mal functioningKent Tile Fire damper

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Hello,
Hope someone might give me some advice. I have had many good years of service from my Kent Tile Fire Stove. Been using it since 1987. I have not been able to locate the manufacturer. I believe they are in New Zealand. My problem is either the damper rod or the damper rod guide must be a little bent. When the stove is cold or very cool I can move the rod almost freely. When it heats up the only way I can close it down is by pounding the rod closed or pressing down on the rod close to the chimney. This takes a lot of effort!! I hope I can repair it, and not have to buy a new stove. Many thanks for any help.
cps

 

[thechimneysweep]

Hey cpstern,

The first thing to check is the little brass plate that raises and lowers to lock the door when you push and pull the bypass rod. Make sure it is passing through both cutouts in the trim plate, and moving freely. Next, disconnect the stovepipe and remove the porcelain stovetop (it just lifts off). Work the bypass rod a few times, and straighten it if it appears to be bent. Make sure the guide grommet the bypass rod passes through is being held tightly in place, and that the rod is free to slide through it. Next, examine the hole the bypass rod plugs into at the top of the bypass "puck" that covers and uncovers the hole in the top plate: clean out any accumulated ash.

If all checks out, it could be your top plate has begun to warp, and is pinching the bypass puck when it heats and expands. If that's the case, your poor old Tile Fire is on its last legs: consider buying a replacement stove before Dec. 31st, when the 30% wood stove tax credit runs out.

 

[cobrakid95]

I found this on the fourm. I hope it helps. Read the last part.


First, a few technical details not mentioned in the manual that should be useful for understanding. maintaining, and troubleshooting a Tile Fire/Sherwood.

The first pic is the secondary chamber baffle at the top of the firebox. There’s a lot going on in this chamber so it deserves a close look. The air/flame/smoke gets mixed together while being pulled through the holes on their way to the chimney pipe. This ‘forced mixing’ is not common in more modern stoves, which instead provide an excess of air to aid secondary combustion.

The next pic is a tad out of focus and requires some explanation. It is looking through the chimney connector to the inside of the secondary chamber. The mirror is positioned so you can see inside toward the front of the chamber. There you can see a steel plate (B) which is placed a couple inches behind the holes and covers all but the outer 2.5†on either side. The flames/air/smoke gets pulled through the holes and is forced to mix in this ‘mini-chamber’ before exiting through the small openings (A) on either side of the plate into the larger chamber and then out the chimney. Simple but effective.

Tom Oyen gave good instructions on checking the damper control rod in this thread:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/65588/

The next two pics show the bypass damper in open and closed positions. Yours should be able to move between these two positions easily. The steel plate serves as a stop for the damper in full open position. The damper “puck†floats on the baffle surface and on the control rod end (i.e. it is not attached to the rod) so it should accommodate a reasonable amount of warpage of the chamber bottom.

One thing about this secondary chamber is that a significant amount of fly ash accumulates up there with use. My stove accumulated 3 shovels full of very fine ash in 10 or so seasons of mild use. That’s quite a lot. Cleaning/vacuuming out the ash should be a part of your annual maintenance.

I first used a plastic kitchen spatula to scoop the ash into the firebox below. While doing so, I unknowingly pushed some of the ash between the damper “puck†and the steel plate. I then tried operating the damper control rod, and it was binding toward the full open position. Odd, since it wasn’t binding before I cleaned. So I vacuumed out the area behind the puck, and then it operated smoothly again. So if yours is binding, clean out this area in front of the plate before you pronounce your baffle warped.

 

[Flaymm]

We have a Kent tile fire and last night it kept blowing big gusts of smoke back out through the vent above the door, into the room. The whole house very quickly filled with smoke and fine ash and hubby eventually gave up and let it die out. Tonight it is fine but does anyone know why it does this and how we can stop it happening in the future? Rental property, no instruction booklet and hubby isn't overly familiar with combustion type stoves anyway. Thanks