Coalpail.com Forum

Well my knee is feeling better and I managed to get down into the basement today and do some grit blasting. I mentioned earlier that the boot had been welded on and under the rust it appeared to be OK but after blasting it I see that there are some more cracks and porosity in the weld. I'll drill holes where the cracks terminate and see about getting some high nickel rod to weld this crack. Ultimately I would like to replace this part just for peace of mind. If anyone knows of any parts please let me know. It isn't just the boot it's also the frame that goes on the barrel that the boot mounts to. It has also been broken and welded. So I'd like to replace that too. I'm guessing that may be why this has seen light use. People might have been afraid to use it very hard with the weld repairs. I'll be honest, I wouldn't be very comfortable leaving this unattended with the boot and frame in this state of repair. Undamaged parts would really set my mind at ease.

https://www.tinmantech.com/products/welding/flux- ... pplies.php
These filler rods are outstanding for welding CI. Being cast iron they expand and contract at exactly the same rate unlike other filler materials.

I've got an 1/8th in. gap in the center of top and bottom doors. It tapers down to the ends where the door meets the frame. What's a good way. To seal that or is it too small to worry about?

can you show us pics of these doors and the gaps ?

some of us are familiar with these stoves but not seeing it doesn't help give very sure answers.

steve

The site is not letting me post pictures again. Not sure what's going on. I'll keep trying.

Form fitting 100% silicone caulk...adhered to metal on stove body and NOT adhered to the door.
To form fit, apply silicone to clean dry stove body and lay a piece of waxed paper between swinging door and close door to form fit against uncured silicone. After cured carefully peel away the waxed paper and done.

1st pic is door frame with door open.
2nd pic door closed.
3rd pic is profile view of the door assembly with door closed showing gap in the middle. The door has no signs of being overfired, so I'm sure this is the way it was manufactured .

My calibrated eye needs rest calibrated. I have measured the gaps with feeler gauges and the door gaps are. 024" the vent on the door is. 017"

I wonder if the gap closes up once it's at operating temps.

I thought about silicone earlier but I'm not sure it would stand up to coal fire temps?

Well here is the 3rd pic. I couldn't get it to load in the previous post. I kept getting an error saying there wasn't enough memory. Seems to have worked in a second post. This is the bottom profile of the door assembly showing the gap.

ok this 3rd pic is the one we're after but it is a bit grainy and indistinct in focus. try another maybe / the first 2 were great.

that door should not in average use see in excess of 800* ( most very good virgin silicone will vaporize at that temp ) so a silicone filler should work and be the easiest fix.

you could try that first and is it doesn't hold, you can scribe the door from the height of the gap back to both ends and grind the door down to match the frame. at that point you may have to deal with the hing pins to some degree.

this is an issue brought about by some degree of over firing, most likely with wood, which accelerates much faster than coal. in any case, it should be closed up.

good luck,
steve

OK do you have a name of this 800* sealer? I've been googling for an hour and can't find anything higher then 650* I found some 1500* stuff but it was $48 a tube. Thanks

hardware store 100% silicone atv is all you need. you can get it for 3-4 bucks a tube, and it will be fine even up to intermittent 800*

consider where that door is and what's going on around it. it's below the grates, close to the floor, and pulling the coolest air in the house past itself on it's way in the primary damper. if you ever got that door to 400* the rest of the stove would have already failed and started the house on fire.

for example, right now the hot spot on my custom 3/16 " steel box stove is 425*, the door frame in the same position as yours ( which is hotter than the door itself ) is 160*

i ONCE walked away from this stove mid-tend and came back ( i thought quickly ) to find the stove 700* and my wife about to start spreading sand on the carpet in front of the hearth. the ash door frame was 250* right then.

steve

Yep I understand the bottom door doesn't get that hot but I think I mentioned the top door is the same way so does it need sealed or is overfire air OK with bit coal? Thanks for your help.

sorry since i saw the pic of the bottom door i "ass" umed that's all we were talking about.

i built a custom stove off the Warm Morning #120 which is a larger round barreled version capable of holding 100#'s of coal at once. i sealed both the lower and upper doors in various areas with silicone and had no problems.

i realize you are posting in the Bit sub forum but i had thought it was because of the historical use of these stoves and hadn't considered that you will be using Bit. in any case i can't see there will be much if any diff. in operating temps. you'll just use more over fire air thru the load door to deal with the extra gasses.

steve

OK thanks. I wonder if silicone is ok between the door frame and the barrel on the bottom door only? Once I put cement between the door frame and barrel it's going to crack, because I have to move this around quite a bit yet and that thin barrel flexes very easy.

Got the bottom door sealed. That was a learning experience. I used furnace cement. What a mess. Got it cleaned up as bet I could but that stuff begins to dry alot quicker then I thought it would. Hopefully it won't crack when I start moving it around putting everything back inside. Due to the mechanics of this stove the bottom door has to go on, then heat shield, the grate, bricks, upper heat shield then top door frame, thimble frame and finally top casting. It's going to be tricky keeping the cement from coming loose from the very flexible barrel.