Replacing the ember bed and manifold on a Vermont Castings Radiance (Sealant required?)

[itech20]

Hello all,

The short version of my post is the following question: Is silicone sealant required when installing the ember bed and manifold on a Vermont Castings Radiance gas stove?

The longer version of the story follows.

My wife and I recently purchased a house that came with a Vermont Castings Radiance gas stove configured for LPG.

Unfortunately, it had a very slow propane leak when operating. Some investigation ultimately revealed a cracked flare flange on the manifold assembly, as well as a multiple cracks in the ember bed.

I've disassembled the unit enough to remove the damaged parts and clean things up. I've purchased replacements and intend to reassemble it myself.

The nature of the damage to both parts suggests to me that the stove was manhandled a bit at some point and perhaps some effort at an imperfect field repair.

In particular, there's evidence of very liberal use of red high temp silicone around the manifold as well as the attachment points for the ember bed. On the ember bed attachment points, there's also some evidence that this was supplemented with clear conventional silicone. There's no mention of sealant in these areas in the install manual, but I'm unsure if either part arrives already installed.

Before I re-seal it when putting things back together I thought I'd check here to see if this is required, advisable or was, perhaps, part of a misguided attempt to fix damage or address a gas smell.

I'll attach a few photos of the sealant that remained after I removed the ember bed, as well as the gobs of sealant around the manifold assembly where it penetrates into the main body of the stove as well as the damage to the manifold flare/flange.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

-Ian

 

[DAKSY]

Anywhere there is a penetration of the floor between the firebox & the valve location needs to be sealed to prevent CO leakage. Whether you use RTV Silicone or grommets, they need to be sealed for safety.

 

[itech20]

Anywhere there is a penetration of the floor between the firebox & the valve location needs to be sealed to prevent CO leakage. Whether you use RTV Silicone or grommets, they need to be sealed for safety.

Many thanks for the reply. That makes sense. RTV is on order.

The one area that had no evidence of this was the penetration for the adjustment of the air shutter. Will share a few more files. (Shutter penetration is the long thin one with a clean rectangle/square soot pattern.)

Presumably once we're happy with the setting there I can go ahead and make it semi-permanent by sealing up that penetration as well.

-Ian

 

[DAKSY]

I wouldn’t seal the air shutter slot, since your pic looks like it shows the outline of a gasketed area. Use the RTV around & away from the slot in case future adjustments are needed…

 

[itech20]

I wouldn’t seal the air shutter slot, since your pic looks like it shows the outline of a gasketed area. Use the RTV around & away from the slot in case future adjustments are needed…

Roger that. I can confirm with high confidence that there was no sealant and no gasket protecting the air shutter penetration. It was the only penetration that didn't have anything. The clean rectangle you see seems to simply be the result of the structure of the shutter preventing sooting on the base of the firebox.

The penetrations for the ember bed had both red and clear sealant. That results in some of the irregular edges you see in the ember bed attachment points on those photos.

The penetration for the manifold had the large gobs of red sealant shown in the earlier photos, but that was mostly around the edges of the large circular penetration for the manifold. It did not extend past the edges of the base plate for the manifold, unlike the ember bed base plate where it did.

I think I get your suggestion. These products describe themselves as creating more of an ad-hoc gasket than an adhesive seal. I'll lay a bead sort of around that slot in the hopes that if I do adjust the shutter it will serve as a gasket.

Thanks again for the engagement. I will make ever effort to document my install with photographs and share them here for the benefit of any future discussion or anyone who finds this thread in search.