Godin Leaky Lid

Hello,
I have a Godin Petit Round coal stove that was handed down from my Grandfather. It seems like a great little stove. We are burning wood in it now, but would like to switch over to coal soon. Initially, when I would light a wood fire, smoke used to seep out from quite a few places.I used some of the high temp caulk-like stuff to seal all the areas I could get to. Now, everything has dried and seems ok, but smoke still seeps out from the top lid. The only thing I did to the lid was use a wire brush and steel wool to remove a little rust that was sitting where the two surfaces meet. Does the top lid on a round, top load stove need to be air tight? While burning coal, is it harmful to anyone in my house if there are some leaks? (CO detectors are in place)

Thanks for such a great source of coal information
Shad

Any exhaust either Wood or Coal can be deadly. I would try and seal them up the best you can, maybe use some aluminum foil around the lid and press it down into place, that might help seal it better, but still be able to remove it if needed.

godin is a famous old name in coal stoves. Search the forum (upper right) for "godin" and you will find surprisingly few listings. But perhaps they will lead you to other users who can provide info.

Does it look like the top and body are supposed to meet with just metal-to-metal, or is there maybe a gasket missing? is there a grove in either one where a gasket might go?

Someone suggested hearth.com as a source for godin parts -- maybe if you're lucky they will have a parts manual with exploded diagrams. A google search of "petit godin manual" turns up a number of hits that look useful, though I didn't check out more than a couple.

As WNY says, leaks are dangerous, though if it's just for a minute when first starting the stove that's not so bad. One would think, once there's a good draft going, that air would be drawn into a small leak rather than gases coming out. Not that that is good, either, as too much air above the fire could make for burnability problems.

Good luck with it!

Thanks for the replies!

I called a local stove shop, and the guy said it wouldn't matter if there was a 1" hole in the top, as long as you have a good draft, there will be a vacuum, and no coal gas will escape, does this seem correct?

thanks

Shad

I got mine to seal by lapping it with valve grinding compound. Lid & mating surface are soft cast iron, laps in fairly quick.

Sounds like your stove shop guy hasn't used stoves (or burned coal) very much with a comment like that.

rberq wrote: As WNY says, leaks are dangerous, though if it's just for a minute when first starting the stove that's not so bad. One would think, once there's a good draft going, that air would be drawn into a small leak rather than gases coming out. Not that that is good, either, as too much air above the fire could make for burnability problems.

rberq is on the right track here. If you have a decent chimney system, a leaky old stove may smoke(brief puff of smoke)just at start up but then shouldn't leak smoke into the room once the fire is going good. If smoke rolls out when you open the door after a hot fire has been going for a while, I would suspect a chimney/draft problem.
Tell us about the chimney, size, interior/exterior, type, etc. Does it just smoke briefly at start up?

I also have a Godin coal stove and it has lots of leaks. I had the old firebrick and a cracked door replaced. Two "technicians" have worked on the replacement with very poor results. There are some gaps in the firebrick and I found just about every joint leaks when I put a smoldering stick in the stove and closed it up.
Can anyone suggest someone who truly knows how to disassemble and re-seal a coal stove so that the joints don't leak? It is impossible to control the burn in the stove because of the air infiltration.

WNY- thanks, safety first- Wife, 8 yr old and two crazy dogs.

rockberg/rberq- thanks for the tips, I will post pics and measurements tomorrow.

djackman- great tip on the lapping

thanks to everyone!
Shad

Is the leak at the actual lid that swings open or the top of the outer case? If the leak is around the case, you should be able to remove, apply some stove cement and connect the top back down. I saw this happen on a Godin I was messing around with last summer. But it only leaked initially when I started the wood fire. Once the draft was flowing, it actually pulls air thru the lid and case. Some cement can't hurt.

Here are some pics of the stove and chimney
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the chimney on the right is for the stove, the one on the left is for the oil boiler.

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I don't have a lot of height between the back of the stove and the elbow, do you think I could get a barometric damper in there?

I want to get a good draft before switching to coal...any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated

Shad

Shad, Can you post of an image of the rear of your stove? I'd like to see the flue connection.
I think you have room for a baro between the wall and the elbow with some to spare.

Thanks Cap!

Here is a pic from each side

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thanks again

Shad

Shadscbr wrote:I want to get a good draft before switching to coal

The baro damper can be placed on either a vertical or a horizontal pipe. As Cap says, it looks like there is room for it on the horizontal run between the upper elbow and the chimney.

I am not sure what to make of your comment "get a good draft", in conjunction with the baro question. The baro won't increase draft, it will reduce it to the proper level if you have too much draft. Your chimney looks like it has adequate height to provide good draft. The only worry might be, because it is exposed to cold outside air, at low stove outputs the flue gases might be chilled too much to maintain the draft. Have you ever had back-drafting/smoking problems while burning low wood fires in the stove?

Yes, we do seem have some back draft during lighting/low heat situations. We live on top of a hill and sometimes the wind comes rushing up with some gusto, i'm not sure how that influences my situation.

thanks
Shad

The baro damper can be placed on either a vertical or a horizontal pipe. As Cap says, it looks like there is room for it on the horizontal run between the upper elbow and the chimney.
The baro won't increase draft, it will reduce it to the proper level if you have too much draft. Your chimney looks like it has adequate height to provide good draft. The only worry might be, because it is exposed to cold outside air, at low stove outputs the flue gases might be chilled too much to maintain the draft.

This advise is right on the money.

We live on top of a hill and sometimes the wind comes rushing up with some gusto, i'm not sure how that influences my situation.

Wind can drastically increase your draft. A baro damper will compensate for this but I would wait till you're burning only coal before installing the baro because the baro will cool the chimney and cause creosote to build more quickly. Because the chimney is on the exterior of the house it will be cooler and more prone to creosote build up as well.
One more thing, and I don't mean to preach, but I would move the fire wood away from the stove just to be safe. You don't want a spark to pop out into the wood pile.