Hello, I'm brand new to this site and am by all senses of the word, a beginner wood burner. I bought the HI300 pretty much due to price. I work for a company that sells them so got it at cost... Anyway. I noticed when doing the dollar in the door trick and noticed the bottom gasket is VERY loose.. took the hinge apart and removed a couple washers to tighten the seal per owner manual instructions... Still no good. Any ideas ad to what else I can try? I appreciate any ideas in advance.
Hampton HI300 insert door
- Thread starter TTigano
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stejus
Minister of Fire
This doesn't sound right for a brand new stove. You may want to check the gasket to be sure it's not turned on it's side or not in the right spot. If it's limited to a certain section you may want to put a stright edge against the edge to make sure it's not warped. If all fails, contact your dealer and have them help you out. I'm in my 4th season with my HI300 on the original gasket so something isn't right there.
Thanks for the reply... I'm not sure how much help the dealer would be as we primarily deal stone products for patios and walkways. I only took one washer out of the three out and noticed the door itself shuts pretty tight. I am using the stove right now and have only noticed very short burn times hopefully just due to the air leak but other than that, is the stove safe to run like this?... Thanks
stejus
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
When you say very short burn times, what do you mean? Are you loading the stove up or just a few splits. Today, it's 20 degrees and not moving so I packed up my HI300 at 7:00AM as much as possible and an hour later I had the draft just about fully closed and the secondaries firing. This burn will last to around 3:00PM before I reload. Around 1:30/2:00PM I'll start opening the draft to keep it burning hot and use up the coals. If I don't open the air towards the end of the burn, the coals would be good until 5:00PM for a new load. You just get less heat towards the end doing it this way.
I wouldn't be overly concerned with this right now. Just keep an eye on the burn and if you see a rapid fire, start closing down the draft while maintaining a burn. Are you getting secondaries to fire (the burn tubes on the top of stove)? If you are, keep knocking down the draft slowly over time as far as you can while maintaining those secondaries firing.
stejus said:
Well, right now i'm burning mostly eco-bricks as just like every other newb, bought "seasoned" wood, and found it to be anything but. So, just so I don't start off clogging the hell out of the new liner, I bought some eco-bricks. If I load the stove up to where I believe it is full.... 8+ bricks, I can get 4+ hours with the air intake fully closed untill I cannot see flames anymore. Just last night is the first time I have seen the secondaries start burning... I noticed that the bottom middle part of the door glass is getting BLACK and that the if there is enough fuel in the stovyou can see the air that is entering ignite instantly with rolling flame out of the glass. I checked the gasket just now as I just got home and it is not rolled. It is however definetly charred. You can see on the mating surface of the top on the stove side that the gasket is seating correctly but not on the bottom. I have been usually been running the draft closed as it is throwing more than enough heat for me. We have the whole first floor of the house at 73 and upstairs about 70 with no fans circulating the air at all. I appreciate you helping me out with this as I'm sure it is frustrating with new people sometimes.
Right at the moment, got the stove loaded up full and turned the draft down as much as I could and have the secondaries firing but i'm noticing the heat exchange tubes are glowing.... is that a bad thing? Sorry to keep mumbling on.
stejus
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
Don't think you are getting us members frustrated... that's why we are out here. Four years ago I was in your shoes and had lots of questions as well. I have never burned those bricks so I can't comment on the amount of issues you may encounter. The secondaries will only fire once the stove has reached a certain temp. Seeing you saw it last night for the first time suggests you may not be burning the stove hot enough. Once the secondaries fire, the stove temp increases siginificantly. It may be you are not loading enough fuel (bricks) if you don't see the secondaries most of the time. You may want to search for eco-bricks and see how others are burning.
I'll have to say you are not in a bad position as this winter has been fairly mild. At this point I am usually into my third cord. I just started using my second cord last week so this is a sure sign of mild temps. If we had a real winter you may have had other issues with getting enough heat with the bricks. Just saying... I hope you already have next years wood stacked and come spring, get another years stacked. It's best to have two burn seasons of wood come spring. This way each cord will have gone through two summers.
stejus
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
If you are talking about the burn tubes, no it's not a bad thing. These tubes can take the heat (about 2400 degrees) before they get soft. If your stove is that hot, you have major issues. One thing to look for is in the area where the hot air comes out. If you look in there and see any red glow, that's an overfire. If you see this, shut the air down fully and turn the blower on high until the red glow is gone.
stejus said:
I just looked in where the air comes out of the stove and it IS SLIGHTLY red. I've had the draft fully closed the whole burn!.. also with blower on high.... Is there anything else I can do to lower temps? I'm sure the leaky gasket isn't helping... HELP!.
TTigano said:
Glow is just about gone, what the heck can cause it to get this hot if the air is fully closed?.. I did nothing to make the glow go away as the air was already closed with blower on high.
stejus
Minister of Fire
Keep that blower in high as long as you can. How close are you to a cold air source supply. With that blower on, it will bring in cold air and help cool that top off.
stejus said:
I should be ok.... It has stopped glowing. I'm just very curious to see what I could have done wrong... I'm throwing the oil heat on tonight before I get this issue resolved.
stejus
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
How long did you go without the blower on? This has happened to me before and the problem is not turning the blower on soon enough. What happens is the heat builds up on the stove top and then gets trapped in the air chamber. Do you have a temp gauge? I'm attaching where I put mine. Once the temp gets to the 500 degrees or more, I turn the blower on and continue to shut the air down. I should add this doesn't happen with a small load. With the stove loaded, it's a different story.
Attachments
stejus said:
The blower is always on... I have it turned on auto high setting... The stove is definitely full, I mean, I had bricks all the way up to just below the secondaries... Probably not good huh?... I feel like a child here... I'm usually pretty Damn bright when it comes to this... No temp guage now but I'm heading out to get one.
stejus
Minister of Fire
TTigano said:
I guess you can say you learn from experience. I am sure someone has posted never fill the stove with eco-bricks out here so don't think you are alone. Not sure but it may have been posted. This forum is a wonderful resource of information on just about anything to do with burning. Lesson learned and just be careful with those bricks. Having said that, I am sure you are warming up the place at this point.
Thanks a bunch. I greatly appreciate it. Just curious, but how do you even read your temps with. The therm right there...
stejus
Minister of Fire
I have the same insert and use the same thermometer. I too, have mine where Stejus has his. I "scratched" marks on the side of the thermometer at the "creosote" and "overfire" settings. This way I can shine a flashlight in there and even though I cannot see the actual numbers, I know where I'm at based on where the needle is pointing. I've had the top of mine glowing red more times than I care to admit, sometimes it just happens. Usually I catch it in time and turn the blower on high until everything balances out. This is only my second year with the HI300, and I think they need to pay more attention to the door gaskets. One section of mine seems to have either come loose or the cement was not applied correctly from the factory (also on the bottom of the door). It does not seem to be causing any issues, but come spring I will be replacing all the door gaskets. Seems like they should hold up longer!
stejus
Minister of Fire
egclassic said:
Great idea! I will do the same once the stove cools off on Monday (due to 50 degree temps outside). These scratch marks will make my readings a bit more accurate.
Thanks guys.. I will purchase that as well. The one I picked up today can only be read from the top. I can honestly say that my first few days burning wood have not been all that fun, first ended up with what I thought was "seasoned" wood unitl I read on here... Then, I have the issue with the door gasket which I am not happy about and third, I just need to spend more time researching so that I will be able to burn efficiently. It seems this year I won't be "saving" anything as far as money is concerned... But hey, its a learning experience.
Well, yet another issue... Didn't use the stove at all after this morning... Just let the coals burn with the damper closed and came home to cracked glass... I've been having an issue with the door and wonder now if it was tweaked to begin with... I'm hoping they send me a whole door now since first I was having the gasket issue, now the freaking glass.... Real bummer as the oil just kicked on too...
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
Did you ever get the door fit fixed?
I've put money down on the same unit and noticed the same thing at the store, as far as failing the dollar bill test.
The sister unit, Regency I2400, with the exposed hinges and cam lock, sealed much better.
The store owner assures me he will get it right before delivery, but I don't know...
I like the look and all of the Hampton, but so far, not too keen on the door.
Thanks.
I've put money down on the same unit and noticed the same thing at the store, as far as failing the dollar bill test.
The sister unit, Regency I2400, with the exposed hinges and cam lock, sealed much better.
The store owner assures me he will get it right before delivery, but I don't know...
I like the look and all of the Hampton, but so far, not too keen on the door.
Thanks.
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