Yeah, I know a lot of floors aren't level or even, but, the stove did NOT rock when it was installed, and NOW it does......so something happened on my 3rd burn to cause this......and yeah, I shimmed it. It took about .150"
clr8ter said:I don't think anyone's really reading my posts. I KNOW floors aren't level. I KNOW it needs to be shimmed. I KNOW cast iron won't conform to floor variations. What I don't know is WHY WAS IT NOT ROCKING AFTER INSTALL, AND NOW AFTER 3 FIRES IT IS, AND IS IT A BIG DEAL
Changing my screen name to frustrated......
Thank you Firefighterjake for coming the closest to answering the question, with "Nope"
Sounds like the hearth or floor shifted from the heat.. in either case, you dont have to yell in all caps and explanation marks.clr8ter said:I KNOW floors aren't level. I KNOW it needs to be shimmed. I KNOW cast iron won't conform to floor variations. What I don't know is WHY WAS IT NOT ROCKING AFTER INSTALL, AND NOW AFTER 3 FIRES IT IS, AND IS IT A BIG DEAL
Dexter said:It is the nature of cast iron to not like to bend. There is a coefficient of expansion as it heats and cools. But, as one side of the stove gets hot, it will push on the front, or back, as the case may be, and if the sides were connected rigidly together, the expansion of one piece tries to "bend" the other pieces. This is why iron stoves are "slotted" together -- and not very tightly; the air seal is made with the refractory/furnace cement. This means that iron stoves are relatively "loose". That is, some pieces (or plates) of the stove will move more than others, particularly over the first few burns. This is normal, I assure you. This is normal.
If you look at the internal bolt connections in your stove, you will notice that they are positioned to limit movement on one axis, but not on the other two dimensisions, because forcing cast iron to bend (through expansion) is something like trying to bend a fresh graham cracker or potato chip! The way your stove (or any good cast iron stove) is built, will actually allow the stove to "rack" or "parallelogram" as is settles in to shape. This will also loosen enough sealing cement that you will likely find several inches of seam cement in your emptied ashes in the first couple of months. Don't worry about it. It's just the excess gobs of the stuff. The cement in the cracks is still sealing the gap.
The other gentlemen on the site are right. a washer or a nickle will do the trick. (My Firelight was cured with a washer about 10 years ago. It also condensed creosote where cold intake air met hot smoke, and it came dribbling out of the intake manifold at the back -- and it stunk. I shortened the horizontal run of the stove pipe by about 7 inches, but I now expect that the problem would have stopped on its own.
I found myself fretting gravely over the "faults" of my stove, when new. Now, I have learned it, and I love it, and have saved uncounted thousands of dollars on heating bills over the past 11 seasons. Experiment. Become one with your stove. Figure out the most efficient burn for your setup, and groove with the penetrating warmth it will give you.
Best Regards, and happy burning...
Dexter
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