Primary air control - Liberty

As the heating season progresses my primary air control gets harder and harder to pull and push. So figuring it was just dirty I pulled it out and cleaned it off even though it looked great. On the bottom side of the control you can see where is rubs/drags. So I now have been spraying greaseless lubricant on it and reinserting it into the stove. So far it works great for about 3 weeks then I have to do it again. Anyone else have this issue?

Mine is the same way. I use dry graphite lubricant every couple of weeks. I want the air control to have a little resistance that way its harder to accidentally push open.

Use a little anti-seize on on it. Works wonders.

I was just about to ask the same question about my Lopi Freedom. It feels like dust is getting between those plates. I tried to vacuum it while working the slider but that may even have made it worse. You'd have to use a dry lubricant because anything else would just accumulate more dust, but taking it out to lube doesn't look straightforward.

TE

If it's like the liberty there's 2 screws on the front of the stove you have to remove, then the plate slides slides right out. It's 3 pieces the bottom and 2 top plates which have slots they go in. Add a little antisieze and slide it back in.

I saw those screws, so maybe it is the same. I don't want to get into anything more complicated until later in the season, but maybe I'll try it. Incidentally those two screws also appear to be the limit stops for the air control, so while I'm at it I want to see if I can make a way to allow complete shutoff of air should the need arise. Maybe replace those screws with something easier to remove if hot, or maybe another plate which could be slid into place in an emergency. Has anyone tried this with a Lopi? I'm assuming the secondary and doghouse air comes from the same place as the primary air control, with the cutout shapes on that slider controlling the varying proportions.

TE

Can anyone recommend a specific brand of something that's lasted more than 3 weeks? I can find dry graphite lock lubricant, would that work?

TE

I have a plate that goes over the front, limits the amount of air going in. It helps a little but not much. I had one occasion that the stove was overheating; it was starting to glow on the top. I loosened the screws and shut the air down some more you can actually snuff out the fire if you pull it out enough.
As far as pulling the plates out to lubricate, it's a very easy job to do, hardest part is getting the screws out. I have a right angle drill attachment I got at lowes for $20 that makes it simple to do with a nut driver.

Go to an auto parts store and get some permatex anit-seize. It's good up to 1600 degrees. You dont need alot, and be careful using it as it's a pain to get off your hands.

Thanks. I'll try it and report back.
I was thinking about two short split pins and pull rings, (think hand grenade) in place of the screws, easier to remove in an emergency.

TE

Yes, graphite will work very well!

Taking the Freedom air control apart wasn't exactly as easy as removing the two bolts, firstly those bolt threads get bashed every time I close the air control, and secondly there is a spring loaded top plate on the slide, which needs to be retracted with a screwdriver. Not hard, but you need to be very careful about how to reassemble those slider parts, they can fall apart when you bring it out, and while it's obvious how it should go together, there are several "wrong" ways you could do it too, and none of those would work properly.
All smooth now, and I learned a lot about how the air control works, including ideas how to close air down fully while keeping the current stop position. I'll probably keep that for a new thread when I get it all looking nice, since the Freedom may be different to the Liberty.

TE