I recently posted that I was not able to do well with top downs on the F3 as of lately, thinking it was the stove. I have recently had smoke spillage on reloads, sluggish fires and dirty glass. I knew something was not right. I was figuring the 50* outside temps lately were the problem. Tonight I put a flashlight above the baffle plate and found the key damper shut tight! I worked the key damper handle, and of course the handle has a bit of play in it, but the damper hardly budged.
When installing the stove, I cut the S/S snout off quite a bit to get the stove to sit further into the firebox for front clearances. The long "tag" end from the S/S screw clamp was too long and I had bent it inward to get it away from the sidewall of the snout. Well, I never bent it back to place apparently.
In the picture, you can see the tag end of the clamp at the 9 o'clock position. This pic is after I removed the left screw that holds the snout to the back of the stove connector. If I turned the handle so the top of the key damper goes away from me, the bottom half would slide past the "tab", but opening it back up would not allow the damper to go past the tab sticking out. With the play in the handle, the damper felt open. My next job is to pull the stove out and bend that little tab back in. So draft issue solved. Opened damper, happy camper.
I did a quick top down start tonight, and off like a rocket it went. Good thing as a Nor'e aster is predicted this weekend with heavy wind, rain and possible wet snow. I am back in the club, dues forthcoming.
When installing the stove, I cut the S/S snout off quite a bit to get the stove to sit further into the firebox for front clearances. The long "tag" end from the S/S screw clamp was too long and I had bent it inward to get it away from the sidewall of the snout. Well, I never bent it back to place apparently.
In the picture, you can see the tag end of the clamp at the 9 o'clock position. This pic is after I removed the left screw that holds the snout to the back of the stove connector. If I turned the handle so the top of the key damper goes away from me, the bottom half would slide past the "tab", but opening it back up would not allow the damper to go past the tab sticking out. With the play in the handle, the damper felt open. My next job is to pull the stove out and bend that little tab back in. So draft issue solved. Opened damper, happy camper.
I did a quick top down start tonight, and off like a rocket it went. Good thing as a Nor'e aster is predicted this weekend with heavy wind, rain and possible wet snow. I am back in the club, dues forthcoming.
