Sougland Excelsior 183

That’s one midieval looking stove. Awesome!!! Real beauty!!!

Thank you all for the compliments.

Good morning,

I've discovered that the outer enameled case of my stove was not squarely installed on the cast iron body. The result is that the ash door does not fit squarely and is leaking air. In the picture I placed some plumber's putty on the corners to see the extent of the leak, at least 0.1" from left to right. To fix this correctly I will need to completely disassemble the stove including rebuilding the firebox. One alternative is to attach a flat gasket to the door and hope the slop in the hinge will allow the gap to be filled. The other is to run a high temp silicone bead on the door and close it on saran wrap to make a better seal. Any suggestions on the better option or others?
Thanks,
Leo

Got any .22mag shell casings. Cut to length with pipe/tubing cutter, debur. Slip on hinge pin or tap gently with little hammer in hinge pin hole. Use to tighten up slop in hinge area. Free at shooting range.

Or

Use electrical ground wire crimp sleeves.

It sounds like it runs a lot like my franklin. That's such a beautiful stove, im very jealous. Have you figured out what size it prefers?

Does it affect the performance of your stove having the leak at the feed door at the top of the stove ? My deville 600 has the same design with the feed port at the top of the stove , I haven’t bothered to seal it as it only smokes slightly when initially firing up the stove , when it’s nice and hot there is no smoke . Only need to make sure that the primary air feed door is well sealed to be able to control the air flow . If you think it is nessesary to seal it I would think high temp car engine gasket sealant would do the trick . Regards Wal

It's a matter of how much leakage there is, combined with how well that stove's chimney system drafts. A little leakage can help, but a lot can hurt.

Any post firebed air leaks can reduce the draft strength by lowering the exhaust temp. Plus, it can make it tougher to start a fire and to recover the fire after refueling.

Small post firebed air leaks can reduce tendency for a puff-back, as they help burn off volatile gasses.

Paul

Cdon2948: Thanks for the compliment. So far, I've only burned nut in the Excelsior. I was given some stove size coal by a forum member last spring and will try that out once I seal the ash door.

Wal: I've seen a few whisps of smoke from the load door while starting a fire. I suppose I should install a thin gasket. I don't think there is enough of a leak to make a big change in performance.

I'll have to investigate how to remove the ash door hinge pin without damaging the enameled caps. If this looks too difficult, I'll use a bead of high temp silicone (with appropriate release agent) to make a better seal.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions.

You have beautiful stove . Think we were both very lucky to find the stoves we wanted from Harrie and his son in Amsterdam .