New door gasket on 30NC, still does't seal well

[SlyFerret]

Will, I was all proud of myself today for getting a bunch of stuff done around the house, including replacing the door and glass gaskets on my 30.

Sadly, even with the new door gasket, a dollar bill still slips out easily along the bottom of the door.

So... now what? Any tricks? The door doesn't look warped, at least not visibly.

-SF

 

[BrotherBart]

Put a straight edge over the front of the stove where the gasket contacts the front. See if it is flat. Also, did you use the dense gasket ESW uses or stuff from the hardware store?

 

[SlyFerret]

I ordered it from Englander a couple weeks ago.

I'll check with a straight edge tomorrow morning when i reload.

-SF

 

[wkpoor]

I had that problem with my Magnolia and it was the stove front. Also check it cold and hot. Mine changed (got worse) at operating temp.

 

[SlyFerret]

I checked with a straight edge this morning. The front of the stove doesn't seem to be warped at all, and neither does the door.

The seal seems to be better with the new gasket than it was with the old one. I do have a little finer control of the air, especially as my control handle gets pushed in a little past the front edge of the ash lip. Also, this morning, my glass was clean along the bottom of the door. With the old gasket, the bottom of the glass would get dirty very quickly.

I'll see how it goes. At this point, I have to wonder if the gasket will compress a little bit around the other parts of the door and allow the bottom to seal a little tighter. The gasket at the bottom does grab the dollar bill, just not as tightly as I would like. Even a slight compression of the gasket round the rest of the door might fix it.

-SF

 

[SlyFerret]

I was just looking at this page:
http://woodheat.org/maintenance.html

It mentions adjusting the door to help achieve a better seal.

Is there any adjustment possible on the door or latch on the 30? When I looked last night, I didn't see any way to adjust the door, but maybe I missed something.

-SF

 

[pen]

If you close your latch, will it tighten right down or will it spin around if you tighten it well? I had to heat up my door latch and take a bar to it to bend it a little tighter. Other than that, there is no adjustment on the door.

pen

 

[SlyFerret]

Yeah, the latch closes tight, no spinning.

Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything.

-SF

 

[joecool85]

Not sure if the latch works the same as the 17, but on my 17 it is just a bar that pushes down on a "ramp" that closes the door. Might sound obvious, but have you tried pushing down on the handle harder?

 

[BobUrban]

The door latch is the major reason I second guessed(am guessing) the E-30 but as a welder and fabricator with access to all things steel and steel fabrication I think I could use the 600-1000$ difference in a better place. I am leaning strongly towards upgrading from my smoke dragon to the 30 and will make sure the one I buy is tight and square prior to install - then if I need to tweak the handle/latch a bit it should be a simple mod.

Sounds as if it is still working for you - just not as tight as you would like. Does the door come off very easily? This is a question to any 30 owner. If so I could take it to the shop and make mods w/o needing to remove the stove after install. I would consider a little tweek to the door latch as a possible solution as mentioned above.

I know this is not an un-biased crowd but it sure is tough finding anything "bad" writtten about the 30.

 

[blades]

Nc-30, door hinges, these are tapered pins that hold the 2 hinge sections together. You might try reversing the pins or a new set. Perhaps they are not seated far enough specifically the bottom one. I noticed the other day that my lower pin is seated all the way to the button head whereas the upper assembly pin is up about 3/8" from being fully seated. The upper one is tight at its position so I am guesstamating there is a fair amount of variance in the diameters of the pins or holes or both.

 

[joecool85]

The door latch is the major reason I second guessed(am guessing) the E-30 but as a welder and fabricator with access to all things steel and steel fabrication I think I could use the 600-1000$ difference in a better place. I am leaning strongly towards upgrading from my smoke dragon to the 30 and will make sure the one I buy is tight and square prior to install - then if I need to tweak the handle/latch a bit it should be a simple mod.

Sounds as if it is still working for you - just not as tight as you would like. Does the door come off very easily? This is a question to any 30 owner. If so I could take it to the shop and make mods w/o needing to remove the stove after install. I would consider a little tweek to the door latch as a possible solution as mentioned above.

I know this is not an un-biased crowd but it sure is tough finding anything "bad" writtten about the 30.

The "bad" is it's a big stove so it overheats small spaces, also it requires a large hearth pad with a high r value and quite a bit of clearance to combustibles. But, if you have a good size area to heat and don't mind having it kicked out from the walls etc it's not a bad way to go. For my 1,250 sq ft home it's just too much stove though so I wouldn't even think about it for me.

 

[BrotherBart]

When a hinge pin rides up just open the door and lift up on the right side of the door and tap the pin back down. They ride up from the natural action of lifting slightly on the door when you open it. My old stove did the same thing on both doors.

 

[SlyFerret]

Not sure if the latch works the same as the 17, but on my 17 it is just a bar that pushes down on a "ramp" that closes the door. Might sound obvious, but have you tried pushing down on the handle harder?

Yup, When I close the door, I thump the handle down good with my fist to make sure it's seated well. I'll see if I can get it closed any tighter tonight when I reload.

I'm also going to try switching the pins.

-SF

 

[BrotherBart]

You have probably already done it but you can take a pair of pliers and gently squeeze the gasket to puff it out a little for a better seal.

 

[SlyFerret]

I did that on the old one, but it it was a temporary fix.

I'll try swapping the pins and make sure i get the door handle snugged down good. Other than that, I'll let it ride and see if my glass stays clean. If it does, I won't worry too much about it. Control seems to be OK, so I'm not worried about it running away.

-SF

 

[jminacci]

Hi SF,

I had the same problem a month or so again. Ordered a new gasket from ESW, installed with high hopes only to find that it still didn't pass the dollar bill test. I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that without some bending of the door latch, it just isn't going to be as tight as I'd like. Just ordered a liner for my other 30 that should be installed in a couple of weeks. Gaskets are super tight, can't wait to see how she operates. Keep us updated on your progress.

Jason

 

[SlyFerret]

What exactly did you bend? I'm guessing you bent the rod that the handle controls? Not the metal "ramp" inside the stove?

When I got home today I switched the pins, and that actually seemed to make a little bit of a difference. When I reloaded, I gave the handle an extra good whack to make sure the door is a little tighter than usual.

We'll see how it goes! I'm gong to avoid bending anything unless I can't avoid it. Hopefully the glass will stay clean. If it does, I'll be happy.

-SF

 

[joecool85]

What exactly did you bend? I'm guessing you bent the rod that the handle controls? Not the metal "ramp" inside the stove?

When I got home today I switched the pins, and that actually seemed to make a little bit of a difference. When I reloaded, I gave the handle an extra good whack to make sure the door is a little tighter than usual.

We'll see how it goes! I'm gong to avoid bending anything unless I can't avoid it. Hopefully the glass will stay clean. If it does, I'll be happy.

-SF

Keep us posted.