New to the boards here. Lopi Liberty problem

[skyskier]

Been living on a little 5 acre spread in SW Riverside county for the past 40 years, been "burning" for 39 of those years. I've been hauling/splitting my wood from EVERY golf course within a 15 mile radius of the ranch since day one, just hauled in 3 trailer/truck loads of prime OAK from Bear Creek up in the Santa Rosa hills between Temecula & Fallbrook. I have a tree trimmer that I let dump his trees on my ranch so as of YET, I've never had to "buy" ANY wood.

I'm replacing the guts of my Liberty Lopi stove and I've got ONE of the damn couplers for the air tubes that I swear is welded on @#*&!(..............anybody ever run across this ? there was only one pin holding it in an I got that out but, the damn thing will not budge. I've sprayed wd 40 on it to no avail., the other 2 came out, no problem.

Thanks in advance for ANY help/suggestions

 

[homebrewz]

Try PB Blaster.. much better than WD-40. Though, whatever you use, use it sparingly. The residues will have to burn off once you're done with
this project. Chisel out any stuck ash, soak it a bit, maybe even heat it up with a small torch, and wiggle it free with vice grips.

I've had to adjust the tubes on my Endeavor and it was kind of a pain.

 

[Woody Stover]

Welcome, skyskier!

Sounds like you have a handle on your wood supply, and plenty of good stuff at that, which is probably a little harder to come by out there.

Never messed with any tubes myself, but homebrewz suggestions sounded good, heat would be a good bet I would think. I might try to get something slicky in there to un-seize the tube as well...some wax or something.

 

[skyskier]

Welcome, skyskier!

Sounds like you have a handle on your wood supply, and plenty of good stuff at that, which is probably a little harder to come by out there.

Never messed with any tubes myself, but homebrewz suggestions sounded good, heat would be a good bet I would think. I might try to get something slicky in there to un-seize the tube as well...some wax or something.

Try PB Blaster.. much better than WD-40. Though, whatever you use, use it sparingly. The residues will have to burn off once you're done with
this project. Chisel out any stuck ash, soak it a bit, maybe even heat it up with a small torch, and wiggle it free with vice grips.

I've had to adjust the tubes on my Endeavor and it was kind of a pain.


Thanks guy's ! I took a torch to it this morning, got it out and decided I might as well replace ALL the bricks inside it while I'm this far into it. I couldn't believe how far gone EVERYTHING on the inside is.

 

[fossil]

Nothing lasts forever...particularly inside a woodstove. Just as you said, if you're going that far into it, you may as well replace everything that's replaceable. Secondary tubes (these days they're all Stainless...sounds like maybe yours are old enough to not be?) All the firebrick, and the angle irons that hold the baffle bricks up. Door gasket and door window gasket. Squirt of graphite powder on the hinge pins. Good to go. Rick

 

[lopiliberty]

I couldn't believe how far gone EVERYTHING on the inside is.

How long have you had this stove? Is this the first time you every had to replace anything on the inside other than firebrick? Just wanted to get an idea of how long before I might have to start replacing the guts in my liberty.

 

[skyskier]

How long have you had this stove? Is this the first time you every had to replace anything on the inside other than firebrick? Just wanted to get an idea of how long before I might have to start replacing the guts in my liberty.

I've had this Liberty for 12 years and this IS the 1st time I've had to do anything other than replace the rope gasket. I went back to the fireplace shop in Hemet today, they want $6.00 a brick .....................went over to the stone & brick yard in Murrieta, $1.90 a brick, $28.00 for a diamond blade an cut my own. Six buck$ a brick sounded kinda high too me ? BUT, I AM in Comifornia, where as you probably know, the majority of the residents here are NOT the sharpest knives in the drawer

 

[skyskier]

Nothing lasts forever...particularly inside a woodstove. Just as you said, if you're going that far into it, you may as well replace everything that's replaceable. Secondary tubes (these days they're all Stainless...sounds like maybe yours are old enough to not be?) All the firebrick, and the angle irons that hold the baffle bricks up. Door gasket and door window gasket. Squirt of graphite powder on the hinge pins. Good to go. Rick

The replacement tubes I HAD to buy look to be highly polished galvanized "pipe" with holes drilled in them. Next time, I'll buy a length of stainless and make my own. The angle iron looks to be MAYBE 1/4 / 3/8, hard to believe I managed to melt those down, but I'm one of those guy's that likes it a balmy 82 degrees inside with the front door wide open, you know, a little cross ventilation.

 

[fossil]

Just find/order some of these:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/...5&KPID=1109409&cagpspn=pla&CAWELAID=109349399

If you have an Ace Hardware nearby, they'll get 'em in stock for you (if they don't already have them) within a couple days.

And forget the diamond blade, all you need is a masonry blade or cutoff wheel, which costs very little. I don't think you'll need to do a whole lot of cutting, anyway.

 

[fossil]

Magnet stick to your replacement tubes?

 

[lopiliberty]

The replacement tubes I HAD to buy look to be highly polished galvanized "pipe" with holes drilled in them. Next time, I'll buy a length of stainless and make my own. The angle iron looks to be MAYBE 1/4 / 3/8, hard to believe I managed to melt those down, but I'm one of those guy's that likes it a balmy 82 degrees inside with the front door wide open, you know, a little cross ventilation.

Sounds just like me but my liberty keeps me a little warmer than that This will be the fourth year and aside from slight sag in the center support, and hairline crack in secondary air channel where its welded, everything is still original including brick and gasket. Not sure if you bought the air tubes from a dealer(don't even want to know what they would cost) but if you did they should have been stainless

 

[fossil]

If they're not stainless, I s'pose they could've sat on the shelf for a long, long time. I think it's been a couple years since Travis changed out to Stainless for all replacement secondary tubes. But, then, they probably don't exactly sell like hotcakes. Rick