Exhaust Leak

[planetmf]

I've waited until the weather warmed up, but now I've broken my Quadra Fire Mt. Vernon stove down to attempt to fix it. I knew I had an exhaust leak of some sort. It turns out that is not the exhaust blower gasket, but the housing itself. It has one or two seams where it fits together and that is where it is leaking. It is sort of round and is leaking in more than one place around it. My question is what can I use to seal it back up? It looks like it's almost got some sort of tape all around it, is that possible? It is sticky/soft like caulk, but it seems to be fairly uniform in width around it's circumference. If it was tape of some sort I wonder if it is available at a stove dealer. Tape would be easier as I don't really want to take the whole housing out of the stove. It was hard enough to get into it this far as the stove sits in a corner and it's just lil ol' me working on it and I didn't want to pull it out. I re-caulked the pipes and all recently too, as shot in the dark to fix the smokey smell on start up and don't want to tear that apart either. I realize it's gotta be pretty high temp stuff for this application and was wondering if anyone else has had to reseal their housing and what they use when they put the stoves together. Thanks in Advance!

 

[Shane]

They use RTV silicone to seal many parts. Otherwise they're usually lytherm gaskets between the housing and transition duct and the motor and housing.

 

[planetmf]

Yes, I can see the red RTV silicone on many of the joints there, such as where the housing meets the duct. The blower gasket itself (where it sits in the housing) I believe is teh lytherm that you speak of. This seam I'm talking about appears to have been sealed with a pliable, black substance, maybe it was just the red RTV that turned black, but I don't think so. I just want to be sure I use the correct material and get a good seal. Thanks for your fast reply.

 

[begreen]

Does this look like a factory job? Can you post a picture of the taped joint?

Is this an older Mt. Vernon or the new model AE?

 

[planetmf]

Yeah, it's factory, brought the stove home in the box back in 2005. I can't post today, if at all, the housing is in the stove where I was hoping to leave it. I don't want to break all of the joints because I think I can seal it up right where it is. It's an older Mt. Vernon. It may not be tape, but it certainly seems like it, it peels off like tape and seems to have a uniform width to it. I could be entirely wrong though. It is rubbery like silicone on the exterior surface, but maybe more paper like underneath. And where it is blown away it kinda resembles old tape that isn't sticking anymore.

 

[Shane]

Could just be black RTV.

 

[stoveguy13]

where on the housing is it leaking? the black motor head or behind it on the metal part?

 

[planetmf]

Thanks for the reply. I've decided it's black sealant of some sort, so I went to True Value and bought a tube of stove sealant (800 degree, Rutland brand). But of course I got it home and opened it so I can fix the stove and put it back together and the stuff is like gum, I suspect I got a bad tube and will be returning it. It's leaking behind the motor, the metal housing behind it that the blower motor fits into, pretty much leaking around the circumference. Thanks for replying.

 

[jtp10181]

If it looks like a factory defect in the part itself you could probably get a new one from a dealer under warranty. If its a joint that was supposed to be sealed but they missed it on the assembly line then Quad would probably just have someone come caulk it with silicone. If it just needs the silicone that black or red high temp stuff from the hardware store will do just fine.

I also noticed it seems they are using some sort of taped caulk on the new AE units. Makes nice clean seals on stuff.