Coalpail.com Forum

Been burning a leisure line hearth I purchased new in Shamokin this Early January and absolutely love the stove. This is my first experience burning coal so not sure if it is the stove, the fact that I'm burning coal or both that has me infatuated with my setup. So far no glitches except for a rookie mistake at the beginning. Never opened up the combustion blower inlet fan cover and could not for the life of me figure out why I kept losing hot coal off the stoker grate on those cold nights. It was about 20% open from the factory but clearly light on air. So I retread the directions and clearly skipped that page previously during installation. Finally figured it out on a cold night with a stoker completely full of hot coals and the temperature in the room increased 15 degrees over the next 20 minutes (was a bit worried it was going to over fire). I baby sat the stove for the next hour out of concern. All is now well with the heat maker side of things.

On to my current issue..... The handle on the top door (one with glass) has recently become extremely stiff. In fact it is so stiff simply trying to open the door actually rotates the stove on the hearth. I need to brace the stove with my leg when I want to open the door to keep the stove from moving (not comfortable). My wife cannot even open it. I removed the set screw on the collar and the collar spins freely. It seems there is a burr in the thru hole of the door frame, of the handle shaft is galling on hole. Either way I can't seem to fix it and am a bit disappointed as all else is quite perfect with my setup. Any advice would be appreciated.

stocks wrote:Been burning a leisure line hearth I purchased new in Shamokin this Early January and absolutely love the stove. This is my first experience burning coal so not sure if it is the stove, the fact that I'm burning coal or both that has me infatuated with my setup. So far no glitches except for a rookie mistake at the beginning. Never opened up the combustion blower inlet fan cover and could not for the life of me figure out why I kept losing hot coal off the stoker grate on those cold nights. It was about 20% open from the factory but clearly light on air. So I retread the directions and clearly skipped that page previously during installation. Finally figured it out on a cold night with a stoker completely full of hot coals and the temperature in the room increased 15 degrees over the next 20 minutes (was a bit worried it was going to over fire). I baby sat the stove for the next hour out of concern. All is now well with the heat maker side of things.

On to my current issue..... The handle on the top door (one with glass) has recently become extremely stiff. In fact it is so stiff simply trying to open the door actually rotates the stove on the hearth. I need to brace the stove with my leg when I want to open the door to keep the stove from moving (not comfortable). My wife cannot even open it. I removed the set screw on the collar and the collar spins freely. It seems there is a burr in the thru hole of the door frame, of the handle shaft is galling on hole. Either way I can't seem to fix it and am a bit disappointed as all else is quite perfect with my setup. Any advice would be appreciated.

Best I could say is to hang the door cover and let the door cool down. Take the door outside and spray some LPS or rust lube and work it around. You shouldn't have to do this on a new stove and have no explanation and apologize for the inconvenience. If this doesn't work give me a call. Dave [Phone Number Removed]

Did you happen to take a picture of it while it was apart? That would help a whole bunch with determining a fix.

There's nothing really to take apart. It appears the handle shaft is possibly bent (intentionally) after insertion through the door frame at the factory; hence a permanent fixture of the door frame. If I could disassemble and fix I would be happy to do so. I will try what Dave suggested and report back.

Can't figure out how to insert photos from iPad, damn apple. The collar on the exterior appears to be losing its finish in one quadrant; almost like paint peeling off. I don't think that is the problem though as it freely rotates from the shaft with the set screw loosened. I don't see a snap ring nor any other method to remove the handle. Again intentionally bent at the factory and crimped inside and a permanent fixture of the door frame. If I rotate it 360 some areas are tighter than others but none are normal. Something is amiss. Dave I'll get back to you with an update when I can spray it down. My concern is that any lubricant I actually get in that annulus is a short term solution considering the heat. It will evaporate faster than my pool water in August!!

Worst case is we wait till a break in the weather and fix it or replace the door if a new one fits. If not just repair the door. Either way it will be fixed right.