Buck 91 cracks in metal - UPDATE

[tebenhoh]

Greetings all!
Here is our stove update as promised; I’ve started a new thread in order to keep the photos separated, but admins feel free to combine this with the original thread if that is preferable.
I’ve pulled the cat and housing, and to me it looks like the two rear corners are the worst offenders (red arrows). The front two, nearest the door (green arrows) look about the same. There is a bolt in each corner, as well as one in the middle of each side, and none of the side bolts have cracks forming that I can see. The warpage across the rear looks the same to me also.
Since the stove performed great last season, the cat is in great shape (video view through it by an outdoor window if I can post it), and our flue passed a professional inspection we plan to use it again this year as is. I did order an additional cat housing gasket since there are plenty of threads on the bolts, and space to sandwich another.
As always, I appreciate and respect any comments, suggestions, or opinions.

 

[tebenhoh]

Original post/thread here:

Buck 91 cracks in metal!?

Newbie here. [Wave] Buck 91 insert was in a home we purchased 2yrs ago, and we’ve used it the past 2 seasons. This forum taught us everything we thought we needed to know about using and maintaining a catalyst wood stove - never had one or used one before we bought the house. Seriously, this...

www.hearth.com

 

[begreen]

Any response from the dealer or Buck on this?

 

[tebenhoh]

The response from Buck, after I emailed the photos last year when we found the cracks, was “maybe two seasons”.
The first dealer we contacted, for a chimney sweep recommendation when we first bought the house, gave us the guy who supposedly inspected everything - but somehow failed to tell us, or didn’t know, the catalyst was missing.
The second dealer contacted, where we purchased the catalyst and gaskets last year, said “it didn’t look too bad”.

 

[Woody Stover]

Good to hear that the stove is doing the job for you! 😀
I'd agree that it doesn't look all that bad. On a cold start, you obviously need a fairly lively fire to get the stove up to temp for a cat light-off. But as long as you don't have a raging inferno going in there, I don' think that the top of the box is subjected to excessive heat, and I think those cracks may remain as they are, or only slowly get bigger.
When I ran the 91 at my MIL's house, I really didn't experiment too much...just loaded, lit off and left every 12 hrs. or so.
I'm wondering if experimenting with the balance of 'shotgun air' (left slider, I believe) vs. right slider (air wash and rear roof channel?) could possibly keep the top from getting as hot, but I'm probably overthinking as usual, and the difference may not be much at all.
Another thing that occurred to me (that might actually be useful,)😆 was that if the gap between the cat housing and where it seats can't be sealed to your satisfaction due to warping, maybe put small sections of interam gasket under the stock 'fiberglass-type' gasket, which is pretty thin, and the interam would expand and seal the worst gaps better...

 

[tebenhoh]

Woody; I appreciate your input, thank you! I only use the shotgun air on cold startups, and occasionally to burn down a coal bed. I’m also confident I haven’t over fired the stove-SWMBO lived through a house fire, we are more than careful. When I reinstalled the cat after inspection this year, I added another cat housing gasket just in case; the cracks actually extend out from where the cat housing mounts. I could add interam instead of an extra cat housing gasket I suppose. I guess to really know if the cracks are moving or growing I’d have to measure them somehow. We’re heating about 2500 sq ft, with an upstairs, to 70-73deg with just the stove and outside overnight temps in the teens Fahrenheit this weekend,.. all seems well so far!

 

[Woody Stover]

We’re heating about 2500 sq ft, with an upstairs, to 70-73deg with just the stove and outside overnight temps in the teens Fahrenheit this weekend,.. all seems well so far!

Yep, it's been good stove-testing weather, with winter temps arriving for us in the middle of fall! I wasn't quite ready for that! 🥶