorter than it was before or how finished the tip of it is supposed to be. If it broke, it's a very clean break.

The other possibility is that the catch on the doorframe has worn down over time, which will be very expensive to replace since the company won't send out a frame without a new door, since they say old doors never fit properly to a new frame. And the warranty doesn't apply because I bought this stove second-hand from my neighbors. Grrrrr.

It's pretty unnerving that the gasket thickness specified for this stove resulted in the latch breaking, if that's what happened. I have no idea how to avoid or even lessen that risk the next time I need to replace it. At least one lesson learned, I guess, is not to fiddle with gaskets or anything else if you don't absolutely have to in heating season but do it in the summertime.

The stove shop sent me a new handle/latch on Friday and it should get here today or tomorrow. Problem now is I can't figure out how to get the old handle off the door. There are no visible screws, it doesn't seem to want to screw off, nor have I been able to pry it off. I hope the new handle will include instructions for replacing it, or that the guy at the stove shop can talk me through it.

I had to call for an emergency oil delivery and turn my boiler back on, which is far less financially painful than it would have been last year. But still, I miss my stove fire and I'm really eager to be back in business.

While I wait for the part, is there a standard way these door handles are usually attached? Has anybody done this, particularly on a Hearthstone stove?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

My last stove had a little allen or hex head screw that held it in place. I'd wait until the new handle arrived to see how that is held on. No sense frustrating yourself before you need to.

Matt

 

[Valhalla]

Falcon,

You are on track to resolve this. If you don't see how easy it is to replace the door latch, call the stove dealer that sold it to you. yes, they can coach you through it.

Don't forget to adjust it afterward, as an over-tight latch adjustment may have been the cause of the damage. If all else fails, give Hearthstone a phone call. However, let the dealer help you first. They sold it to you and probably had to deal with this type of situation in the past.

You can do! Then before you know it, you will be burning the same evening. And... turning that oil burner back to back-up status.

Good luck. Let us know how this is resolved.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Falcon,

You are on track to resolve this. If you don't see how easy it is to replace the door latch, call the stove dealer that sold it to you. yes, they can coach you through it.

Don't forget to adjust it afterward, as an over-tight latch adjustment may have been the cause of the damage. If all else fails, give Hearthstone a phone call. However, let the dealer help you first. They sold it to you and probably had to deal with this type of situation in the past.

You can do! Then before you know it, you will be burning the same evening. And... turning that oil burner back to back-up status.

Good luck. Let us know how this is resolved.

I should give a big shoutout to this stove store because I didn't buy the stove from them, I bought it second-hand from neighbors, so they have really no reason to knock themselves out to help me out, but yet they have in a bunch of different ways.

The shop is called the Chimney Sweep Fireplace Shop in Shelburne, VT. THey have two other stores, one in Barre Vt and another in Plattsburgh.

As for adjusting the latch-- you may well be right, but it's not clear to me that it is adjustible. If there are instructions with the part and they don't mention it, I will be sure to ask the guy at the shop about that.

 

[gyrfalcon]

My last stove had a little allen or hex head screw that held it in place. I'd wait until the new handle arrived to see how that is held on. No sense frustrating yourself before you need to.

Matt

Heh. It's true, and that's good advice. Except I'm frustrated by the whole business anyway. And I'm going to be further aggravated if it turns out I have to drive all the way up to town to get a tool I don't already have and will have no need for except for this one purpose-- which I sure hope I never have to do again!

 

[Valhalla]

You now have solutions to your simple problem. It seems like an easy fix.

Good luck.

 

[tutu_sue]

Hi Gyrfalcon,

I took at look at my Tribute handle and it's held on with two hex head set screws. You will need to get a 5/32" hex head wrench (aka allen wrench or allen key) to loosen those. See if you can get one with a "T" handle for better leverage as they are pretty danged tight. You may want to consider a drop of wd-40 or light machine oil the night before to loosen any rust and help things along. Make sure the wrench is thoroughly bottomed out in the hex head before you go for it, so you don't strip it. A tap with a light hammer should do it.

I just changed the door gasket on my Jotul with one that was one size bigger than recommened and it was tight for only 4 days or so. Maybe your gasket is more than one size larger than the 3/8" recommended or the gasket channel wasn't cleaned of old cement thoroughly enough before installation? Also be sure the door is properly seated on the hinge side.

Good luck and let me know how you make out. You can do it!

 

[begreen]

Good tips Sue! You are a right handy gal!

 

[Highbeam]

The door handles on these hearthstones are of the small and detailed type that you close with your finger tips and not of the large and robust type that you hold in your hand. The little set screws on my heritage's door handle have gotten loose and let the handle be sloppy so I had to tighten them up using an allen wrench. I have also oiled the mechanism to keep it moving smoothly and quietly. THere seems to be a spring in there to keep the latch tight instead of a double nut typical of a more robust design. The catch on the door frame is also a weak but detailed notch in the casting. Over the years I would expect the door frame to wear out in this location.

All of this makes me wonder if I should bring my door in to have it regasketed when the time comes or if I should DIY it.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Hi Gyrfalcon,

I took at look at my Tribute handle and it's held on with two hex head set screws. You will need to get a 5/32" hex head wrench (aka allen wrench or allen key) to loosen those. See if you can get one with a "T" handle for better leverage as they are pretty danged tight. You may want to consider a drop of wd-40 or light machine oil the night before to loosen any rust and help things along. Make sure the wrench is thoroughly bottomed out in the hex head before you go for it, so you don't strip it. A tap with a light hammer should do it.

I just changed the door gasket on my Jotul with one that was one size bigger than recommened and it was tight for only 4 days or so. Maybe your gasket is more than one size larger than the 3/8" recommended or the gasket channel wasn't cleaned of old cement thoroughly enough before installation? Also be sure the door is properly seated on the hinge side.

Good luck and let me know how you make out. You can do it!

Many thanks, Sue, and right you are. I just finished replacing the handle on mine, and although it took me longer to figure out than it would have if I'd read your post before I started, I got it done.

The package of parts from Hearthstone mentions needing an Allen wrench, but being a gurrrl, I had to look it up on Wikipedia to know what that was, and luckily had one from some other DIY something. For all they charge for these things, you'd think Heathstone could put one in the package like everybody else, but no. Luckily, the doobies weren't too tight and I managed to get them loosened with minimal effort.

And indeed, I can see by comparing old and new that the very tip of the old latch had definitely broken off-- not very much of it at all, but apparently just enough. This new latch does catch, but it's still so hard to close I'm worried about it happening again.

Sue, have you ever adjusted the tightness of the latch? The instructions don't specifically mention adjusting, but the package does include three extra very tiny little rings they call "brass spacer washers," so perhaps adding more of those is what you're supposed to do. I'm just about to call the stove shop guy for advice on that and I'll report back what he says, but I sure am dubious these very, very thin little thingies could make that much of a difference.

The gasket I used was 3/8, as the stove store told me to use, and there wasn't a speck of cement left behind in the groove when I pulled out the old one (I suspect manufacturer-installed), and I worked every last tiniest bit of dust and gasket debris out of the groove before I put the new gasket material in. So if the darn latch can't be adjusted sufficiently, I may have to start over with new gasket material and try to stretch it flatter. Don't know what else to do. Maybe the stove shop guy will have a suggestion.

 

[gyrfalcon]

The door handles on these hearthstones are of the small and detailed type that you close with your finger tips and not of the large and robust type that you hold in your hand. The little set screws on my heritage's door handle have gotten loose and let the handle be sloppy so I had to tighten them up using an allen wrench. I have also oiled the mechanism to keep it moving smoothly and quietly. THere seems to be a spring in there to keep the latch tight instead of a double nut typical of a more robust design. The catch on the door frame is also a weak but detailed notch in the casting. Over the years I would expect the door frame to wear out in this location.

All of this makes me wonder if I should bring my door in to have it regasketed when the time comes or if I should DIY it.

Heh. Depends on the size of your hand, I'd say. It's hand-size for me, though I'm no teeny tiny.

There is a spring inside the handle. Hearthstone, so stingy with the Allen wrench as above, did include a spare spring in the parts package, which leads one to wonder if they realize it can get too compressed over time.

I think the notch in the frame on mine has worn a bit, but the new latch does go under it and holds, so I think it would take quite a bit more wear to really need replacing. The problem is that the stove is so tiny and finicky that you end up opening and closing the door many times more frequently than you would with a bigger and more tolerant stove-- especially when you're still learning and experimenting.

If I were you and had the option, I'd take the door in and let somebody else redo the gasket, being aware that that doesn't mean you aren't going to have problems getting it shut when you bring it back and try it. Above all, do the replacement in summer when you won't be needing the door to work right off the bat.

My gasket was ultimately replaced for my by my chimney sweep/installer, who's done hundreds of them, although never a Tribute. So there's just something funky all the way around here...

 

[gyrfalcon]

Spoke to the guy at the stove shop, and he said there isn't any way to adjust the door on these stoves, and wasn't the least concerned by my tale of woe about how difficult the door is to close after replacing the gasket and the fact that the extra pressure broke the latch. He did suggest sort of backing out the screw-in handle a bit and retightening the set screw, which I did, but even with the handle out as far as possible, a thick heavy coil/spring still keeps the whole thing in essentially the same place and makes no difference in the force required to latch the door. He also didn't think putting in the extra spacer washers would make any difference, but that's the only other thing I can think of to try.

The original handle/latch assembly is different enough from the replacement that at first I thought maybe they'd sent me the part for the wrong model stove, but they've apparently just changed the way they put them together. There was no spring or any kind of coil in the old latch when I took it apart, and only one very thin and very bent washer. Strange.

 

[larryhollenb]

On the internet I found a company in Canada that makes door seals in sizes down to 1/8th inch.. But they come about 5/8 wide. I have a really old stove pre gasket on the door design.. It of course leaked air. It also sealed on a very narrow width of iron so the 5/8th wide was out. I ended up discovering while shopping around that the larger size rope gasket sold by the foot in hardware or farm stores for stoves has in the center a core piece that will pull out. It was perfect for taking up a very narrow gap to seal my door off and helped a lot. I just got back from getting some more to put on a box stove I am repairing, it has really loose doors.
You might want to google the stove gasket and see what is available, perhaps you need a slightly thinner piece, I wouldn't want to keep breaking door latches over another one the same size.

 

[gyrfalcon]

On the internet I found a company in Canada that makes door seals in sizes down to 1/8th inch.. But they come about 5/8 wide. I have a really old stove pre gasket on the door design.. It of course leaked air. It also sealed on a very narrow width of iron so the 5/8th wide was out. I ended up discovering while shopping around that the larger size rope gasket sold by the foot in hardware or farm stores for stoves has in the center a core piece that will pull out. It was perfect for taking up a very narrow gap to seal my door off and helped a lot. I just got back from getting some more to put on a box stove I am repairing, it has really loose doors.
You might want to google the stove gasket and see what is available, perhaps you need a slightly thinner piece, I wouldn't want to keep breaking door latches over another one the same size.

Rutland does make a 1/16 inch smaller gasket, but I was told on another thread in this forum in no uncertain terms not to try it but to stick with the manufacturer's instructions. I dread the thought of having to mess with the gasket again, but if I can't get the door loosened up a bit, I may try it anyway. There's just something so totally wrong about this...

I don't know how many Tributes there are out there and how many people who own them bother ever replacing the gasket, so don't know whether Hearthstone has ever gotten any feedback on what a problem it is. I guess I should try to contact them directly.