Insert advice needed

[cwitham]

We have a Hutch Rebel that came with our house, a good old cast iron workhorse. Today while putting on new door gaskets we found three of the four corners of the firebox opening the doors seal against cracked. We are wondering if we can get this welded up and go on or how we should get it fixed?

As an added note we are not likely going to be staying in our current house or even our current state for anymore than another year maybe two.

 

[English BoB]

Do the new gaskets make a good seal, as in good enough not to repair the corners ?
If so - dont bother.
Welding cast iron correctly is an art and a process which means $$$$.

Bob

 

[NinjaTech]

Welding cast iron is tricky, half the time you try to weld it you just end up cracking it even worse than it already was. Usually it involves grinding out the crack, drilling stress relief holes at the ends of the cracks, opening up the cracks with a grinder, slowly preheating the entire piece that needs to be welded to ~500F, using special cast iron repair rods, and then slowly cooling the entire thing down. I can't say I have ever had much success doing it.

 

[BrotherBart]

The stove body of the Hutch Rebel insert is plate steel, not cast iron.

 

[English BoB]

The stove body of the Hutch Rebel insert is plate steel, not cast iron.

What the expert said...........weld away if you wish,

Bob

 

[cwitham]

The stove body of the Hutch Rebel insert is plate steel, not cast iron.

Yes you are correct, I'm not real sure why I typed cast iron. The stove pictured above looks identical to ours.

 

[cwitham]

As soon as the gasket glue is dry (about another hour) I'll open it up and get some pics of the cracks.

Any idea what would've caused it to crack?

 

[cwitham]

(broken image removed)
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(broken image removed)

 

[bholler]

You could try welding them it might work but those are bad cracks I would be looking for a new stove if it was me

 

[Dune]

As soon as the gasket glue is dry (about another hour) I'll open it up and get some pics of the cracks.

Any idea what would've caused it to crack?

Old age or high mileage, whatever you want to call it. As said earlier, drill an 1/8 at the terminus of the cracks, then bring it to a welder. Have him cut a deep vee groove from the front, but just shine up the back a little for good welding. Fill the grooves, grind smooth, then throw away the stove in the spring. It has metal fatigue.
Think of it like a dill pickle; no matter what you do, it will never be a cucumber again.

 

[begreen]

Great analogy Dune!

 

[Dune]

Great analogy Dune!

Gee, thanks, coming from you that really means something to me.

 

[begreen]

Don't be shy. You have a lot more metal working cred than I ever will.