Warmed up to almost 50* on Sunday so I let the stove idle way down and decided to peek in the chimney to see how we're doing. I lit the stove on Oct. 14th and it's been running ever since. My chimney is set up outside the walk out basement with a T and wall support so I can just take the plug out of the bottom of the T and set the wheel barrow under it and run the sweep brush up through it. That's where it all went south on me. I grabbed the plug (gloves on of course) and it was pretty tight. So I gave it a man sized twist with grunt to get it free and it came out alright... just the pan part and not the twisty section. The four itty bitty spot welds snapped off that keeps the two pieces of the plug together... I had to grab the lip of the "screw" part that was still in the bottom of the T with channel locks and tap them with a hammer to get it freed up enough to twist out. I was miffed... here it is 2 hours before we're supposed to be at a party and I'm supposed to be helping the lady of the house with making horsey doofers for the party and I got a 6" hole in the bottom of the chimney! On the inner rim you can barely see the teensy broke spot weld at the edge of the metal. There were only 4 of them around this thing and when I put the Gorilla Grip on it they popped right off. This is probably the 5th or 6th time this plug has been removed for cleaning since it was installed in 2014. The original airtight stove that was used the first winter was a creasote machine. The new Ponderosa stove makes almost none, maybe 2-4 cups for the hole season. So I figure this never really gets all that hot since the new stove makes very little creasote. JB weld to seal it and some peening with a punch should hold it together as long as I remember to grab the little lip to twist it out instead of grabbing the bottom pan. So I have to make a fixture to get some wood in under where it will need to be peened. So here's the fixture and punch with the plug setting on the fixture. It gets punched on the other side. The reason the pan looks so bad is the first season with the airtight stove there were a few times while loading the stove, it would get enough air that the chimney would start to light and I saw this pan glowing red once. Once the stove was loaded and the air shut down it would go right out. Another reason I'm glad to have an EPA stove opposed to a smoker... I mixed up some JB weld and put around the edge of the pan and the lip on the screwy part that mates to the pan. I had to have the wife help me hold the parts together on the fixture to get it started. Once it was holding I was able to finish peening it all the way around the pan. The edge just above the peening is where the plug seals to the bottom of the outer lip of the T. This is "Supervent" from Menards, not so super in the plug department in my view... Overall seems like good stuff, but the spot welds on this assembly were EXTRA Wimpy! Note to SuperVent! I seemed plenty stout to hold as is and once the JB weld sets up it should be OK. I cleaned off any epoxy that might have gotten to the surface of the T when the plug is put back into the bottom of the chimney. I put it back in and stoked the fire up, assisted the wife in the kitchen and we were only 10 minutes late to the party... (usually we are 15-20 minutes late). Barring a chimney fire (no plans for one anytime soon) I'm thinking the JB weld will hold just fine. Even with the JB Weld giving up, I think there is enough peening that will hold it just fine as well. Panic averted! House is still warm! Wife still loves the moron husband that broke the chimney (I think)! P. S. The chimney had almost no crud in it at all, powdery ash, I didn't even bother getting the brush out.
Makes me wonder about the heating/cooling aspect being much to blame with the welds. Not that they couldn't have done a better job of it. But the expansion/contraction of metal is likely the cause. Glad you were able to get a fix done
yeh, you are right, thermal cycling is very stressful on parts like that. I have noted that since having this EPA stove, even when it is cranking inside with a stove top temp over 700 and flue temps (at 18" up) over 600* that outside where this plug is locate it is never more than just warm to the touch. The reason I use gloves when removing it is to ensure I don't cut myself on any sheetmetal edges. The only time it ever got hot was with the old smoke dragon loading the chimney with fuel.
Possibly old "wounds" coming to bear, but with the recent cold snap, it could've been too much for the weak welds. They should do better for the prices they charge, but that's just my opinion. Once again, glad that you had the insight and knowledge to make a fix and keep the heat flowing.
Nice work, despite the minor setback MAF143 Keep us updated on the longevity of the fix as th season progresses?
Sorry to take so long to reply, I took the picture a week ago and honestly, I thought I had replied... In my head... It is Selkirk. I was loading the stove a bit ago and stepped out to check to see if my fix had come loose or anything. It's still tight and cool to the touch, grabbed it with my bare hands to see if the JB Weld and peening is still holding.
