Hearthstone III - Pics of "New" Stove

[sesro1978]

Hi-

Braving a snow storm I went up to northern VT on Friday evening to pick up the "new" Hearthstone III wood stove that will, at some point, grace my fireplace. I took a couple pictures of the stove and was hoping someone out there could tell me a bit more about the condition. To my 'uneducated' eyes it looks to be in very good condition and my plan is to use it next season - this will give me the summer to get it cleaned up and take out the pellet stove and put this in its place.

Specifically if anyone could tell me more about the what-looks-to-be decayed piece on the top off the inside that would be great. I suspect this is a secondary burn apparatus of some type, but I can't really seem to locate it in the manual.

Also, I stupidly removed the glass for cleaning without first photographing how the gasket was attached, which of course, fell out. So if anyone has one of these stoves and can take a picture of the inside of the door and send it to me, that would be great!

The guy I got it from says he just noticed this year that the piece had fallen apart (or at least it looks to be), but that it's probably been like this for a while and he never noticed any issues with the burn or heat and the stove was used until last year.

Thanks!

 

[Motor7]

That is the steel baffle which has burned completely through...probably an over fire or flue fire. It is part "V" in the parts list:
http://www.hearthstoneparts.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=H-III

You will have to search around an maybe you can find a new old stock one. If not, you will have to make one or have it made. In it's present condition, the stove cannot perform to it's max efficiency.

 

[sesro1978]

Thanks for that. I was kind of wondering if it was part W or V - either way a baffle. I'll search around.

In case that doesn't turn anything up, how would I go about getting one made? Wouldn't I need the specs from the original baffle?

 

[Motor7]

Yes, remove the baffle, and make a close inspection of everything else in there especially the damper(U) and heat shields(X,Y&Z). My baffle looked like this(look familiar?):

Pull out all the parts that are damaged...here were mine(baffle, damper & secondary burn tube):

But, I was lucky that mine was still a stock item. Yours is warped from the excessive heat, so you will have to take measurements from the old baffle and then also from the opening it fits into. If you can weld you can make one yourself, if not make up one out of cardboard and test fit it into the stove. Once you are happy with the fit, take it to a welder and have one made.

Option two is to look around for used stoves that are being parted out. You might be able to find what you need, but you will have to look long and hard. It took me three years to find the bimetallic coil for mine which controls the air at the primary. Turns out, a member here(Defiant) had a parts stove and my search was over.

When you get it all apart, post up what you find(embed your pictures...it's easier on us lazy readers) and then you will know what is on your scrounge list. I never owned a III before, but did have a Heritage which was a later larger model & it was a good stove.

Post a picture of the inside of the door. Maybe it is similar to my H1 glass gasket set up.

 

[sesro1978]

Oh yea, that looks all too familiar. I spent the morning pulling the damaged baffle out - actually basically fell out after I pulled the first bolt. As a bonus, I managed to shear one of the bolts off in the stove, so I'll get to have fun drilling that out at some point. The top damper seems to be fully functional

I sent a preliminary email to a welder/fabricator in the area and he said he'd take a look at the baffle once I have it out. Great suggestion about making a cardboard mock-up! Hadn't even thought about that.

The damaged part turns out to be part W in the exploded view of the stove - so not the top baffle, but some type of secondary top baffle called a horizontal baffle. Anyone know what this does? I noticed when I pulled it out that some very thin gasket material fell out which rested between where the top and back of the baffle rested against the top and back of the stove...hopefully this gasket material is still made in some form.

I'll get some pictures up of my morning's work later this evening. Thanks!

 

[sesro1978]

Ok, so here we go - the pictures...

So this is the horizontal baffle for the Hearthstone III (obviously has seen better days). That curve does seem to follow a curve in the top baffle, so I'll need to mimic that in my fabricated piece:

Looking from the top, down:

Here's the gasket that rests between this baffle and the top of the stove and the back of the stove:

And here the pictures of the door, sans glass. You're looking at the inside of the door and the retaining ring. As mentioned above, I was an idiot and didn't take a picture of the door fully assembled before I started pulling it apart. There are 2 panes of glass though - in 'inner' and 'outer' - which I thought was interesting:

And another (notice the glass behind the door...yep, that's glass not slate tile...it's that dirty):

Thanks!

 

[sesro1978]

The guy that I'm talking to about fabricating this piece says 2 things:

1) The cost will be between $250 - $300. Does that seem fair?

2) That he thinks the part is probably cast iron (I don't disagree) and that he could make one out of steel, but that it will probably react differently to the heat than the original. Would steel be an OK material for this job?

Thanks,
Seth

 

[Motor7]

$250-300? ...negative....that is way too much. A good welder should be able to do that piece for half that......<$150. He is right about the cast vs steel, and the steel will not last as long as cast. but it is your only option unless you find a used one.... so steel it is.

I'll shoot a pick of the inside of my door glass, but I think my set up is different. Mine are not double pane.

 

[sesro1978]

Thanks for the reply - I thought it sounded a bit steep. I'll get a couple more estimates and in the meantime, I'll keep my eyes peeled for a used one.

I'd love to see what the inside of your door looks like, so when you get a chance, throw those pics up. I thought the double pane was maybe a mistake or perhaps where the previous owner had broken a single pane and replaced with double. However according to the manual, they were made this way; a piece of high-temp glass on the 'inside' (facing the fire) and a piece of lower, high-temp glass on the 'outside' (facing the room).

 

[fbelec]

my h2 has the two glass door. i was told the inside was ceramic and the outside was high temp glass. my inside piece is crazed. also i had my baffle made at a welding shop. he made it from 1/4 inch boiler plate and it cost me $130.00 but that was a few years ago. at that time it saved me 30 dollars on the piece plus shipping.

 

[sesro1978]

Good info. Thanks! Sounds like the door assembly on the H3 and the H2 are similar, but maybe not the same. If you get a chance, can you post a picture of the inside of your door? I'd like to see how the gaskets interact with the 2-pieces of glass.