Gasket info for a 1980 Frontier wood stove

[stevec77]

Hello fellas, I've been away from this forum awhile and away from the cabin too for the holidays and some health issues. Back here trying to finish up repairs. I was burning through too much firewood when it dawned on me that I had not checked the door seal gaskets on my 1980 Frontier wood stove. I've always used a white colored, 3/4" wide, flat-braided gasket material that I installed in the channel on each of the two doors and in the channel around the stove's door opening. I asked my wife to purchase some gasket and she shows up with a round rope like black and grey colored gasket. Which one is correct for this stove flat or round?

Thank you.

 

[snowleopard]

Can't answer that question, but since I just took my course in Elementary Gaskets 101 (the hands-on version), I can tell you what I learned. The stuff that I think you're describing is designed to be installed either stretched out or bunched up. I think the general idea is to bunch it up as much as you can and still get the door closed w/o too much effort.

How much is `too much'? There's the art. I think from my own experience, the answer is `a little more than you might be comfortable with'. The knife-edge configuration that mates up with the gasket packs it over the course of a few days, so it's going to see tight at first. I wanted it lose enough that I didn't feel like I was levering the handle to force it shut, but didn't get that until the day after installation. I've also been told that for my stove, a manufacturer-designed gasket kit is preferable so there's no ambiguity about how-tight-is-too-tight, but that might be hard to get.

The other thing that I saw here that may be useful is that the use of a high-temp silicone rather than stove cement is a lot easier to get out the next time you do the job.

 

[thechimneysweep]

Hi Steve,

The 1980 vintage Frontier models didn't have any door gasket at all! The two knife edges that defined the "channel" on the doors and the two similar edges on the stove were staggered so when the doors were closed, you had edge-space-edge-space-edge-space-edge, with all four edges nearly touching the plates. When new, this design made a fairly effective door seal.

Over time, however, expansion/contraction, wear and warpage would combine to loosen the fit, allowing more air to leak in than intended in the original design. We found that an application of flat gasket in one "channel" or the other was an effective fix, so long as we could still get the doors closed.

Evidently, your doors have loosened up enough over 30+ years to accomodate flat gaskets in both channels, but it is doubtful you'll be able to make round gasket work and still get the doors to close all the way. Try new flat gasket in the stove channel, and add it to the door channels if you don't get a good seal.

 

[stevec77]

The other thing that I saw here that may be useful is that the use of a high-temp silicone rather than stove cement is a lot easier to get out the next time you do the job.

Thanks Snowleopard, I'll look into bunching the insulation and I did use Rutland's high temp silicone as per the advice of this forum and it is much much easier to apply and work with than cement. If I do have to take off the flat length that I applied to my doors then at least it won't be an "all day affair."

 

[stevec77]

[quote author="thechimneysweep" date="1295905435"]Hi Steve,

The 1980 vintage Frontier models didn't have any door gasket at all! The two knife edges that defined the "channel" on the doors and the two similar edges on the stove were staggered so when the doors were closed. Evidently, your doors have loosened up enough over 30+ years to accommodate flat gaskets.

Thanks, Tom. You know, I wondered if it ever had a gasket because on close inspection you can observe how those channels align but it seemed too good to be true. Well, it is now anyway because it does leak air terribly. Wanting to see if closing the doors snuggly mad a difference, I leaned a large patio block against the doors to hold them tightly shut and man what a difference that made. When I put the second seal on the open face of the stove itself, I hope that that will recover some of the original air tight performance.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

Thanks, Tom. You know, I wondered if it ever had a gasket because on close inspection you can observe how those channels align but it seemed too good to be true. Well, it is now anyway because it does leak air terribly. Wanting to see if closing the doors snuggly mad a difference, I leaned a large patio block against the doors to hold them tightly shut and man what a difference that made. When I put the second seal on the open face of the stove itself, I hope that that will recover some of the original air tight performance.

was never designed to be "air tight" and will not improve efficiency to make it so...

 

[stevec77]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for weighing in. Is it not possible that the original tolerances that the door was designed with could deteriorate after 39 years use, in your opinion? Leaning the block against the doors sure seems to improve the seal, slow the rate of burn such that a load of wood simmers all night and bursts into nice heat in the morning when I crack the air openings a bit. Before this I'd burn through two boxes of wood in 15 hours, now it one every 15 hours.