Appalachian 52 BAY Wood Stove Insert

[BrotherBart]

Why?

It's an insert. Don't wanna be lifting the liner and dragging the insert out every few years to swap it out. Trust me on that one.

 

[begreen]

Have a basic steel adapter on our Jotul 602 for well over 20 years and it is still fine. I am not understanding the issue here. Is it more a question of gauge and not whether it is steel or stainless?

 

[BrotherBart]

Heck I give up. Should have used 24 gauge stove pipe instead of those expensive liners. But I am here to tell ya that the black pipe elbow I had to use to hook to the liner for that 30 in the fireplace was a year away from trash when I replaced it the next year with stainless.

 

[mellow]

Dang it. Now I have to wait until next season to see how that steel beauty does for you. I have always been curious about them and the High Valley 2500 also. LIkes me them big steel stoves.

Don't want to derail the topic to much but at first I was going to get the 2500, but it just barely fit in my FP and it was not certified for 6" pipe. I would have jumped on the 1500 but could not find one at the right price, I think it would have done fine on 6" being a 2.5 cubic ft stove but all I could get is a verbal conformation on that from Stoll.

That is how I ended up with the Appalachian, I think I have only seen 1 member on here with a High Valley and maybe 2 with Appalachians in the past.

 

[Heatsource]

Why?

code for one
if you cant do an easy visual inspection it must be stainless
do it once, do it right

 

[mellow]

This is interesting, A1stoves sells a different 6to8 connector than Appalachian makes, I question if it meets code. From my understanding an appliance connector MUST have the band around it to attach to flexible SS liners for a secure fit like the example appliance connecter pictured.

All the other increaser/reducers I have found on the market do not have the locking band and allow the flex pipe to slip inside, they are only crimped, which for rigid pipe is no problem.

Any other adapter for flex pipe will have this locking band.

I can not find a picture of the 6"to8" Otis Ring connector Appalachian makes, but from talking to them it has the locking band for flexible liners.

Why is there not more of the flexible pipe reducers available?

 

[mellow]

The stove arrived today! Yay! I will install it tonight if everything goes right, going to be cold on Friday so hopefully I can try it out then.

The Otis Ring Reducer is not what I thought it would be, it is steel not stainless, but that is OK, it is thick and heavy and will not be going anywhere anytime soon. It is just "different", have not seen something like this before, I guess that is one of those fun things testing out a stove. I will have to drill some holes into it to secure my appliance connector to it. I will also put some high temp furnace cement in between the connector and the insert.

Side Shot


Top View


Bottom View


Insert 8" exhaust


Reducer on insert

 

[Heatsource]

This is interesting, A1stoves sells a different 6to8 connector than Appalachian makes, I question if it meets code. From my understanding an appliance connector MUST have the band around it to attach to flexible SS liners for a secure fit like the example appliance connecter pictured.

\

no code requiring bands... but the heatfab 8-6 we use still requires a flex connector on top of the reducer for a clean connection

 

[mellow]

Got the XTD out last night, but cutting the flex pipe for the taller insert is a major pain with dull metal scissors, getting a pair of real cutters after mangling the pipe and a lot of cussing. Hope to finish the install this weekend.

I do have my fair share of concerns that the reducer does not attach to the top of the insert, I am being really careful with how much I cut of the flex pipe so that it will have enough force to push down on the adapter to keep it seated (in theory).

The stove looks nice, looks well built from the look over I gave it last night. Not to crazy about the door latch, just a piece of metal welded to the handle, hope it holds up.

 

[mellow]

Got the insert installed over the weekend, got a break in fire completed and some initial thoughts on the insert.

Pros:

• Thick metal construction, welds look thick and solid
• Start up air vent (see picture below, vent circled in red)
• Ash pan (see cons for ash pan problem)
• Side (bay) view windows
• Huge firebox (to me)
• Catalytic housing looks well done and hopefully easy to do maintenance on the cats
• Fan has 3 speeds (loud, louder, loudest) listed as a pro due to it really moves some air

Cons:

• Ash pan access hole leaks air, have to keep covered with ash (no gasket on controlling rod)
• Fan control has no off switch (have to pull plug while reloading the stove)
• Have to drill holes in side to install the surround, no pre-drilled holes like other stoves
• Otis Ring 8" to 6" reducer has nothing to attach it to top of stove
• Door latch

 

[mellow]

8" exhaust


Shot of the cats through exhaust


Shot of finished install

 

[mellow]

Break in fire


Don't recall having this much smoke (fan not on) with my last insert during the first low temp break in fire, it was paint curing not smoke leaking, it was coming out of the top vent and had the paint smell, went away after 2 low temp break in fires

 

[mellow]

One of the interesting things on this stove is the start up air vent, it goes straight into the firebox so you do not have to crack the door open to get the fire started, worked great for my break in fires.

 

[BrotherBart]

Great looking heater. Come up with a system for that start-up air. My little Jotul had that and it is real easy to forget to close the thing.

 

[etiger2007]

Very nice looking stove looks alot better installed than I gave it credit for sitting in the show room. Cant wait to hear how well it heats vs your old Flame.

 

[etiger2007]

By the way how big is the fire box?

 

[mellow]

Great looking heater. Come up with a system for that start-up air. My little Jotul had that and it is real easy to forget to close the thing.

Thanks for the warning, that is a concern of mine as well. I am looking to build an electronic temperature system over the summer, hopefully with a hi-temp warning buzzer. Would like to tie it into a thermocouple for the cat temperature as well.

 

[mellow]

By the way how big is the fire box?

2.8 cubic feet is listed on the specs, but it looks bigger than that. I will try to measure usable firebox space. I should have taken a picture of the firebox before the break in fire, ohh well.

 

[mellow]

I wanted to followup with a picture of the door latch, I am not crazy about it, it is not the easiest to open and shut but I am sure with time it will wear down and smooth out, which also worries me, it doesn't look easy to replace if something happens to it, I am guessing the whole handle would have to be replaced.

 

[mellow]

This is a picture of what the door latches to and the bay window. As you can see the bay window has no air wash so I am guessing it will look like it currently is, blacked out.

 

[mellow]

Waiting to hear back answers for these two issues.

Gasket is not fully sealing on the latch side of the door


The ash dump lever is leaking air into the firebox

 

[Heatsource]

with out bending the latch, or welding on a thicker latch back plate there is really nothing to adjust on the door, if it is fully latched and the gasket is still not tight it might take a re-gasket.
does it pass the dollar bill test on the top/bottom and hinge side?

I've got 3 Appalachian inserts on display, they all had hard to close doors(sloppy for sure!)
i had to take a file to the latch on all of my display models to make them smooth, also added a lil anti seize lube

as for the ashpan, it is gasketed but doesn't have any latches to keep it tight against stove, again, sloppy!
dollar bill test wont work on this door, so try a smoke check and see where the gasket is light/missing etc.

dave

 

[mellow]

Yea I did the dollar bill test and only the latch side is not sealing, before I do anything I wanted to test Appalachians customer service and see how long it takes to get an answer.

As for the ash pan the lever that actuates the ash dump door is the culprit for the air leak, the ash dumps drawer is sealing like it should but for some reason they did not put a gasket on the pull out lever.

 

[Heatsource]

Yea I did the dollar bill test and only the latch side is not sealing, before I do anything I wanted to test Appalachians customer service and see how long it takes to get an answer.

As for the ash pan the lever that actuates the ash dump door is the culprit for the air leak, the ash dumps drawer is sealing like it should but for some reason they did not put a gasket on the pull out lever.

i think you'll end up re-gasketing the door... dry fit it before glueing to be sure of a good fit this time
hopefully your dealer helps you out
i dont see any easy way to gasket the rod. its just a metal rod passing through plate steel.

 

[central_scrutinizer]

Mellow,

I tried a fix on my floor model and it worked pretty well. I am sending you two different sizes of gasket material for the door, a dense 1/2" rope and a less-dense 5/8" rope. See which one works best to fill the gap. I am also sending about 6 feet of the self-adhesive gasket shown in the pics and some high-temp silicone for the rope gasket. I hope this works well for you. If not, holler at me and we will continue to work on a fix. Thanks!