Vermont Castings Sequoia

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0hi0m0m

New Member
Oct 4, 2014
9
Ohio
Mine has a gap when the doors are shut. Anyone else have this fireplace? image.jpg
 
Is the gap even from top to bottom? If so it might be normal for that stove. You likely won't find a user on here, but a few people that have had their hands on em. Close a dollar bill in the door and see if its sealing tight. The bill should be able to be pulled out, but should offer good resistance everywhere. If it does then you should be good to go.
Is the stove new to you?
 
This stove is new to me. I had a winter warm previously. It only had one door. No seal issues. This is a double door design. There is a bean size hole or gap where the fiberglass rope doesn't meet at the very top when the doors are shut. I'm concerned about smoke infiltration in the room when I shut down the damper. Today was our break in burn so I didn't let it get that hot nor did I shut down the damper.
 
I doubt it's going to be a big issue, particularly not for smoke infiltration. There is a steady negative pressure created by the draft, even with the air control at a lower setting. If it bugs you perhaps a glob of high-temp silicone on the end in that area at the corner of the fiberglass gasket would help close up the gap? If this is attempted let it set up for 24 hrs before closing the doors.
 
Good to know about the negative pressure. I was hopeful that was the case. This unit has a catalytic element. On the winter warm when it would reburn the smoke sometimes the unit would puff a little smoke into the room. Any experience with a catalytic unit?
 
Is the gap even from top to bottom? If so it might be normal for that stove. You likely won't find a user on here, but a few people that have had their hands on em. Close a dollar bill in the door and see if its sealing tight. The bill should be able to be pulled out, but should offer good resistance everywhere. If it does then you should be good to go.
Is the stove new to you?

The gap isn't even top to bottom. Only a bean size gap at the top
 
Use the search box in the upper right to find more info on this stove. Type Sequoia in the search field and check the Search Titles only option. There are several threads. One thing you want to check on is to be sure this is not an older unit. There was a recall a few years back on them. Given that there have been some issues with warping at the top baffle I would speak to the dealer about getting that gap sealed. No need to put more heat focussed right at that area.
 
If there is a gap where room air can rush into the unit, this is very bad. The door seal needs to be tight.
 
It's brand new. The dealer said that the gasket should compress eventually with use and he wasn't worries about the gap. I've been slow burning since I let the first fire die out and rebuilt a new one. I've shut it down all the way and haven't noticed smoke in the room. But I agree with aansorge there shouldn't be a gap.
 
It's brand new. The dealer said that the gasket should compress eventually with use and he wasn't worries about the gap. I've been slow burning since I let the first fire die out and rebuilt a new one. I've shut it down all the way and haven't noticed smoke in the room. But I agree with aansorge there shouldn't be a gap.
Can we see a better pic? Its kinda hard to see what's going on , maybe further away.
 
This is from their website tonight. Note the date on the bottom of page. Had it ordered by a stove shop in Cincinnati. image.jpg
 
That would bother me to death if it was a new stove!
 
Ok, right!!?? That's how I feel. I had the installer back out to adjust the door. Good slow burn going. No problems so far. Afraid to pull the damper though.


image.jpg
 
Ok, right!!?? That's how I feel. I had the installer back out to adjust the door. Good slow burn going. No problems so far. Afraid to pull the damper though.


View attachment 140339
I was thinking of the dutchwest sequoia, that was made by Vermont castings years ago. I edited my post when I realized it was a current fireplace.
Most of the time, the hinges have some adjustment that can be done. Some even require you to use a block of wood and a hammer! You actually bend the hinge barrel to straighten the door.
 
I have one of these units. Mine was built in 2005. If the gasket doesn't fit tight enough in that spot you will get puff back when you get rolling secondaries out of that spot in the door. It is a nasty spot because it is at the top edge of the door where the movement of the door may cause the gasket to lose its seal. There is also an identical gap on the bottom of the same door (right) in our unit, but it doesn't appear to be a puff back problem there.
 
Really makes you wonder about the quality of the stove if it's brand new with that sort of a fitment issue. The store owner says he's not worried about it. No kidding, it's in your house instead of his! Did you see a version of this same stove in the store? If he has a display model go take a look and see if the same gap is present. That might at least tell you if it's just your stove or if it's common on this model stove. Either way, as others have said, a stove should certainly not have an opening for air leakage in that area. Lots of bad things could happen over time. Good Luck.
 
Really makes you wonder about the quality of the stove if it's brand new with that sort of a fitment issue. The store owner says he's not worried about it. No kidding, it's in your house instead of his! Did you see a version of this same stove in the store? If he has a display model go take a look and see if the same gap is present. That might at least tell you if it's just your stove or if it's common on this model stove. Either way, as others have said, a stove should certainly not have an opening for air leakage in that area. Lots of bad things could happen over time. Good Luck.

Our stove came with the house. There were problems with the stove which were due to improper installation, not the unit itself. We were able to rectify the safety issues (which were many) which were the fault of the previous owner. We suspect it was bought second hand and was a DIY installation.

We learned, and this is on us, that placing gasket material in the groove properly so it seals the two doors as it should is a skill. I can't compare it with another stove because this was our first. It is a pain in the neck because of the design of the door.
 
The gap is perfectly normal for this fireplace. We bought ours new in 2007 and it was delivered with the same gap in the seal. The one on display at the dealer also had this gap in the door seal.
After using this fireplace to basically heat our home for 7 northeast Ohio winters we still love this fireplace. We found that the firebox is huge and takes a lot of wood and a long time to start warming the room but once up to temperature it burns great and heats most of our 2300 square foot ranch without a problem. It does consume a lot of wood. We don't choke it down so much that it has rolling secondary burns because it emits a lot of smoke out the chimney, smokes up the glass doors, and blows puffs of smoke out the gap in the door seal when you burn it this way. Instead, we just throttle it down once it's hot so that the flames slow down but still flicker in the firebox and only ad a few pieces of wood at a time.
 
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