Hi all - I am a longtime reader of this forum and have read the various posts on the old Kent Tilefire stoves. I have a situation I wanted to see if I could draw on the wisdom here to get some guidance on repairing/replacing the stove
- live in mid-atlantic in house I have owned for 7 years that came with a mostly unused Kent Tilefire (~40yo) in place already. I use it daily throughout the winter. I love the stove. It is a powerful convector that heats the main and second floor of my house super well.
- do all my own firewood so I am making sure everything is seasoned properly
- tilefire has developed a tiny crack in the top metal plate (inside, see picture 1) that is interfering with the operation of the baffle to engage the secondary burn. It can become extremely difficult to slide the baffle in and out depending on the state of the stove. I assume I must have overfired it at some point but am usually extremely careful.
- My setup is somewhat strange...my house is mostly open layout and the stove is in a family room with a slanted ceiling going from 15' to 27' with two ceiling fans at the top. There is 6" double wall pipe that runs 22' from the top of the ceiling to the top of the stove. I've had it inspected/cleaned by a couple of companies and no one has been concerned about this setup. Definitely no issue with draft! It is centrally located in my house and has no OAK.
some pictures:
The stove in it's location in my home (ash blanket because this was during a cleaning)
![[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/334/334533-b0350847101ab738b16b3c5bbf98f7ec.jpg?hash=qe8QSqIirv "[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace")
![[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/stove2-webp.334507/ "[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace")
Here is the interior crack. This is taken looking up the flue pipe. The crack is on the door side of the stove and the siver disk is the secondary burn baffle. The edges of the crack bow up into the secondary burn chamber and jam the baffle in place at times.
![[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/interior-webp.334509/ "[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace")
Here is a view of the chimney pipe running to the ceiling. The fan actually has a couple of feet of clearance. The wall on the right is about 16" off the pipe.
![[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/pipe-webp.334510/ "[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace")
And now my questions:
- How can I go about repairing this crack? I tried furnace cement but it did not work. I am not myself a welder but I do wonder if they make house calls.
- Or, if the time has come to replace the stove, could anyone recommend a really nice modern unit that would mimic the convection properties of this stove? I really like how it seems to evenly heat my house. I do have two ceiling fans that are running on high way above it which helps a lot with airflow. I was looking at the regency F3500. I also really like how the Kent has extremely visible flames that light up the room.
- anyone see anything wrong with this setup of chimney pipe? I will perhaps have to replace when I replace the stove and can make changes as needed.
Thanks in advance for any help and for the great forum
- live in mid-atlantic in house I have owned for 7 years that came with a mostly unused Kent Tilefire (~40yo) in place already. I use it daily throughout the winter. I love the stove. It is a powerful convector that heats the main and second floor of my house super well.
- do all my own firewood so I am making sure everything is seasoned properly
- tilefire has developed a tiny crack in the top metal plate (inside, see picture 1) that is interfering with the operation of the baffle to engage the secondary burn. It can become extremely difficult to slide the baffle in and out depending on the state of the stove. I assume I must have overfired it at some point but am usually extremely careful.
- My setup is somewhat strange...my house is mostly open layout and the stove is in a family room with a slanted ceiling going from 15' to 27' with two ceiling fans at the top. There is 6" double wall pipe that runs 22' from the top of the ceiling to the top of the stove. I've had it inspected/cleaned by a couple of companies and no one has been concerned about this setup. Definitely no issue with draft! It is centrally located in my house and has no OAK.
some pictures:
The stove in it's location in my home (ash blanket because this was during a cleaning)
Here is the interior crack. This is taken looking up the flue pipe. The crack is on the door side of the stove and the siver disk is the secondary burn baffle. The edges of the crack bow up into the secondary burn chamber and jam the baffle in place at times.
Here is a view of the chimney pipe running to the ceiling. The fan actually has a couple of feet of clearance. The wall on the right is about 16" off the pipe.
And now my questions:
- How can I go about repairing this crack? I tried furnace cement but it did not work. I am not myself a welder but I do wonder if they make house calls.
- Or, if the time has come to replace the stove, could anyone recommend a really nice modern unit that would mimic the convection properties of this stove? I really like how it seems to evenly heat my house. I do have two ceiling fans that are running on high way above it which helps a lot with airflow. I was looking at the regency F3500. I also really like how the Kent has extremely visible flames that light up the room.
- anyone see anything wrong with this setup of chimney pipe? I will perhaps have to replace when I replace the stove and can make changes as needed.
Thanks in advance for any help and for the great forum
![[Hearth.com] Kent Tilefire repair/replace](/talk/data/attachments/334/334535-dea560b4c59608372a3b8e29203fe3f4.jpg?hash=q-zyN2z8AC)
