NC30, slightly warped baffles

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dboone

Member
Hearth Supporter
Nov 22, 2008
45
Western Missouri
I have noticed the upper baffles have become a little warped and are curling slightly. I don't think it is anything excessive and is still ok at the current time, but I am sure this will continue and it will get worse. I am on my second year with the stove. Is this normal and is there anything I can do to prevent it? How many years should you get out of these?
 
I am into my fourth season with the original set. One has a slight bow to it but it doesn't seem to affect the burn.
 
Out of curiosity, are the edges curling up or down? Regardless, you could remove the front burn tube (one bolt) and turn them over in hopes of the warp going back the other direction.

Even though this is your second year burning have you owned the stove for a calender year yet? I purchased my stove used and it came w/ an extra set of baffles that the previous owner was able to procure under the 1 year warranty. The original set just needed a little refractory cement.

pen
 
[Hearth.com] NC30, slightly warped baffles

^We have one that's slightly warped too.
 
Warped or completely detached and unpinned?
 
sorry to derail it was just unsecured...all better now. It fell down last night about 10 min after loading had to let the stove go cold to replace it though. I thought how strange it was that it was only placed into position with no fasteners.
 
It has been about 15 months since purchase. I have thought about flipping it. I just need to wait until it is cool and remember this at the same time. These panels are not attached in any way are they? It would appear that you could carefully slide them forward and out the front. Maybe you have to lift one on top of the other first. I don't need to mess with the burn tubes do I? Compared to the other one there looks to be about 1/4" to 1/2" of curling upwards. Maybe if it is a heat issure towards the front of the stove by reversing this it would move it to the cooler back side. I also assume the top and bottom surfaces of these are identical?
 
Remove the front two burn tubes to take the baffle boards out through the door. Be sure to put the tubes back in the right order. The holes in them are drilled at different angles. It is a whopping three minute job start to finish.
 
I just got around to doing this. I did flip it and now it meets evenly at the front since it is sitting on the burn tube. The middle now rises up. Maybe the curling will go the other direction and straighten itself out. Big maybe. This makes me think of 2 other questions.

I have a pro do my cleaning. Would it be advisable to remove these baffles prior to his arrival? I am not sure if they do this while they are here, but there is a bunch or crud above them that he would have easy access to if it was removed.

When I pulled these baffles out I noticed several chunks of material missing. This was on the top side so it would not have been caused by an accidental bump with a rake, log or poker. I remember these baffles being pretty costly and would hate to think that I am going to need to replace them every couple years. Why would it be so terrible to put a couple pieces of say 1/8" metal up there as a replacement? I remember somebody asking this last year and I recalled them getting slammed a little bit by wanting to alter the way the stove was designed. I would like to know what this material does that metal would not do.
 
I'm not familiar with the exact design of your stove/baffle, but I would think the factory didn't use metal for a reason. My guess is that metal might not withstand the heat in that area, or it doesn't offer enough insulating properties (for whatever reason). Then again, these costly baffles obviously aren't cutting it either...
 
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