SCAN 60/61 OWNERS. SKAMOL PIN CRACK ISSUE.

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REDTAIL

New Member
Jan 26, 2012
47
N. CA
The SCAN 60/61 woodstoves have a hazardous design flaw. I've had my SCAN 60 for about 2 years now
and I've had to replace Skamol pieces (see attachment) #6, #8, and #10 twice. I know there are at least 2 other
SCAN owners that have had the exact same problem. The #6 and #8 triangular side pieces support the weight of the
#10 (damper) piece via small metal pins which plug into holes drilled into #6 & #8. These tend to crack right where the
pins are and in my case, have dropped the top damper twice. Also the dampler (#10) has slots that accept the pins on
each side, which tend to blow out and no longer hold the pins. This is a real safety hazard.

The CPSC is looking into this. I'm wondering if there are any other folks out there that have had the same problem. If so,
the CPSC would probably like to hear from you.
 

Attachments

  • SCAN_60_SKAMOL_BAFFLES.jpg
    SCAN_60_SKAMOL_BAFFLES.jpg
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Gunks said:
This is the 2nd season we use our Scan 60. No crack at the Skamol pin so far.

Hi Gunks,

Keep an eye on them (#6 & #8). I may be burning more than you folks. I burn all day from November thru April and half-days
many times before and after that. I just got through fabricating (just now) #6 & 8 panels out of VIP-900 (High-Density Skamol), so we'll see
how it holds up. I'll fire it up tomorrow morning... :)

If you get pin-cracks, you can temporarily put a couple of small bricks on each side (on top) of the panel behind the air tube and prop
the top panel up with those to take the load off of the top panel and the pins.
 
I had this happen to me again (3 times now). So, this time I took some Meeco gasket cement and I glued
it back together. We'll see how it wears after I start burning this season. It's holding together well, initially...:confused:

I heard back from the manufacturer (Krog Iversen); They're denying that it's a
problem. Their Northern CA factory rep. that I was in communication with has suddenly stopped
all communication and cancelled the free Skamol kit he said he was going to send out to my
home. This, after they found out that I reported the problem to the CPSC...

I won't be buying any more SCAN (Krog Iversen) products.
 
We have had a Scan 60 for a couple years and used it moderately, just for atmosphere and supplementary heat. During a routine ash cleaning today I noticed the left side panel (5) and both back panels are cracked. A search brought me here and apparently this is normal for a Scan 60. I will check with my dealer and see what I can work out.





I had this happen to me again (3 times now). So, this time I took some Meeco gasket cement and I glued
it back together. We'll see how it wears after I start burning this season. It's holding together well, initially...:confused:

I heard back from the manufacturer (Krog Iversen); They're denying that it's a
problem. Their Northern CA factory rep. that I was in communication with has suddenly stopped
all communication and cancelled the free Skamol kit he said he was going to send out to my
home. This, after they found out that I reported the problem to the CPSC...

I won't be buying any more SCAN (Krog Iversen) products.
 
Is #5 cracked at the pin hole? It is normal, over time to get vertical cracks in the back panels and
even in the side panels. Wood is constantly bumping into these panels and over time you will get some
hairline cracks. These are not really a safety issue or anything urgent to worry about. However, I prefer
to patch them up. Cracked pin holes, on the other hand, are a safety issue, as they provide the sole support for 2 horizontal baffle-plate/damper panels.

For patching and glueing, "Meeco gasket cement" is great, but it's black and it will show up in a hairline crack on a vertical panel.

There's another product, which is difficult to find, called "Techno-adhesive"; you can read about it here: http://neuex.com/?page_id=24 and http://neuex.com/wp-content/themes/Neuex/assets/Thermax-Techno-Adhesive-VL-1100.pdf
it's buff colored and is made for patching and glueing vermiculite panels. Currently, I'm experimenting with a suggestion that
Jim at neuex made. Mix Coloidal Silica with Vermiculite dust. This is supposed to make an excellent Skamol/Vermiculite patching compound. This is basically the same thing as "Skamolex Glue" that the Skamol corporation sells.
 
I have another thought, or a number of them, about our Scan 60. Until stumbling on this forum yesterday I have made some assumptions about this stove that may not be accurate.

The draft has never been great or even moderately acceptable. It is installed in out lower level family room with about 20 feet of 6" insulated SS pipe with cap. The insulated pipe exits the top of the stove for 2.5 feet, 90 degree turn through the wall for another 3 feet to the vertical stack. All stove pipe is insulated. We burn hardwood that has been stacked for a couple of years in Northern Michigan.

After badly smoking the room a few times, I have developed a technique that has worked well but seems like it should be unnecessary. I will fully load the fire box with wood along with one 1" x 2" wax fire starter block near the bottom trapped between pieces. After burning a propane torch above the shelf for a few minutes to heat the stack I can light the block and mostly close the door. A few minutes later the door is closed and after the fire has esablished itself I can slide the air intake lever all the way over and then back to 1/2-3/4 closed. Any attempt to open the door before all flames are gone and only glowing coals are left will result in smoke in the house.

I also have Jotul branded a stack thermometer on the stove top and it never gets above 300F. Other posts have mentioned much higher heat and I do wonder.

Any thoughts are appreciated.





Is #5 cracked at the pin hole? It is normal, over time to get vertical cracks in the back panels and
even in the side panels. Wood is constantly bumping into these panels and over time you will get some
hairline cracks. These are not really a safety issue or anything urgent to worry about. However, I prefer
to patch them up. Cracked pin holes, on the other hand, are a safety issue, as they provide the sole support for 2 horizontal baffle-plate/damper panels.

For patching and glueing, "Meeco gasket cement" is great, but it's black and it will show up in a hairline crack on a vertical panel.

There's another product, which is difficult to find, called "Techno-adhesive"; you can read about it here: http://neuex.com/?page_id=24 and http://neuex.com/wp-content/themes/Neuex/assets/Thermax-Techno-Adhesive-VL-1100.pdf
it's buff colored and is made for patching and glueing vermiculite panels. Currently, I'm experimenting with a suggestion that
Jim at neuex made. Mix Coloidal Silica with Vermiculite dust. This is supposed to make an excellent Skamol/Vermiculite patching compound. This is basically the same thing as "Skamolex Glue" that the Skamol corporation sells.
 
If I had your stove with the same lack of support from the mfgr, I would consider duplicating the
firebricks with cracked pin holes in plate steel. Yea it would cost some money to hire
a metal shop to cut them out but I am pretty sure it would be a forever repair.
BTW it has been about two years from the last report.... REDTAIL, how has it been working
for the last 2 years ?
 
If I had your stove with the same lack of support from the mfgr, I would consider duplicating the
firebricks with cracked pin holes in plate steel. Yea it would cost some money to hire
a metal shop to cut them out but I am pretty sure it would be a forever repair.
BTW it has been about two years from the last report.... REDTAIL, how has it been working
for the last 2 years ?
No the steel will most likely warp And absolutely will not give the proper insulation value you would be much better off casting a refractory panel or using some other insulating or fire brick material. I also doubt plate steel would cost anywhere near what those panels do
 
@REDTAIL, I came across your post, I have the same exact ploblem with the #6 and #8 plates that hold up the top baffel. The cracked right along where the pins have been. And now I fear that they won't last for another season. I think the problem started last year, when I lost one of the pins during chimney cleaning. I went to home depot and managed to find a pin that was very close, but was slightly larger than the hole, so I had to drill a slighlty larger hole which worked fine for 1 season. This season a whole bunch of creasote came tumbling down from the chimney and caused the plates to finally give way, and I managed to jurry rig a temporary solution, by bangng the pins in so they were right up against the piece of metal there and slighlty offsetting the top baffel to allow extra airflow, the top baffel unfortunately chipped a bit in the process, but it is holding for now, hopefully will finish out this season.

The problem is I contacted scan and they said to contact Jotul north america, I contacted them for parts and they said they don't ship parts to contact dealers, I contacted 20 dealers within 200 mile radius and none of them can get scan60 parts anymore.

So my question to you is where specifiaclly did you get the replacement parts from?