Gasket for door?

[HunterDan]

i know these stoves didn't come with a gasket, but I'm a little worried.

Last night, had my grandma bear running, temp on flue about 18" above stove was running a steady 275 or so. I opened the door and put 3 more pieces in for overnight. These pieces caught on good, to good, and the flue temp quickly jumped to 475-500 and rising. I spun the draft caps shut (were only open 3/4-1 turn) and watched the gauge. The temp steadied at 500 and very slowly started to drop down. With the draft caps closed tight, I could still hear air sucking in to feed the fire (around the door I guess). The temp dropped to around 300 and stayed there the rest of the night until the wood was gone. (I got up every so often to check on it)


That makes me Nervous, because if I need to shut the oxygen down to kill a run away fire, it doesn't seem like I will be able to?

Should I add a gasket to the door to seal it tight? Or just try to keep things under control better?

 

[coaly]

I'll assume you don't have a glass door or the early first door seal with the round rod.
Wire wheel the back of door clean and wire wheel the channel iron. Make sure the hinge pins are not loose and the right door handle should be the same angle as the left when closed and latched. Also make sure the intake damper bolts are straight so the draft cap closes against the stove front flat on the door.
Do you have a flue damper installed? Do you normally need to close it slightly to reduce too much draft? It should have one (for open door burning with screen in place) and it can be used as an "Emergency Brake" to slow draft if needed. The flue damper controls velocity up the stack, which slows air coming in as well. Too much draw as it gets colder will let it run away as you described. A baffle plate inside takes those temperature spikes out making it much more controllable.

 

[HunterDan]

Yes I do have a damper just above the stove that I did close almost all the way when that happened.

The handle that moves is a bit further down than the not moving one, and thinking about that now, I know I did not have it pushed down as hard as I could, so that may be why air was still getting in, but here's the pics

 

[coaly]

You need to heat the bend of the latch rod on the inside and make it closer to a 90* bend. There is a wedge at the top, right inside that the latch rod pulls the door tight against. The latch rod has straightened and is not pulling door shut tight. The latch rod will bend cold with a large adjustable wrench or pipe on it, but it will relax back again when heated if you bend it cold. A propane torch is enough to get it as hot as you can in one spot to easily bend it. You don't have to put much pressure on it to seal when adjusted properly.
You have a Grandma III that needs a baffle too.

Before and after pics;