That’s for sure! For starters, the house is poorly insulated for today’s standards, both in terms of infiltration and R value. I’ve used the term “pushing” the stove here, and had people question what I mean. The stove is undersized for the demand, and is run as close to its limits as we can do - a STT at 450 in the winter is a sign the fire is dying (575 to 600 is our target). Add to that the high draft the first 4 years, a busy household and our first cat stove (i.e., an overfire or two?), and I’m not too surprised or discouraged with two internal cast parts failing. Woodstock has added shielding in their design to the upper part (the part that broke), and we added the stovepipe damper, which makes a night and day difference in our control. I don’t anticipate this being a 30-cord ritual, and from descriptions here many run the stove more sedately than we have. It will be interesting to hear from others as they put more wood through.
Does the ph have a really low maximum temperature due to the stone? You call 575-600 pushing it but in my cheap nc30 I hold 700-750 all the dang time. So just using your stove shouldn’t damage it in 30 cords. That’s a pretty short life, 5-8 years for average burner. That high draft must be the culprit.
Yes, I think the draft is the culprit. The 600 is well within the stove’s comfort range for continual operation. Their thermometer indicates 675 is time to back off. I think when we push the stove we would sometimes overshoot, and before the stovepipe damper we were unable to slow the stove down at all - at best we could keep it from getting even hotter. I remember several very tense nights watching it intently, waiting for the load to be consumed and the temps to retreat.
I know the feeling from experience with a hearthstone and a lopi. Fully closed air control while stove temps climbed well above what I considered safe for the stove or for my home. Fortunately my current stoves can be snuffed at will. That confidence is worth a lot. Sometimes, due to crazy high draft, your stove top can be cool while some internal parts are way over their design Temps.
Very nice write up Flamestead! Thank you for taking the time to share it! I’m sure all PH owners and prospective owners appreciate it. Definitely looks over fired to me. Glad you got a handle on that!
Nice thread and great pics! Good to know parts are replaceable for this series. That does seem like a lot of damage but is still fixable. My Lopi Liberty had some minor baffle cracks and a warped support, too. A welder and replacement parts got it heating again with no issues.
Nothing like a change in the forecast to get me motivated to finish rebuilding the stove! There has been some improvements to some of the stove parts, with additional shielding, like in this pic. This is shown upside down. The rectangle is the bypass door. All this stainless is offset shielding that our original parts didn’t have. Here it is, flipped right-side up. The parts came with quite a bit of the gaskets pre-attached. The other gaskets came in individual bags with notes written on them describing where that gasket was to go, and other instructions, such as trim to fit. (You can see an example on the floor in this pic. )
The cast iron top, not including the griddle or stones, is 42lb. This stove is stout! It got a new gasket, and bolts on with rods at each of the four corners. On the rear, we installed a new damper control. Anyone with the original will know how it sticks a bit, making fine adjustment difficult. I’ll be interested to see how this one works in comparison. The openings were not re-designed, so it still lacks the graduated control one gets with the IS and AS.
I’m doing a few small fires to let the cement cure. Overall this was a straightforward process. I took pics as I disassembled to help with reassembly. Things went well, although I missed putting cement on a couple of spots on the rear air control, so I tore it apart again, recleaned it, and did it right. I have gaskets for the door and ashpan door, but will get to those later this fall. All said and done, I’m pleased with how it went.
This being a cat stove, it may be a bad idea, but for anybody else that wants to be able to get internal stove bolts apart easier in the future, coat the threads with a high temp anti seize. We use Chesterton 725 at work, it's rated to 2600* F. But there are many other brands out there that are rated for 22-2400* F. Look for nickel anti seize. It is almost a requirement on stainless bolts if you don't want them to gauld. Nice write up!
