Correct placement of baffle and baffle support Hearthstone Mansfield

[smileti]

Well here it is a year later and I have more baffling Mansfield baffle questions.

Last year the baffle cracked and I cemented it back together and got through the season. A month or so ago I had my chimney sweep remove the broken baffle and install a new baffle board. I wasn't able to watch the operation and didn't think much about it until yesterday when I found a cotter pin in the dust under the stove. That prompted me to stick my head in the stove and check things out.

The new baffle board seems to be correctly placed on top of the secondary air tubes but I'm not sure the baffle support is correctly positioned. At the moment it's on top of the baffle board (holding it down) which seems odd since it's a "support." The baffle support can be slid forwards and back so I don't know whether there's an optimal position for it - if I slide it all the way forward, and center the baffle board from front to back, there's air space between both the most rearward and forward air tubes - in other words the baffle board is smaller than the rectangle defined by the secondary manifold. Is that correct? (Oh, and I have no idea where the cotter pin I found on the hearth came from as there's still one in the third air tube.)

I have a fire going now and while the more rearward air tubes seem to be functioning, the most forward doesn't - the flames seem to be bypassing it, heading toward the door and then up through the airspace between the baffle support and the most forward air tube. So should I leave the baffle support pulled all the way forward (toward the door), and then pull the baffle as far forward as possible too, leaving the space in the back? And does the baffle sit on top of the baffle support or does the baffle support sit on top of the baffle?

Hearthstone's directions for baffle replacement aren't the best - no graphics - and the exploded parts view doesn't help either.

As always, thanks for any help you can muster.

 

[shawneyboy]

Now you have me wondering... I mean it is not unusual for the rear to be flaming and the front not for me..... But I think this is normal, the front gasses are swept down and back by the airwash ????

 

[joshlaugh]

I have the smaller Heritage and I have only seen my rear secondaries burning not the front ones. Not sure if that helps you out.

 

[NH_Wood]

Now you have me wondering... I mean it is not unusual for the rear to be flaming and the front not for me..... But I think this is normal, the front gasses are swept down and back by the airwash ????

Funny - I usually have all secondaries going, but the rear is usually the most finicky to get firing (from my limited observations so far).
Cheers!

 

[smileti]

Thanks for the replies - in your Mansfields, is the baffle support pulled all the way towards the front, and is the baffle on top of it, or is it on top of the baffle?

 

[Highbeam]

On the heritage the SS front baffle support bracket thingy sits under the baffle as you suspect. I would assume that your guy has it wrong. You'll need to set it right.

I have no troubles getting all three tubes to spew fire and glow red.

 

[smileti]

Thanks. I just emailed Jim Casavant (tech support at Hearthstone) and asked him about the optimal placement of the baffle board and the baffle support and will post his reply. I'm sure you're correct and the board goes on top of the support but I still don't know how to position either front to back (slide them both forward, push both back, or split the difference). The placement sure seems to have a real effect on the way the stove performs so it's a mystery to me why Hearthstone doesn't include this information in the replacement instructions - just a couple of line drawings would clear everything up.

I find the whole "baffle board" concept to be, well, baffling. It doesn't make any sense to me to have a delicate and difficult to replace part like the baffle board in a great big workhorse of a stove like the Mansfield. Unless of course it's required by some ill-conceived and misguided government regulation that the Woodstove Czar came up with for job justification. Then it makes all the sense in our Big Government world.

Anyone know what happens if you run the stove without the baffle board? Or if you replace it with a more robust piece of insulating material?