Gasket Replacement Issues

[jch76]

We have a Quadra Fire Bodega Bay insert. The door gasket was starting to fray and compress around the lower right corner of the door so I figured it was time for a new gasket. I picked one up yesterday and got some very basic instructions from the store owner. He made it sound like a simple job.

I replaced the gasket and now the seal is worse. I first removed the gasket and used a flathead screwdriver and a wire brush to remove as much of the red silicone from the groove as I could. Then I cleaned out the debris. I would put about 6" of silicone in the channel and then press the gasket into it. Another 6" and so on until I was done. I tried to keep the gasket about the same size so that it wasn't bunched up or stretched out.

The first fire took a long time to get going and seemed to be about the same as before I changed the gasket. I tried the dollar bill test and on about 75% of the door, the dollar bill slides out relatively easily.

Should I rip the gasket off and put some more silicone under it to try to get it to seal or should I scrap this gasket and try with another? Also, can you give me a detailed step by step procedure for changing the gasket?

It's been about 3 weeks since we had a good fire so any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Corie]

Wrong gasket.


Did the dealer specifically sell you the stuff for the Bodega Bay or did he just give you regular old 1/2" gasket?


If you replaced it with 1/2" high density gasket, the door should seal perfectly again.

 

[jch76]

Corie

It could have been the wrong gasket. They took it off some other stove and gave it to me. I had ordered it 2 weeks before and finally stopped in to see what the timeframe would be. My assumption is that he forgot to order it. So I have no idea what type of stove it was taken out of. He measured it at 5/8" thick, but it's a carbon braid so you can scrunch it to 1" of pull it to 0.25". He didn't charge me very much for it, so maybe I need to order one to make sure it is the right thing.

 

[Corie]

Definitely not the right density. You can hardly scrunch the high density stuff at all. It has almost no play to it. Sounds like you got a medium or low density piece.

Take your owner's manual to the dealer and show him or her exactly what you need. Your method sounds fine though, you didn't do anything wrong, as far as I can tell.

 

[jtp10181]

Sounds like you installed it right, but maybe have the wrong gasket as Corie said. Also on that unit the pin the door latches on can be adjusted from behind the surround panel I think. Should be two set screws to tighten the door up some if you need to.

 

[Brian VT]

I'm replacing some gaskets on my VC Resolute Acclaim. I looked up the sizes in the manual and bought them (Rutland brand, black) at a local hardware store.
Tonight I found this thread.
I didn't know there were different densities. My stores only have one density and the manual doesn't specify.
Anyway, these are limp enough in density that they don't "stand up" and they overlay the sides of the channels. They seem to seal well like that but I'm wondering if I should have ordered "the kit" instead since the ones I dug out were certainly denser. I just assumed they had been compressed and fired.
What do you think ? Tear 'em out and replace with VC brand (if I can get them) before the real cold gets here ?

Another thing. It says the glass has a coating on the fire side and to install it with the markings facing out.
There are no marks on my glass so I can assume both sides are coated ?