The Cape Cod is cracked! Now what?

[lopiliberty]

What was the problem with your Liberty?

Hairline crack in the air channel weld in the corner, not the air channel itself just where its welded together. Found it last year and that was year 3 with the stove so is hard to tell it might have happened after the first fire. Its so small you would never see it if you weren't REALLY looking hard for it No big deal as long as it doesn't get any bigger. I told my dealer about it last year and we both decided to watch it for a while. So two weeks ago I ordered the etched glass and went in to pick it up and she asked if the crack had gotten any bigger. I was surprised she remembered after a whole year

 

[Highbeam]

Every time one of us posts on this site there is a lifelihood that we are selling or perventing the sales of stoves. I know that BKs and woodstocks have seen plenty of sales from the thousands of people visiting here for research.

All we can do is be honest and show pictures. Even if webby was on the payroll, the review is complete, honest, interactive, and valuable so I would still have appreciated reading it.

If you get some yahoo on here doing nothing but talking up his brand and having no "proof" that he owns the stove personally then our mods are pretty good about catching them.

I can't believe that more companies aren't spending time on this board. In this day, folks come to the internet for research and this site is the leader in stove information. Perhaps there are more spies than we think.

 

[mellow]

There are more people from the manufacturers visiting here than you think, I met a few this past weekend that can't post on here due to their jobs, but they are here learning, you best believe that.

 

[teutonicking]

Looking forward to your experiences with the stove. I am a steel stove guy and not a big fan of iron stoves, even though two of those in the basement are cast and impressed me, but that big Lopi impressed the heck out of me yesterday too. My bet is you are gonna love that sucker.

Keep us posted on how it does for ya.

I was at the stove competition over the weekend. The Cape Cod they had on display was a gorgeous stove, I must say. I hope that the problem was just an isolated incident.

 

[Tenn Dave]

I was at the stove competition over the weekend. The Cape Cod they had on display was a gorgeous stove, I must say. I hope that the problem was just an isolated incident.

Certainly one of the nicer looking stoves.........

 

[eclecticcottage]

I can't believe that more companies aren't spending time on this board. In this day, folks come to the internet for research and this site is the leader in stove information. Perhaps there are more spies than we think.

This. And if they are "spies", they should quit it and join. I know if I saw mention of my company in regards to an issue with it, I would want to make it right, and even more so, to do so publicly. I told DH about the one thread on here about the crooked part on the 17-vl and Mike's response and he was like "wow, that's awesome, I can't believe a company would do that". While Webbie did say Travis made good, if it was just a newbie poster coming here originally to say his Cape Cod had cracked but then didn't come back to follow up, that thread would have been out there for who knows how ling for people researching the stove to read. I can't believe we don't have more stove co reps around.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Glad you joined the forum so quickly.

Lol, you can see someone's join date under their name. He joined last December. Not everyone likes to post, some just like to browse

 

[eclecticcottage]

that dealer should have eaten the shipping if Lopi wouldn't take care of it if that's what it takes to make him happy. A bad dealer can very easily make a bad name for a brand.

This is SOOO true. And Lopi makes it worse by forcing you to deal with your local dealer. I would love to just pick a shop like yours to contact when we need parts so I didn't have to give ANYTHING to the one we bought our stove from EVER again, but I can't. So, I can say, if we ever have to/decide to replace this stove, it WON'T be a Travis Industries product that replaces it for this very reason.

 

[begreen]

Cape Cod isn't Travis Industries first cracking problem. I have a Lopi Liberty purchased in February 1997, and it wasn't in service but a couple months and the heating chambers in the back of the stove cracked at the welds. Been burning it that way since! They wanted me to send it back with me paying the shipping, but at the cost of the stove, shipping and just finishing up on a newly built house there was no way I could afford that.

I have replaced every component in that stove a few times already, except for the secondary burn pipes.

I like the stove, but wouldn't buy another from Travis Industries!

Craig

I was wondering if perhaps the crack was a shipping and not a manufacturing issue. The Cape Cod is a very heavy stove. Could it be that it received some rough handling during shipping?

 

[BrotherBart]

I was wondering if perhaps the crack was a shipping and not a manufacturing issue. The Cape Cod is a very heavy stove. Could it be that it received some rough handling during shipping?

Could be. That is what happened with my Jotul F3CB. Got dropped in shipping and cracked.

 

[webby3650]

I was wondering if perhaps the crack was a shipping and not a manufacturing issue. The Cape Cod is a very heavy stove. Could it be that it received some rough handling during shipping?

Possibly I guess. The cod has a very specific skid and crate. It has a cradle under it to distribute the weight. It would be unlikely.

 

[webby3650]

Here is that crack. It in the back lower left corner behind the firebrick.
I do think its an isolated case, from over tightening if I had to guess.

 

[aansorge]

So if I owned a liberty that cracked, I could just weld it up quick, no? What are the options on an out of warranty cast stove?

 

[webby3650]

Not if its cast.

 

[aansorge]

So what do you do, junk it?

Makes me want to stick with steel.

 

[BrotherBart]

So if I owned a liberty that cracked, I could just weld it up quick, no? What are the options on an out of warranty cast stove?

The first thing you do is drill small holes at each end of the crack to keep it from spreading. Then you find the one in thousand welders that can successfully weld cast iron.

Better just to take the stove apart and replace the cracked part.

 

[webby3650]

So what do you do, junk it?

Makes me want to stick with steel.

Cracks aren't common if the stove is cared for and operated properly.

 

[BrotherBart]

There are many, probably too many, fifty year old cast iron stoves burning without cracks in them.

Cast or soapstone you replace the cracked part. Steel, you get it welded or toss the stove. I tossed my steel stove when it busted a weld. It was 21 years old and owed me nothing. The cast Jotul that got dropped, I just replaced the panel.

 

[mellow]

Now that stove and 5.5" liner sit out in the woods talking about the good ol days.

 

[Doc21]

Thanks for taking the time to post the pic, Webby. Again, I appreciate the info you've shared and hope you didn't take offense to my questions. Illogical behavior I view with suspicion. Passion, I admire and enjoy. I wish you and yours and happy and warm holiday season. I'll keep an eye out for cracking issues. I sure hope to avoid the issue as the Cod has been great so far.

Jon

 

[webbie]

I can't believe that more companies aren't spending time on this board. In this day, folks come to the internet for research and this site is the leader in stove information. Perhaps there are more spies than we think.

This is inside baseball, but in general I admire the fact that many of my clients as well as most stove makers stay outside of (and above) the fray. In the long run it's tough for them to "win" by getting personally involved.

Lots of reasons for that - one being that a certain (large) percentage of folks who show up on internet forums are the ones with complaints....so it's skewed in the first place. Also, it's much better to allow "civilians" such as our experienced members to help people with general problems than to have official factory reps, employees, etc. stepping in.

The majority of (wood) stove problems are probably in the realm of chimneys, wood and operator anyway...

No doubt you and others are correct that hearth.com creates vast amounts of sales. I doubt we discourage many except for some of the old non-airtight's or unproven models. We may suggest that something is too big or too small or not suited, etc...

Back when we had the "insider" hearth email list of dealers and other insiders, some of the participants would forward the messages to all the kingpins of the industry.....they were "read-only" and many of the dealers on the list became scared to even post anything. Some were yelled at by their reps. You can't win, but we try.

 

[Shmudda]

So if I owned a liberty that cracked, I could just weld it up quick, no? What are the options on an out of warranty cast stove?

The liberty is not a cast stove it is a plate fabricated stove. The cracks are not on the main body, they are on the heating chambers within the stove. It is cracked at the welded joints of the interior heating chambers in the heat affected areas of the welds. I would expect this if the welds are not properly prepped prior to welding, such as proper preheating of the material to controlled cooling after the welding is completed. Couple this with the thin gauge material and you have cracks and internal stress's within the material just waiting to jump out!

I have not replaced any of the heating chambers within the stove, just the steel members holding the brick and bypass damper.

Just so you understand....you can reweld until the cows come home, it will keep cracking in the heat affected area of the weld every time. Once cracked, it will continue to grow and crack. The material is annealed and has no strength left due to the many heating and cooling cycles it has gone thru over the years.

Craig

 

[aansorge]

The heating chambers of the stove? Does this mean the inside panels? So it isn't 1/4 inch steel there?

 

[Highbeam]

The heating chambers of the stove? Does this mean the inside panels? So it isn't 1/4 inch steel there?

Very little of any stove is 1/4" thick. Sometimes the top plate.

 

[BrotherBart]

Most steel stoves these days are 3/16" stove body with 1/4" or 5/16" top plates. Usually 1/4" if it doesn't have a step top bend in the top plate. 5/16" on the flat tops. CAD design has let them do things like strengthen thinner top plates with step bends and the firebox walls with the secondary and primary air manifolds.

The days of my old beloved 3/8" top plate and 1/4" stove body are history.