WTF? Harman TL300 top door warped.

[djslim]

So I got up this morning around 5 and came down and restoked the fire as is my routine for the last 3 months. But this morning I noticed that the fire wasnt kicking up very fast. Tons of coals left. So I checked to make sure the air and damper were open, all good. opened the top just to look in and closed the lid and noticed it didnt seem to seat well. Upon further inspection I can see that the back part of the lid and the back lip of the frame where you throw the would in are warped. Now I have been a pretty good steward of this stove from the get go. (much thanks to all of you on this site). I usually run the stove at between 4 and 5 hundred, never had it past 650 according to my rutland thermometer. Which when i ran the oven test on reads about 50 degrees above. With some wait on the lid and can get it to seal about 95 percent. Noticed it sucking some air when I put an incense stick in one spot. Stove is not running away on me at all, still seem to have control over the fire with the air control. Well I called the dealer and told him about it he seemed to think that it was ok not much to worry about and he would contact harman on monday and see what they have to say. My question to you all is do you think it is still safe to burn (this is my ONLY heat) and do you think harman will say user error I must have overfired it and not fix or replace it? It is still under warranty. Oh and harman dosnt give anyspecs on stove temps. any idea what they are? Any one else had this problem.
Thanks.

 

[BJ64]

I agree. How the heck did that happen? I thought the top lid on that stove was cast iron, is it not?

I think you have a warranty claim in the making.

Bummer deal dude, I hate to hear that.

 

[MishMouse]

Since it sounds like you were burning the stove properly, and I personlly have one of these stoves, this causes me some concern.

Can you post a few pictures of the door?

Where do you measure you temps? For me I measure them in the center on the top load door a few inches from the stove pipe. I normally run between 400-525.

Can you examine the gasket on the top load door to see if there are any issues.

Also check the operation of the door, does it move smoothly, sometimes the gears get out of sync and it doesn't seal all the way.

 

[djslim]

mishmouse, I too usually run the stove around 450-500. sometimes let it get up to 550-600 before engaging afterburn, depending on how the stove/wood is burning. is this too hot? never seen the stove get red or glow or anything obvious like that. I will try to post some pics next time i load some wood.

 

[BJ64]

Not to discount that the lid is warped, but I had a puzzle with the lid on my Leyden. I had a little piece of park get between the lid and stove top and made it not seal like usual.

The lid would rock around a bit and first thought was "Oh crap how did this warp!".

 

[djslim]

So I pulled of the side panel and checked the gears out. The handle did seem to be a little more loose than it had been. Tightened things up a bit and did seem to help the lid seal better. Maybe this was the problem all along (I hope). But the top still has a bow to it. Maybe manufactured this way and Iam now just noticing it? Here are some pics. Maybe someone with the same stove can check and see if they have the same bow/warp. Thanks for the tip mishmouse about the gears definitely helped and yes my thermometer is about in the middle of the lid.

 

[djslim]

The lid has pretty much the same bow to it.

 

[MishMouse]

The lid has pretty much the same bow to it.

Try posting a comment in the TL-300 users thread, there are at least 4-5 other users of this stove and that would be a good spot to post to get there attention.

As long as you are getting an air tight seal to it I wouldn't worry that much about it.
If you are still concerned just do the small fires to keep the chill out until you can get an expert to take a look at the stove.
Try this get a good fire going, close the primary air all the way and see what happens.
If you see allot of activity towards the top back of the stove that is not being caused by the secondary air intake then this could indicate a leak

 

[BJ64]

On a side note it looks like you are getting a darn good burn with that stove. There is no black on the lid at all.

 

[djslim]

thanks for the input guys. maybe Ill post those pics on the tl300 thread, and yes this thing burns pretty damn clean and hot.