Hey folks, long time...
So I've got about, what... 120? cords thru this pair of 2015 Ashford 30's, probably 80 cords on the one and 40 thru the other. I've experienced some noticeable reduction in combustor lifespan easily attributed to a leaky door gasket, which is no wonder, I haven't touched them in 11 years of continuous burning.
They honestly still look as nice as the day the stoves were installed, zero damage, I'm not a neanderthal. But obviously compressed, and probably a little stiffer than when new, so I went ahead and ordered new gaskets last spring. And then of course other summer projects took over... and here we are at another burn season.
The gaksets the BK dealer shipped to me are a dark graphite-impregnated thing, which is a surprise, as they claim to use only BK OEM gaskets, and last I knew BK only used white fiberglass gaskets. Maybe they've changed that, which doesn't thrill me, graphite gaskets never seem to hold to adhesive as well as plain white.
The gasket is labeled as 6 feet, the Ashford 30 manual says "do not cut", so we'll see how that works out. Got one for each stove.
I also bought Permatex Red High Temp RTV, figuring that's still the product of choice for this application. I was hoping to do a quick stove and pipe cleaning along with gasket swap this afternoon, before lighting up tonight, but it seems the recommended cure time before heating is a 24 hours.
I guess I'll just burn the current setup and tackle gasket replacement when it gets warm again in a few days. Not a bad thing to have a small fire or two to chase any hornets out of the chimney before I Soot Eater it anyway.
Any tips or tricks you think I might be missing, before executing the door gasket swap? I'll be waiting until I have a new gasekt installed, in fact maybe until I have a test-firing on it, before I even think of installing the new cats. The old ones are at end of life, but still work well enough to get me thru a few shoulder-season burns.
So I've got about, what... 120? cords thru this pair of 2015 Ashford 30's, probably 80 cords on the one and 40 thru the other. I've experienced some noticeable reduction in combustor lifespan easily attributed to a leaky door gasket, which is no wonder, I haven't touched them in 11 years of continuous burning.
They honestly still look as nice as the day the stoves were installed, zero damage, I'm not a neanderthal. But obviously compressed, and probably a little stiffer than when new, so I went ahead and ordered new gaskets last spring. And then of course other summer projects took over... and here we are at another burn season.
The gaksets the BK dealer shipped to me are a dark graphite-impregnated thing, which is a surprise, as they claim to use only BK OEM gaskets, and last I knew BK only used white fiberglass gaskets. Maybe they've changed that, which doesn't thrill me, graphite gaskets never seem to hold to adhesive as well as plain white.
The gasket is labeled as 6 feet, the Ashford 30 manual says "do not cut", so we'll see how that works out. Got one for each stove.
I also bought Permatex Red High Temp RTV, figuring that's still the product of choice for this application. I was hoping to do a quick stove and pipe cleaning along with gasket swap this afternoon, before lighting up tonight, but it seems the recommended cure time before heating is a 24 hours.
I guess I'll just burn the current setup and tackle gasket replacement when it gets warm again in a few days. Not a bad thing to have a small fire or two to chase any hornets out of the chimney before I Soot Eater it anyway.
Any tips or tricks you think I might be missing, before executing the door gasket swap? I'll be waiting until I have a new gasekt installed, in fact maybe until I have a test-firing on it, before I even think of installing the new cats. The old ones are at end of life, but still work well enough to get me thru a few shoulder-season burns.
