Kent Tilefire 2000 with the crumbling walls?

[Patty]

Hi Everyone:
I need a little advice and seems like a lot of you are experts...I have a wood stove in my kitchen dining area which I love and start firing up around this time every year. It is a Kent Tilefire 2000 and it has worked well since we bought it with our house five years ago. This year I noted some cracks and bulging in the cement liner (inside the stove) but made the fire anyway. Ready to make my next fire today, I see that slabs of the inside walls are crumbling to pieces and falling in exposing just some insulation in the stove wall.

I love the stove and don't want to replace it if I don't have to. Is this problem easily repaired? Could it be a DIY project or does it need a specialist. Do I need to just junk the stove?

Thanks for your input.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Can you post some pics?

 

[begreen]

I thought the Kent Tile Fire didn't have firebricks, unless this is an Ultima. Does the stove have a flat or an bay door front? A picture or two showing the stove and showing the crumbling interior would help us see what you are seeing.

 

[Patty]

I thought the Kent Tile Fire didn't have firebricks, unless this is an Ultima. Does the stove have a flat or an bay door front? A picture or two showing the stove and showing the crumbling interior would help us see what you are seeing.

Thanks for the help! Here are some pics. Hopefully these will come through.

 

[begreen]

I've read about Kent providing a liner for their later stoves, but it is not mandatory. If so you would be ok running it without the liner.

 

[CTYank]

Relfractory liners generally serve to keep combustion temps (and combustion efficiency) up. So they're a very good idea.

I'm hoping you don't fire it up with those plants and flammables alongside.

 

[begreen]

Calling Tom Oyen to the front desk.

 

[Patty]

thanks for the info. I will go to Kent's website and see if I can buy a liner and have someone install it. Thanks also for the fire safety tip! I do try to keep the plants and baskets away--its still early in the season. Speaking of fire safety, you sure its okay to tun the stove with the cement off the walls? There is some fibrous like insulation that is exposed? I guess that must be very flame resistant yes?

 

[thechimneysweep]

BG, I don't know how you do it, but something compelled me to log on this morning. The 2000 was an interim model, marketed for a short time between the Tile Fire LEM and the Ultima. The sidewalls were lined with ceramic blanket material behind custom cast refractory panels, to increase the internal firebox temperature for more complete combustion and lower emissions. If memory serves, the side panels also supported the arched cast refractory baffle. It doesn't look like the panels are able to support anything at this point, so the baffle may be gone. Kent is long out of business, and I know of no source for side panels or baffles (the Australian company Pricotech purchased the trademark, but never made a Tile Fire). The stove should continue to function without the panels and baffle, but at very low efficiency (incomplete combustion, no secondary burn). Further, with those parts removed, both the EPA emissions listing and UL side clearance listing go away. It might be time to consider putting that old boy out to pasture.

 

[begreen]

LOL, I changed the title and added Kent TileFire cuz I know you like these old stoves like I do. Sorry that this one doesn't have the best outcome. I'm wondering if one could fabricate new side insulation and a baffle out of skamol or vermiculite panels?

 

[Patty]

Wow, Mr. Chimney Sweep--that is very helpful and sounds right to me. Of course the stove is old and both of the sides are bowed inward and cracking off as if they have lost all support. I think that I will probably take your advice and put our old friend out to pasture. Since getting on this site I've been investigating some of these new fancy stoves. We live in a very contemporary house and I LOVE the Rais stoves as well as the Hearthstone Tula. All pricey but lovely. What recommendations do you have for contemporary stoves? We use them often, but not as our primary source of home heat--mostly family time and dinner parties. Thanks again for all the smarts.

 

[begreen]

The wildest and most efficient unit is made by Wittus and called the TwinFire. And yes, it is very pricy. There are much less expensive units from Jotul, Morso, Pacific Energy (Neo and Fusion), Osburn Matrix, and the Regency Alterra.

 

[thechimneysweep]

Having had a Tile fire, you're going to be hard to please. Fortunately, there are three models on today's marketplace that were originally modeled after the Tile Fire (with several design improvements). I replaced my dead Tile Fire with a Pacific Energy Spectrum (view at http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/pacspec.htm), and have done the same thing for several Tile Fire owners since, with great results.

In more recent years, PE has come out with another model built around the same firebox: view the Fusion at http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/pacfusion.htm. Just last year, they unveiled an even more contemporary-looking model, the Neo 2.5 (view at http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/pacneo25.htm)