Hi,
HardiBacker will last a few days until you get a replacement. I would double it up if I were you.
Running without a baffle
- Thread starter gyrfalcon
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HardiBacker will last a few days until you get a replacement. I would double it up if I were you.
Oh, there you are! One sheet will make a number of baffles for my small stove, so I will do as you suggest if it slips in there easy, and if not just be ready to keep replacing it. I really don't want to spend 50 for a repacement for a stove I'm only going to be running another couple of months and then be getting rid of.
Thanks for pioneering on the subject. How long did yours last?
Averaged about 6 days burning 24/7. Keep an eye on them though. Once they are in the stove and used for a while they get pretty brittle and just cleaning the ashes out will crack them if hit with the poker. You don't want to run your stove without some type of baffle.
Wow, that's much shorter than I was hoping for.
Was this in the Napoleon 1900? Do you remember what temperatures you were running at? Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I'm hoping that it'll last a good bit longer in mine because my firebox is about a third the size of the Napoleon and the cruising temperature maxes out around 400. (I can get it higher than that, but only with a lot of trouble and very small splits and then only for a short time.)
I would think most any small town has someone around withing a 10 or 15 mile radius that can cut some metal with a torch band saw something and might have a piece of steel to make a baffle. Think out of the box a farm a boiler repair place junk yard steel salvage place. Bring a cardboard template and say I need one of these and bring a piece of the old one so they have some idea how thick to make it. If th3e dealer has to order one there will be all sorts of shipping charges for your 'special' order etc and possibly a long wait as over night air on steel is wildly expensive. You will spend a good deal changing the hard rock one every week and what happens if it fails while you are sleeping? Run away? house full of smoke if it falls into the fire and makes it smolder all night?
This should only be thought of as a temporary repair. In the meantime order one to be sent to you or picked up at your local Hearthstone dealer.
Thanks for the suggestion, but doing all that running around and finding this and that and somebody to do the other is more trouble than the $50 for the baffle is worth. And geez, I don't know why the fire would smolder if a temp one broke or fell down, nor why that would cause an airtight stove to belch smoke into the house.
You said you plan on selling the stove, so you may as well get the baffle now and use it yourself. No one would want to buy a stove without a baffle, or with a makeshift one.
No, not selling it, giving it away. There are too many things on it that need fixing to ask anybody for $$ for it.
Then the 50 a gift... what is the heat worth between now and you give it away might be the only other question.
Well, so far, it's doing OK with 3/4 of a baffle-- not getting to the peak heat I can get out of this tiny stove with my best firewood split way down and perfect timing of air, reloads, etc., but since it's February already, I can live with being slightly chillier than usual on the coldest evenings for a few weeks. I'm thinking the 3/4 baffle with a slab of that Hardibacker behind it should do pretty well, since only the far inch or so on each side of the baffle would be unprotected Hardibacker. We'll see how it goes.
Yes this was in the Napoleon 1900. I ran hot well above 400 all the time. You should see longer times. Plus if its smaller, it will be stronger.
That's what I figured. As above, about 3/4 of the baffle (lengthwise) is intact, so I'm thinking if I put a piece of the Hardibacker behind it, the real baffle will take the bulk of the heat and support the Hardibacker stuff except for an inch or two on each end. I'm just super-reluctant to put any more money than necessary into this stove to get me through this heating season since I can't sell it in good conscience anyway but will have to give it away. If somebody can get a working stove for the price of a new baffle, it'll be an incredibly good deal for them.
As long as you are up front about the issues you shouldn't have qualms about selling it. I would sell the stove with full disclosure for at least $200. The parts and stones are worth more than that. I think it will sell quickly.
Great advice. Thanks, I'll give that a shot. Now that I think of it, there are a number of reconditioned stove sellers who post to Craigslist in this area.
In my 1900 after replacing them 3 times the stove shop told me to just use stove bricks instead of that fiberboard looking stuff. the bricks lasted 4 yrs before I converted to pellets.
Hmmm? Your 1900 what? I don't think they make firebricks that would fit in my Tribute. The baffle is 10.5 by 5.5 inches.
I did end up cutting a couple out of a sheet of Hardiebacker, but they only lasted a couple days before developing a big crack in the middle, so I ended up slogging up to the dealer and getting an Official Authorized Baffle replacement for about 35 bucks. While I was there, I bought a bigger stove for next year!
Thanks! I got a Homestead, which after spending 40 minutes or so with the salesman was clear was the only stove that would work in my set-up without really major reworking of the hearth and the flue. Since the Tribute alllllmmmmost does the job, I'm thinking the Homestead is just enough bigger to do me right. I'm really mortally tired of being chilly for half the winter, I can tell you that.Rock on Gyr!
What did ya get?
colin.p
Burning Hunk
That is why I try to stay far away from Stove stores. I could see me come out with a new stove also. At least you have your issue resolved for the remainder of this year and the following years as well.
Yeah, it's like being a kid in a candy store, isn't it? When I bought this little stove secondhand from neighbors who were moving, I was only intending to use it occasionally in the evenings for fun. Then the price of oil went through the roof and my income plummeted, and I had to ask it to do something it just isn't intended to do. It's done its best, but I'm increasingly ground down by the hassle and decided to raid the retirement account to get a bigger one.
If the new stove is the right one for the task it may give you a better return and make a more comfortable retirement than leaving the money in the account would do. Especially if you aren't paying for oil at $4/gallon. The compounded returns may be huge.
Matt
Matt
For sure more comfortable and less stressful. I don't use more than a couple hundred gallons of oil a year as it is, but at these prices, even cutting that only by 50 percent does save some bucks. But more importantly, it's always good to have the right tool for the job!
My napoleon1900 wood stove a standard fire brick is 4 1/2 x 9 I used 4 on each side of my 1900. You can have any stove shop or tile guy cut your brick to the 5 1/2 that you need and they make a 2 1/4 x 9 also so they could cut that to length also. I think the orig. fiber one in my 1900 was 4 x 9x9 2 for each side.
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