adjust/unjam bypass damper on Hearthstone III

[kidlynnhaven]

Hello everyone,
I have been very happily heating my kitchen for the past three Rhode Island winters with an old Hearthstone III (manual). Just a few days ago the in/out action of the bypass damper has become very, very difficult to move, especially toward the damper open (knob pushed in) side. Something is binding in there pretty bad. Any recommendations on trying to access that area and figure out what is binding? Am I able to take the top off the stove without flipping it upside down or something? Or can I open it up from the inside of the fire box? I identified the four long, threaded vertical rods inside the corners of the stove, started taking one of the nuts off, and then got scared and fled to the internet 😬 Thanks in advance for any pointers. I have never taken a stove apart before.

 

[begreen]

It sounds like the damper may have warped. Inspect carefully and be sure you can get parts if replacement is needed.

Have you looked at this thread? It's for an HII but it will give you a sense of the process. If you do undertake this, get some Hearthstone stove cement for the reassembly.

Hearthstone II rebuild

Hi all, My name is Kevin. I'm new to this site. I have been restoring old Hearthstone stoves for a while, and decided it was time to document a few. I have worked at Hearthstone for a number of years, that's how I gained the knowledge for these beautiful stoves. This is a 1987 Hearthstone II...

www.hearth.com

 

[Cinsin]

Hi Kidlynnhaven,
I see you have a Hearthstone III. We recently purchased one and are in the process of trying to refurbish it. Our problem is that we cannot get any pictures of what the horizontal baffle (part W) actually looks like IN a real stove and does it cover the rectangular opening space on part V. We didn't realize that in the stove we purchased that it was totally gone. We did see the manual but do not know the actual specs or what it looks like in a stove. We talked to our local fireplace store and they contacted Hearthstone but they do not have any specs.

I would appreciate any pictures of the inside of your stove that you would share so we can at least see how this baffle looks in the stove.

I've attached pics of our stove and the parts list highlighting the part we are looking to fabricate.

Thank you for your time

 

[begreen]

Kevlar_vw any thoughts?