VC encore defiant #0028 assistance needed

[treekiller]

been reading on here for a little over a year and you guys are the most knowledgeable and I thank you in advance.

Back story:

Bought this house a little over a year ago had a vermont castings Encore defiant model #0028. Been great or so I thought. It has heated my house as well as I would expect it to being in the basement. Side note this is my first woodstove ever, so took some experiment and reading to get it right.

back track to about a week ago i was getting puffing of smoke through the lid and was having a hard time getting it up to temp. So did some research and figured clogged cat, so i dug in and took it out. wasn't clogged, quite clean in fact. Now here's the interesting part. the honey comb was facing the access door. Is this right? I didn't think so, so I tried to flip it. SOmeone correct me if i'm wrong.

Next thing, started a fire got her buring pretty good but noticed my flu temps were higher than they were and my box temp wasn't staying as high as i would have expected it to. Did a little more investigating, foudn the flapper door (for the lack of better terms) has a gap about the size of a pencil on one side. Now my questions is. What caused this so I can prevent it. Is it warped? Best place to get a replacement?

pics:

RIght side:

Left side:

On a side note, I don't know the history of it and bought a new cat and gasket kit to rebuild. But want to make sure I get everything back in spec before I rip it all apart.

 

[defiant3]

Temporary fix is try to regasket that damper w/o removing it. Big picture is the0028's have a system of linkage that connects the damper to its handle. There's a thing called a "torsion bar" which is just a 3/8 stainless rod, and it loses its "spring " after a bit. It's held down w/a "torsion bar clip", which also wears out in time. Someone should either replace those things or even the whole upper fireback and damper assy. (easy way) and then she should snap in place like new again. That's just crazy about the cat., but I've seen it once or twice. WTF, says I .

 

[treekiller]

Thanks.

If I removed the fireback is that the best way to disconnect the linkage or should I take the upper Flu pipe off? is there access through there?

 

[defiant3]

The right thing to do is remove upper fireback and damper assy. You can get a peek at the torsion bar and clip through the flue collar, but it's not really accessable. Good luck, keep the questions coming!

 

[treekiller]

hopefully i'll get a chance to rip it out this week. I'll let you know what happens!

 

[treekiller]

Got the fire back out this past weekend, cleaned it out and saw why the door wasn't shutting all the way, The "c" clamp for the rod was broken allowing the rod to be loose for a lack of better terms. Made a new clamp and re-gasketed everything. door shuts very nicely now. Put the new cat in. I'll start a small fire tomorrow.

Just need to re-gasket the doors and the ash tray and she should be good as new! But I can do those next week. I can't wait to try it out.

 

[defiant3]

Sweet! Fire that puppy and get her a barkin'!!