Poking around my Jotul 3TDIC-2 (vintage 1990), I noticed significant chunks of two 'internal' gaskets had come loose from their channels. The first is a "damper gasket" and the other is a "cat cover" gasket, as best I can determine from a diagram/parts lists provided: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/help-with-jotul-3tdic-2-setup.163105/ - scroll to the bottom to see diagram/list . Also - see attached photos of both gaskets. One is obvious - the other, you have to look really hard to see it hanging loose in the middle-right field of the pic. I took a good look at nuts/bolts that hold together the plates/etc that need to be removed for gasket replacement....they look ok - w a bit of penetrating oil and careful pressure, I'm guessing I can loosen them w/out snapping them off, but that's merely speculative. I'd rather NOT find out. The whole job - removing and reinstalling heavy plates from a 30-year-old stove and hoping everything'll fit back nicely, w no leaks, etc.- seems daunting. The stove has worked perfectly up until now- right now, after noticing the gasket 'problem', I'm doing an all-day burn and detect no smoke leaks or notice anything out of the ordinary. My question is this: what ARE the consequences of being lazy and not replacing those gaskets? What will be the 'tells' of something gone wrong? Smoke leaks? What else should I be expecting? Thanks!
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