I purchased my stove used and as always I had to learn how the stove is supposed to be set up and what had or had not been tinkered with and then start tinkering myself. I realized from looking at a new stove on the floor that each side had a rope gasket next to the wall so somewhat seal the back plate and mine only had one on the left side causing ash to pile up on the right side back plate as it was being sucked through bypassing the exchange tubes. I replaced both sides and started thinking about the path behind the plate in the middle. I stuffed one from the bottom on the left side of the middle plate and run it up and laid it across the top of the fill tube. I did it thinking that the exhaust couldn't just go down the behind the plates and shoot straight across and out the flue and would force more heat to stay up around the tubes. The thermometer I had only had marks to 200 but the needle can travel well beyond that. I noticed a large difference in exhange tube heat on the gauge and it seems to be quite a bit hotter. I burned over 10 bags last year with the extra gasket in place and noticed no measurable difference in accumulation of ash behind the plates either way.
Has anyone else tried this?
Has anyone else tried this?