Pipe Damper Installation Help Needed

[smileti]

Thanks to a lot of help from ace woodburners on this forum, I learned that my new Mansfield has an overdraft and needs a pipe damper. Hearthstone Tech support agreed and recommended a simple cast iron damper. I have the damper and would appreciate some advice on how to install it without wrecking the stove, the stove pipe, my marriage or my self respect.

I'm attaching a picture of the pipe configuration. The Hearthstone tech recommended that I put the damper in the straight piece right after the elbow. Does that sound right?

In order to install the damper, am I correct in thinking that I'll have to take apart all the sections of the stove pipe, install the damper and then put all the sections back together again? Any tips for getting it apart and then back together again without damage?

 

[begreen]

Remove all screws that are holding the straight section of pipe in. Push the top elbow toward the back of the fireplace and wiggle the straight piece out. It may take some soft banging on with a rubber mallet or hammer handle. Once the piece is out, make a mark equidistant from the top and bottom of the pipe, then take a piece of string and run it around the pipe so that you are measuring it's circumference. Mark the string, with a sharpie, and then fold it back on itself so that you now have half the circumference and use that to place a 2nd mark on the other side, again equidistant from the top and bottom of the pipe. Drill a hole just slightly larger than the shaft of the damper (about 1/4"?). Insert the damper, check its operation. Then reinstall the pipe in the reverse order.

 

[struggle]

I do not see any reason to add anything else to that reply %-P

 

[smileti]

Thank you so much for the step by step. I will tackle this over the weekend and report back.