I hope I'm posting in the correct section. We bought a brand new wood stove this year. Around the door there is a rope gasket. Well I've noticed that in a few spots, when the door is shut, the gasket doesn't touch the stove. Which in return, is not creating a seal. Therefore, in a few spots theres is air leaking into the stove and seeming to cause our fires to burn too fast. My question is, is there a way to fix this problem without having to remove and replace the entire gasket? Any replies are much appreciated. Thank you.
Wood Stove Air Leak
- Thread starter Kimw
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Squisher
Minister of Fire
Some stoves have adjustments, I'm on mobile so I can't see what kind of stove you have.
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Squisher
Minister of Fire
Sorry. I had no idea that mobile users got more info than people using the site regularly? That seems odd?
For those of us not on 'mobile' could someone post up what stove?
For those of us not on 'mobile' could someone post up what stove?
I thought I get less on mobile and couldn't see the stove in the ops signature but I guess it's not there.
Squisher
Minister of Fire
Ahh. Your post confused me. It's says 'you can see'. But I'm guessing now you meant 'can't see'.
The poster does not have anything in info. If you tap on their user name and then tap on it again when the profile comes up, then go to the information tab it would be there. A few more steps on mobile.
Squisher
Minister of Fire
There's a few owners of those stoves around I think so hopefully someone will pipe in.
Is it possible to check the door and the mating surface with a straight edge for trueness? Unless the gasket is prematurely compressed or damaged somehow it would seem that just replacing it isn't going to be the answer if this is its first season. It seems possible it may have always been this way? Then it would become a warranty issue if there is no adjustment.
Pics always help!
Is it possible to check the door and the mating surface with a straight edge for trueness? Unless the gasket is prematurely compressed or damaged somehow it would seem that just replacing it isn't going to be the answer if this is its first season. It seems possible it may have always been this way? Then it would become a warranty issue if there is no adjustment.
Pics always help!
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
First confirm that the actual gasket is not touching the stove body by closing a dollar bill between the door and stove and trying to pull it out, do this all around the door (with out a fire going) You should be able to fell resistance when pulling the dollar out, almost to the point of tearing
I can confirm that gasket isnt touching the stove body in places. As when there is a fire i can look and see flames where it doesn't touch. There is like 3 spots around the door where there is maybe 2-3inch slivers where it doesnt touch. Its almost like the gasket was compressed in too deep in those spots.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I'd call Englander 1st, maybe they will send you a new gasket kit. also check the measurements on the door to make sure the unit is square and wasn't damaged / warped right from the beginning, there was a post at the start of the season were someone with a new nc30 had so big problems with a unit that might have been dropped or over bent at the factory.
edyit
Minister of Fire
when the stove is cool put a straight edge on the door and opening to make sure that it is just a gasket problem and nothing is warped on you. and then like kenny said get in touch with englander.
Sorry I missed your post in January, but better late than never!
I own one of these stoves and have posted this before. I also left a review and solution on lowes.com.
This stove has a bad design that could be easily fixed by replacing the 3/4" high-density rope gasket with a 1". Englander actually assumed there was a defect in the stove and sent me a new one across country that turned out to be exactly the same. We found that a 1" gasket seals up the door like it should. The simple problem is that the door hinge holds the door 1/4" too far off the stove to compress the gasket properly. I showed them pictures of the fire between the stove and the gasket and how the gasket was compressed on the lever side but not the hinge side.
Mine is fixed fine now, but I'm not sure they have fixed the problem at the factory. It's a good stove with a little problem. My bricks came broken, and I re-designed the firebrick coverage to completely cover the steel inside for maximum stove life.
I own one of these stoves and have posted this before. I also left a review and solution on lowes.com.
This stove has a bad design that could be easily fixed by replacing the 3/4" high-density rope gasket with a 1". Englander actually assumed there was a defect in the stove and sent me a new one across country that turned out to be exactly the same. We found that a 1" gasket seals up the door like it should. The simple problem is that the door hinge holds the door 1/4" too far off the stove to compress the gasket properly. I showed them pictures of the fire between the stove and the gasket and how the gasket was compressed on the lever side but not the hinge side.
Mine is fixed fine now, but I'm not sure they have fixed the problem at the factory. It's a good stove with a little problem. My bricks came broken, and I re-designed the firebrick coverage to completely cover the steel inside for maximum stove life.
WoodyIsGoody
Minister of Fire
This is shameful! How did the stoves ever leave the factory like that? In this day and age, other industries commonly manuafacture to within 100th of an inch. Apparently, Englander can't be bothered to keep it within 1/4".
Seriously, there is a reason they are called "airtight" woodstoves, this is a primary quality of the product they are making. If the problem is truly "baked in" to the actual design of the stove (and not a manufacturing error), how did they ever get it through the EPA testing?
Yeah, but these other industries don't sell their products for 500 bucks.
You could get almost as crappy a product, and pay thousands for it, so a little tweaking on this one doesn't seem a huge price to pay for a mechanically-inclined buyer. I'll agree though, seems like this issue should have shown up and been corrected a lot sooner than it was..
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No such thing as an air tight stove , At least I have never seen a commercial unit. Plenty of advertising using that terminology by marketing departments that don't have a clue. I do not consider any stove with uncontrolled inlets as air tight- primary culprit seems to be air wash of glass now days.
WoodyIsGoody
Minister of Fire
"Air tight" might be a misnomer because nothing short of a glass ball is truly air tight. But, IMO, the fact that a stove has a minimum air inlet area doesn't disqualify it from being in this class of stove. The only real difference is that you can't extinguish the fire at will by closing the air intake but even pre-EPA stoves typically leaked enough air via the door gasket, flue connection and air intake shutter that they were not truly airtight either.
What makes them air tight stoves, at least to my way of thinking, is that the air intake can be restricted enough to create a lower pressure in the firebox and control the burn rate whereas an open fireplace cannot.
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