Door might be bent

[CT Treeman]

Good evening gentlemen,

I have been a long time lurker on this forum. It was instrumental in helping me learn about drying wood, moisture content, and even research on stoves.

December 2022 my wife and I purchased a regency f3500.

I believe the door may be bent but I am not sure. Also any help with the draft control lever would be appreciated. I have blown compressed air in there and loosened the bolt underneath. How does it come out? Maybe I should polish it?

I included a rather long back story but it clarifys why I am posting this on here instead of going through the dealer or calling regency.

-Back Story-

Last year we loved the stove but had problems with the door sealing and closing the door. I had to remove a shim almost right when we got it because the gasket wouldn't make a tight seal. Then it worked fine but the handle was always difficult to close. I notified my dealer about it and they said they would get back to me. Then I notified them that the draft control lever gets stuck when the stove heats up. They said that was unusual and never followed up with me. Eventually I was tired of texting and calling about it. Everything worked just not that great and the season ended.

Fast forward to 2023 and the door handle became so grindy and the gap opened up again on the door. I replaced the gasket and still couldn't get a good seal. Finally the door handle basically got stuck in the closed position and bent the bracket when I opened it.

I finally got a hold of the dealer on the phone and this time they asked for pictures of the handle. Regency sent me a new handle and latch assembly.

I picked it up and installed the assembly and everything worked okay but it was still hard to close. I replaced the gasket again because now it didn't even reach the stove outside wall. I ordered a gasket on amazon because the dealer didn't have anything in stock or on a role. Now the new 5/8 gasket made the door not close without adding some washers onto the shims to get it further from the face.

Today I bought another gasket while at tractor supply and the stove door closed without the shims.
After adjusting the shims so the door closed alright (still grinds to close) the seal looked okay.

I waited an hour and fired up the stove. It quickly developed what you see in the picture of the gasket. The middle of the gasket does not touch the face of the stove. I put a straight edge on the door and the front is not flat. The face of the stove is flat I have already tested that a while ago. I always thought the bow in the front of the door was supposed to be there because the back looks flat.

I recently contacted regency about the sticking draft lever because I already asked my dealer 2 or 3 times. I left two voicemails to customer service and never got a call back. Next I emailed them and received a snarky reply saying how easy it was to adjust the draft lever and I was pretty much an idiot who should have asked my dealer about it.

I loosened the bolt like they said to do which helped a little but the thing still requires forcing it to move. I can't even recall how many times I have called my dealer who can't be bothered to reply or pick up the phone. Regency cannot be bothered to help their customer.

One of my trips to the dealer I opened and closed the f3500 on the floor to compare to mine and it opened like the door on a Cadillac. They know nothing about anything I have ever asked them. I know that sounds ridiculous to say and I would like if it was not the case. The owner talked me out of the blower and airmate when he was at my house going over what stove we needed and where to put it. I bought both of those after the heat basically stayed in the corner of the basement and did not move. It would have been nice to get the tax credit with our original purchase.

-Question-

In a nut shell can someone please confirm if the front of the door is supposed to have that bow in it? Also is there anything I can do to the draft lever or slider because I cannot see in there or where it comes out.

 

[begreen]

It's the gasket side that needs to be checked for flatness. How does that look? Does the door pass or fail the dollar bill test?

 

[CT Treeman]

Thanks for the reply. I just checked the inside and the gasket looked flat. I took out a shim this morning and the door is kind of hard to close.

Just tried the bill test now and it is tight wont move by the handle. The top middle it just runs right through.

I put a straight edge in the face of the stove and it is flat. I put a straight edge on the gasket and it slightly goes in in the middle but I nean like a 16th of an inch it is hardly noticeable. With closing the door so tight would that not suck it in?

 

[begreen]

The dollar bill should have a little resistance. It's ok if it can be pulled out with a tug. If there is no resistance at all then the gasket is not sealing well at that location.

@bholler may have some tips on setting up the door correctly. It may be too tight on the latch side.

Take a mirror or cellphone to look at the air control operation. If it is sticky, then sometime lubricating it with graphite powder can help. As a test, some spray silicone could be tried to see it that helps but only if the stove is cold and no fire present.

 

[bholler]

Keep everything lubricated well with anti seize. They need lubricated for sure. Honestly you have a lifetime warranty and this wasn't right from the start. Demand the dealer fix it.

 

[CT Treeman]

Okay guys thank you both for the tips and advice. The dollar bill doesn't have much resistance at all in the middle really.
I will lube the slide handle and watch tonight to see if there is light coming around the door now that I removed a shim.

Like bholler said I will likely need to get on the dealer about it. I would love to be able to switch dealers. Of all the dealers around me they were the only ones I could find who actually install. Everyone else didn't know what it would cost and basically said "we installed a stove a month ago and it cost x so yours will probably be around that." Or, "we don't install we have a sub contractor that does and they are about six months out."

You both have been more help than my dealer already.

Thank you

 

[Garbanzo62]

Okay guys thank you both for the tips and advice. The dollar bill doesn't have much resistance at all in the middle really.
I will lube the slide handle and watch tonight to see if there is light coming around the door now that I removed a shim.

Like bholler said I will likely need to get on the dealer about it. I would love to be able to switch dealers. Of all the dealers around me they were the only ones I could find who actually install. Everyone else didn't know what it would cost and basically said "we installed a stove a month ago and it cost x so yours will probably be around that." Or, "we don't install we have a sub contractor that does and they are about six months out."

You both have been more help than my dealer already.

Thank you

Where in CT Are you?

 

[CT Treeman]

Well tonight I got a fire going really well. A few hours in the stove is working nicely but still going through wood kind of quick on the lowest primary air setting.
I turned the lights off and open and closed the door. The handle side definitely makes contact and is very tight against the front face. In the middle on the top of the door I can see light coming through the gasket and the face of the stove.

If I make it any tighter by removing a shim I am going to bend the bracket again when I close it.

Also haven't had a chance to pick up graphite spray but I did loosen that bolt like I mentioned the other day. It slid okay until the stove was hot. Then it became stuck and I had to wack it with a hammer to move it. That just doesn't seem normal. My uncle has a hearthstone and his lever slides like it has butter on it.

Lets see if my dealer will pick up the phone. I called three times in one day to check if my parts were in because nobody would pick up. Then before closing I got a text saying my parts just came in. Yeah okay, they were probably sitting in the back for a week. I think they hate me at this point.

 

[bholler]

Well tonight I got a fire going really well. A few hours in the stove is working nicely but still going through wood kind of quick on the lowest primary air setting.
I turned the lights off and open and closed the door. The handle side definitely makes contact and is very tight against the front face. In the middle on the top of the door I can see light coming through the gasket and the face of the stove.

If I make it any tighter by removing a shim I am going to bend the bracket again when I close it.

Also haven't had a chance to pick up graphite spray but I did loosen that bolt like I mentioned the other day. It slid okay until the stove was hot. Then it became stuck and I had to wack it with a hammer to move it. That just doesn't seem normal. My uncle has a hearthstone and his lever slides like it has butter on it.

Lets see if my dealer will pick up the phone. I called three times in one day to check if my parts were in because nobody would pick up. Then before closing I got a text saying my parts just came in. Yeah okay, they were probably sitting in the back for a week. I think they hate me at this point.

Did you lubricate the latch with high temp anti seize?

 

[CT Treeman]

Not yet i have to get some. Will do today.

 

[CT Treeman]

Update- the high temp antiseeze helped a lot but it still sticks hard before the initial slide when hot. I don't need to tap it with a hammer though.

I was fiddling with the shims again tonight and finally discovered the problem with my stove.

The door bracket hinge is out of wack. On the left side the gaket contacts the front of the stove on the bottom but still has a gap up top. The bracket has holes in it and when I opened the stove all the way and looked closer the issue was evident.

When looking through the bottom hole the door is close to the hinge. Looking through the top hole the door is further from the hinge. The door cannot seat flush against the stove without increased effort to bend/flex the door assembly.

Way back when I sent pictures of the hinge and what looked like bent tabs with stress fractures where the pins on the door go in. I requested a new hinge bracket but I guess the dealer thought I didn't need it. Maybe they showed the pics to regency and maybe not. Regency did send a new latch and handle assembly but that as we all now know was just a symptom of a bigger problem.

I found a post online somewhere recently where a factory rep came out and could not achieve a seal on the door. Regency sent out a new stove for the customer.

I hope this thread helps somebody in the future to save a lot of time, money and aggravation to pinpoint the problem right away.

I absolutely love my stove. When the door is sealed properly I can get a ton of heat for a long period of time on a load. This saves a lot of work making firewood.

I have a tight seal for now. With the air turned down there is hardly any flame down low but just look at those secondaries. You can even see the cat glowing for the third burn. As I write this the air curtain is already cleaning the glass. It wasn't working properly with the leakage around it.

Garbanzo recommended another dealer and I am going to call them if my dealer gives me the run around. Hopefully they can assist me with a warranty issue even though I didn't buy it from them.

 

[CT Treeman]

So my dealer sent out a subcontractor to assess the stove. He had his mind up that I improperly installed the gasket before he even looked at it. Apparently the gasket wasn't the right number of strands which regency doesn't specify in the manual.

I explained that this is the fourth gasket I tried, the first didn't seal that came on the stove, the next I bought at my dealers and the other two elsewhere. I pointed out that the door didn't sit on the hinges evenly from the stove. He started yelling about it and saying that was irrelevant and screaming at me becaue I was disagreeing with him.

I had to tell him to watch his f....... mouth because I didn't like his f.... tone and he was in my f..... house.

He checked himself and then hastily ripped the gaket off, cleaned the channel and checked for tolerances closed with no gasket on. It was evident that the door did not seat flush and evenly.

He then concluded that the hinge was messed up. Just like I said. I told him I have had this problem from when I bought the stove and that it cost a lot of money and just want it fixed. He said the 4300 for the stove wasn't a lot of money and he installs some stove black something or other which costs 10 grand and burns tweleve hours. I said so does mine at a fraction of the cost. I don't care about fancy just practicality.

All and all by the end the guy and I were like old pals and he is ordering another hinge. He replaced the gasket with the one from regency. I am curious if my dealer is going to hit me up for the $55. The gaskets were getting ruined from the messed up hinge. He seems to think we bent the hinge from leaning on it when opening but I told him that was just not the case and the stove did this since day one. He bent it back some in the meantime and it is working better.

So it was the hinge all along. It was a long road to arrive to a simple solution. I am glad it is all going to be taken care of.