Should I replace my gasket? Pictures included

[kevinmoelk]

I've noticed recently that where the gasket meets the stove body there seems to be some leakage. The leakage is approximately 1/2", and is present in each of the bottom corners of the stove body. The door gasket itself is roughly 7/8" wide.

Should I replace the door gasket? Or is this nothing to worry about? Alternatively, is this a door adjustment problem? And if a door adjustment problem, how does one go about adjusting the door? Stove is a Country S160 Striker.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[kevinmoelk]

I should add, you can see where the gasket sits against the stove body by the faint paint impression. It looks as though there is no overlap into where the gaket seats, however it didn't come out on the picture too well, there is indeed roughly 3/16" where you can see the soot creeping under the gaket seat.

-Kevin

 

[Harley]

The gasket appears to be in good shape (its a new stove, right?). I'm wondering why it seems to be above the channel on the vertical side, and seems lower in the channel on the horizontal part. Can you post a picture of the door? depending on the hinge or latch setup... maybe it cannot be adjusted, so you may have to go with a bigger gasket if something is out of alignment.... maybe there's no alignment issue... the placement of the gasket looks a little odd to me, based on the picture.


Edit... just another thought after looking at the pic again.... maybe there's too much gasket cement behind that part (where it appears raised out of the channel). That could be holding the door from closing real tight, causing the leak.

 

[Rich M]

My Country C260 manual says to adjust the latch put a length of pipe (they call it a cheater bar) on the stove side latch and bend it. The dollar bill test will indicate if you need a new gasket (close the door tightly on a dollar bill, you shouldn't be able to slide it out).

 

[berlin]

where the soot is your gasket is actually doing a better job of sealing. where the soot isn't is where the blast of clean, room air is keeping smoke from touching. on a well sealed stove you generally see black right up to the gasket.

 

[kevinmoelk]

Thanks for the post guys. Harley, not sure what you are saying about the vertical vs. horizontal positioning of the gasket, can you elaborate? There does not seem to be excess cement under the gasket, no noticeable bumps. I believe this is the original door gasket. Stove is a used unit, but was very lightly used and in great shape.

The gaket does pass the dollar bill test, all the way around. At least it did when I inspected before purchasing. I'll have to try again when the stove cools down, but I suspect no problems.

Berlin I'm not sure I agree with your theory. My stove is hooked up with an OAK and has excellent air control. If indeed there is any leakage I suspect it would be very minimal. That said, I am concerned with the gasket deterioration over time.

I do leave the door loosly latched when starting a fire, and perhaps this is what is causing the build up?

I'm attaching some more photos for review. Probably won't be able to get them all on one post. Thanks again for all the help.

-Kevin

 

[BrotherBart]

Looks just like mine on the Englander. Soot in the space between the place where the gasket seals and the opening in the stove front. Ain't no thing. The airwash pushes the stuff down, not up or sideways so the stuff accumulates on the bottom of the door opening above the gasket.

Rest.

 

[kevinmoelk]

2 more pictures

-Kevin

 

[Roospike]

Looks like your gasket seats as shown .

 

[kevinmoelk]

Love the graphics Spike! The soot is slightly under the gasket, maybe 3/16 or 1/8", but that is only on the one spot, about the size of a quarter. The picture doesn't come out well enough to see that. Seems not enough to justify gasket replacement or door adjustment however, so I'll leave it alone for now and watch to see if it gets any worse. Thanks for easing my mind guys.

-Kevin

 

[berlin]

"Berlin I’m not sure I agree with your theory. My stove is hooked up with an OAK and has excellent air control. If indeed there is any leakage I suspect it would be very minimal"

i'm not necessarily saying the leakage is anything but minimal; what i am saying is that soot close to the gasket shows where it's fitting tightest.

without an air wash system what would your glass door look like? pretty black probably right? same with the door gasket, no clean "room air" leaking in = no clean spots near gasket. air seepage, albeit probably small and insignifigant, keeps those areas around the door gasket clean.

 

[ourhouse]

Have you tried the Roospike dollar bill test yet?

 

[velvetfoot]

Can't you try tightening up the door latch? On mine it's pretty easy.

 

[Harley]

Harley, not sure what you are saying about the vertical vs. horizontal positioning of the gasket, can you elaborate?

Maybe its just the way the first picture of the gasket looked to me. The part of the gasket where your ruler is looks like it was sticking out of the channel more (where the gasket is running vertically in the door), then it makes a turn and runs horizontally, but that looks like its set into the channel. I was thinking that might be pushed out a bit from excess gasket cement, and keeping the door from closing all the way..... the larger picture of the whole gasket doesn't really appear that way... so I don't think that's the case.

 

[jqgs214]

Berlin,

I also dont agree with your theory, when my door leaked the glass got dark in that area only, tighened er up and the black went away. It may not be soot your seeing but creasote because the gases there are cooling too fast on the metal in that area becasue of the room air leaking in through the gasket

 

[Rhone]

I understand what you're saying Berlin, that's how I would've felt things went as well had I not developed a leak. I shut the door on my insert on an ember, something I frequently do but this one time it compressed my gasket in that location and the depression didn't come out. Since then, the glass stays dark there, it actually looks like a little black streak that extends up about 2"-3". Sometimes when I have a good fire going, the hot gases coming down the glass hit the air leak there and cause secondary burn right against the glass as if that one spot of my glass is on fire, and the flame dances around the streak, when the fire is over that streak gets darker. I can't explain why air leaks cause black streaks and darkened areas, wxman did a good job, it probably does have something to do with it keeping things cooler.

 

[precaud]

It looks like the gasket is in good shape, it was probably installed poorly. Does the gasket around the corners feel 'softer' than in the straights? Press around the perimeter and see if you can make a depression in the corner. If so, that's an installation issue; the gasket was elongated thru the corners when installed. You might be able to fix it by bunching it up in the corner and support both sides if the gasket around the corner with stove cement. That should help if not fix the leak.