Gasket came off my brand new Kozyheat (and damper problem?)

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CountryBoy19

Minister of Fire
Jul 29, 2010
962
Southern IN
Fired up the Kozyheat yesterday morning. Normally wouldn't have lit a fire, but it was the break-in fire so I knew I was going to have to open the windows and I didn't want to wait for extremely cold weather. All went well, that thing really throws out the heat. I was worried that it wouldn't heat my 4,000 sf house very well, but it seems like it should handle it (except maybe a little assistance on the extremely cold days) pretty well.

I did have a few problems though and I would like a little insight from those more experienced than I.

#1, the gasket between the 2 cast doors peeled off and stuck to the other door when I opened it up after the fire had died down. Is that normal? It still seals up fine as the gasket just hangs down in place so when you close the doors it still gets pinched. What should I do? Should I re-cement the gasket in place? Or will the current cement hold if I just push it back in place? What would have caused this? Would the uncured paint on the cast door have caused it to stick when it got hot?


#2, After about 10 minutes warmup I had an inferno going. I don't have a stove thermometer but it had to be getting upwards of 300 degrees (remember that's only 10 minutes after I flicked the lighter) so I dampered the stove down to just barely open. The stove still climbed quickly with a raging inferno inside so I dampered it all the way down and I still had a stove full of primary flames and lots of secondaries going. At this point I'm sure the stove was in the 550-650 range (that is with the damper closed completely). Should I be worried about that? I would think that a stove should not be running at max temp when the damper is closed all the way, I should be able to have a little bit of control as to how hot things burn; if I have to run it with the damper closed all the time just to keep it from over-firing then what is the point in even having a damper?

Could I possibly have overdrafting problems? The reason I ask is that I have 18' of class A chimney protruding 3' above the peak of my house and 6' above the point where it passes through the roof. I live in an open area with NO surrounding trees taller than 10 feet. This setup should give me a VERY GOOD draft, but now I'm worried that it's too much draft.

The good news is that even with a moderate load of wood and the raging inferno I had, there were still enough coals left 9 hours after ignition to give off decent heat and be able to easily light another fire. I was worried about being able to do overnight burns with the small firebox (1.9 cubic feet of usable firebox from what I can tell) but I really only need coals to get the fire going again in the mornings so the house is warm when my wife wakes up for work (I get up a couple hours before she does).
 
I think you are right about the uncured paint pulling off the gasket - I have seen this happen quite a few times over the years. Your best bet is to cement it back on in the correct position - that is, well after you are sure that all paint has cured.

The other part sounds relatively normal. There are some parts of a fire - based on the wood, stove, operator, chimney and other factors - which are not very controllable. I think you really have to have a couple weeks experimenting with the stove to determine if you really have an overdraft.

But always remember - MUCH better to have an overdraft than the other way around....
 
Webmaster said:
I think you are right about the uncured paint pulling off the gasket - I have seen this happen quite a few times over the years. Your best bet is to cement it back on in the correct position - that is, well after you are sure that all paint has cured.
That's what I figured, but I just wasn't sure. It seemed to sort of stick itself back in place after I closed the door again but I didn't check how good it was (it was still pretty hot last night and I wasn't about to mess with it this morning).

Webmaster said:
The other part sounds relatively normal. There are some parts of a fire - based on the wood, stove, operator, chimney and other factors - which are not very controllable. I think you really have to have a couple weeks experimenting with the stove to determine if you really have an overdraft.

But always remember - MUCH better to have an overdraft than the other way around....
I know it's much better to have too much draft, but I also want to have controllablility too. I'd like to be able to regulate the temperature somewhat. I'll be going on a trip to visit my parents in 3 weeks and I know my dad has an IR thermometer, I will ask him if I can borrow it from him and then I'll know for sure how warm the stove is.
 
CountryBoy19, it sounds like the normal jitters you are having when firing up a new stove. My advise is to relax and let the stove do what it is intended to do and that is having a nice fire inside the firepot. With these new stoves, even though you shut the draft fully, they will still get some air; they are designed that way. Also, thinking about overdraft problems seems to be quite popular but most will find that it is not needed.

One thing you did not state is how much wood you put in the stove. This time of year you should not have to load it up. Usually 3 small splits will be plenty. I'd suggest you take some time to experiment with the stove and if you have to do that on weekends, that is fine. It will allow you to be there to see what the stove does. I'd also highly recommend you do check the stove to see what the temperature is. I'm not certain on your stove but normally 600-700 degrees is not bad.

Enjoy the heat! Good luck.
 
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