Recently I've noticed that the door latch on my stove has need adjustment often. It would get so tight that I would have to pound it open. The latch uses a single nut for adjustment, with interference thread so it stays where you put it. I just figured the threads were getting worn and the nut was moving.
Than I started getting the smell of smoke in the house on occasion. I thought that was strange because I've ever had that problem. And the stove was running hot, I'd shut down the air inlet and close the flue damper all the way... still running hot.
Anyway, I get home from work Friday night and the house smells like a campfire and the wife tells me the stove is real hard to open and close... so I go down to adjust the latch again. But I know something just ain't right and I get to looking things over. Holy Crap! The top of the door is closed but the bottom of the door is cracked open nearly a half inch!
My stove has three heavy cast iron grates that the fire burns on. Well the the bottom of door was being held open by the grate and I couldn't push it back. The wife had just filled the stove and had real blazer going so there wasn't a lot I could do. Next morning, after the fire burned out, I pulled the three grates out. Two of them had warped (or swelled?), pushing apart from each other, forcing the grate by the door out. A bit of grinder work and I had them squared-up and now the door closes fine and the stove runs like it should again.
I've never heard of cast iron warping like that... surprised the heck out'a me. I'll bet we've been running the stove with the door open for maybe three weeks. Now that I think about it, it did seem like we were using a lot of wood, short burn times. The door was closing on the top so I didn't notice and I was able to control the fire (mostly) with the flue damper. And now the house doesn't smell like a campfire!
Than I started getting the smell of smoke in the house on occasion. I thought that was strange because I've ever had that problem. And the stove was running hot, I'd shut down the air inlet and close the flue damper all the way... still running hot.
Anyway, I get home from work Friday night and the house smells like a campfire and the wife tells me the stove is real hard to open and close... so I go down to adjust the latch again. But I know something just ain't right and I get to looking things over. Holy Crap! The top of the door is closed but the bottom of the door is cracked open nearly a half inch!
My stove has three heavy cast iron grates that the fire burns on. Well the the bottom of door was being held open by the grate and I couldn't push it back. The wife had just filled the stove and had real blazer going so there wasn't a lot I could do. Next morning, after the fire burned out, I pulled the three grates out. Two of them had warped (or swelled?), pushing apart from each other, forcing the grate by the door out. A bit of grinder work and I had them squared-up and now the door closes fine and the stove runs like it should again.
I've never heard of cast iron warping like that... surprised the heck out'a me. I'll bet we've been running the stove with the door open for maybe three weeks. Now that I think about it, it did seem like we were using a lot of wood, short burn times. The door was closing on the top so I didn't notice and I was able to control the fire (mostly) with the flue damper. And now the house doesn't smell like a campfire!
