Hearthstone Mansfield door issues ?

[RedOak]

Any other Mansfield owners out there have any problems with their door latch
and frame where the latch connects to the main part of the stove? Mine appears
to be wearing excessively where they meet. The only reason I looked at it was a
friend of mine has a Tribute that had worn away to the point that the door popped
open during the night. The replacement part had a steel section in it where the handle
meets the frame on the stove. The stove is only a few years old (2006)

Am I being unnecessarily paranoid?

 

[struggle]

Mine is a 2005 I think and I have not noticed any issues with it yet. I do not crank it down real hard as it seems to fit tight. It always seems it could go tighter but does not ever seem to move after closed.

 

[RedOak]

Thanks for the reply Struggle - I replaced the door gasket this fall and found it incredibly hard to close the door.
I even replaced the gasket a second time thinking I bunched it up during install making it too thick. Didn't make
much of a difference. I backed off the handle tension a few turns and now it closes easier - a dab of high temp
caliper grease makes it real easy, but that only lasts a few days. Mine doesn't seem to move either but I am concerned
that the casting on the door frame will wear thin and snap.

Ahh, paranoia - the gift from my mother that keeps on giving...

 

[Highbeam]

I have noticed this issue with the side door on my heritage. The catch on the stove side door frame is just a slot ground into the cast iron. Since it is ground in the first place it is hard to tell if the size of this catch has enlarged due to wear or if it was always that way. I talked to hearthstone about this and they had seen less than half a dozen of these latches fail in all the heritages that they had put out. If mine fails then the iron casting is guaranteed for life but the labor to replace is my responsibility. I wish the latch was of a better quality with a steel replaceable insert at the wear point.

I find items like this that tell me that perhaps these hearthstones make compromises in durability for aesthetics. It is obvious that those dainty little latches srubbing hard with a hardened steel door latch against the cast iron will eventually wear through the very thin cast iron catch.

I'm just going to watch it and hope it pops open when I'm around to catch it. Maybe it'll never wear through.

 

[struggle]

Thanks for the reply Struggle - I replaced the door gasket this fall and found it incredibly hard to close the door.
I even replaced the gasket a second time thinking I bunched it up during install making it too thick. Didn't make
much of a difference. I backed off the handle tension a few turns and now it closes easier - a dab of high temp
caliper grease makes it real easy, but that only lasts a few days. Mine doesn't seem to move either but I am concerned
that the casting on the door frame will wear thin and snap.

Ahh, paranoia - the gift from my mother that keeps on giving...

My door does have two shims that go below where the pins go through to raise the door just a tad so make sure if you had shims (Small cast iron thick washers) that they are in the right location as you could bind the door and cause a shutting problem.

 

[RedOak]

I'll keep an eye on it and perhaps replace it at the end of the season.
Don't really care about the house or belongings, they can be replaced - it's the dog
I'm worried about.

I'll also check for the shim placement, pretty sure I noticed them when I took the door off.

 

[RedOak]

Thanks Highbeam, I agree that the quality could be better than a ground out section of the casting - at least Hearthstone stands behind it.
By the way, the splitter in your signature is unbelievable - I would love to see that beast in action...

Struggle - I got home and checked my hinges and I don't have shims. Hmmmm - I need to check the alignment to see if this is my problem.

 

[Highbeam]

When you guys say shims are you talking about adding washers to the hinge pins between the stove frame hinge and the door frame hinge to adjust the height of the door? I've got a washer at each of these locations but I suspect they are not for an adjustment as much as to prevent hinge wear and squeaks.

 

[struggle]

If I removed mine my door would not close right. I suspect that some of that might be true as well to not where the hinges as well.

My door seals on the high portion of the gasket