Hello Tony
If the stove is in a Damp Area, then dampness will get in!
Hope these few suggestions help and then when your all done throw in some Damp Rid.
This is what I did to my old P61
Clean fire brick with brick and stone cleaner. Then throughly vacuum the inside and wire brush with drill driver. Then wipe down with Acetone from Home Depot. Then using Flat Black VHS Ultra High Temp 2,000 Deg F Flame Proof spray paint from the auto parts store and give it that show room look for the summer!
See some pics here.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...pdated-door-harman-style.110317/#post-1457291
Here are a few other things I did that you can do too! Just because a stove is new, does NOT mean it is free from Auger Pox! Drops of splattered weld and burrs from poor quality control!
To get the dead stove running like new, I removed the auger pox and installed an auto ignition update kit which now comes with a whole new wiring harness for good electrical connections!
See
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/holy-harman-auger-pox-batman.109241/#post-1439352
Then did the Pimp Your Ash Pan!
See >
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/time-to-pimp-your-ash-pan-harman-style.109333/
After updating the old golden fire brown to Satin black it was time to deep 6 the gold door and gold trim.
Then a hopper extension was added using nuts and bolts for a very secure install!
Going from a 70 lb hopper to 130 lbs make the stove go much longer without adding pellets!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...pper-extension-drill-and-bolts-needed.108376/
There are lots of nice tile choices. See more info, pics of choices and the gristmill I have here.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...r-and-trim-is-your-stove.108659/#post-1428904
This old stove has a serial #
WHI-004221 makes it one of the oldest P61 and hardest to update.
The benefit is, that it has a cast iron fines door and heavier parts. A real tank that can be totally updated!
The bright nickel trim kit is the way to go, but the tile frame only fits the newer ash doors that have the recess. This stove has the old flush mount tile which may fall out if the old glue dries out that holds the small metal L clips in each corner of the frame. I had one corner fall apart and used High Temp RTV to repair it. That fixed it for good!
The more expensive way to upgrade the old gold tile trim, is to purchase a new ash door for $110 and slip it right on to the hinges. The as door is not usually stocked at the their depots and takes longer to get. I just took the original frame and threw some chrome paint on it. See pic below!
The upgraded new style door will fit this old bugger if you use the old door's hinge pins! The new stoves have the hinge pins welded to the body of the stove. The old handle will also fit and can be screwed right in.
The glass for the door is the neo or pyro ceram glass which is now the standard. OnlyHarman has neoceram mirror glass and only for their P68 model! The only way to get if for the P61 or P61a is to cut down the P68 glass!
See more info on glass >
http://www.onedayglass.com/kb/faq_qanda.php?id=88
You can but this neoceram glass at most local glass cutters. When it breaks, you can see the yellow tinge it has on the slivers of the broken glass pieces. This has a much higher temperature rating than the Tempered glass.
The nickel trim kit comes with a cobal drill bit to drill thru the cast iron door to mount the bright nickel trim. Wow, it got dull on the 4th hole! It easy to drill, because on the inside of the door above the door gasket in each corner is a recessed hole molded into the cast iron where drilling starts.
I finally got the trim on the door and door on the stove and the door did not close! I had to get out the DeWalt jig saw and cut the stove body to fit the new rounder door handle!
The lovre's can be chrome painted but the new nickel lovere grill is the way to go because it is high temp and can easily be set right in there!
