Hi,
I've been lurking here recently, but now am ready with a couple questions. I've already learned a fair amount from the site -- the knowledge here is great!
I need to overhaul my encore. (I know, they seem to have a love/hate following here.) It's an old one -- 0028. Has worked well for me the 8 years I've lived here (but the stove is closer to 25 years old, not 8.) At least I thought it was working well -- I could get an overnight burn and add to the coals in the morning. We just use it as supplemental heat in the basement.
I noticed the back firewall was warped some months ago, but ignored it, and it cracked -- resulting in a hot fire that I couldn't damp down -- so obviously I quit using it then.
To my surprise, when I took the upper & lower fireback off, the secondary chamber has a lot of ash and the refractory and the metal cover are literally in pieces -- I don't see how it could have been working well recently -- so maybe I'm easy to please.
So I need to replace the upper and lower fireback, refractory, and refractory cover. Just from internet pricing, it looks like those alone will be over $500. The catalyst looks fine, but it's got to be old. That's another $200.
I figure if I'm going to spend over $700 on this, might as well try to do it right, especially now that I have it all apart.
Questions:
-- Do I replace the catalyst - even though it LOOKS fine - just based on the fact it's AT LEAST 8 years old?
-- How do I tell if the secondary air probe & flap are working right? With the stove taken apart, the probe looks ok. The flap is open at rest/cold -- is this correct? Is it supposed to close only when hot? Don't quite know how that is supposed to look.
-- Are you supposed to replace gaskets (doors, ashpan, etc.) just by age, or only if there seems to be air leak problems? I've replace the gasket at the top griddle cover a couple times over the years, but nothing else.
-- Is this stove too old to spend $800 on? Seems well made overall. Seems like their reputation has fallen recently -- but were these earlier generations more respectable/durable?
-- Any other hints or advice? I thought about buying a new one, but it looks like even if I spend $700-800 on parts & gaskets that it's a lot cheaper than a new top loader.
Thanks!
I've been lurking here recently, but now am ready with a couple questions. I've already learned a fair amount from the site -- the knowledge here is great!
I need to overhaul my encore. (I know, they seem to have a love/hate following here.) It's an old one -- 0028. Has worked well for me the 8 years I've lived here (but the stove is closer to 25 years old, not 8.) At least I thought it was working well -- I could get an overnight burn and add to the coals in the morning. We just use it as supplemental heat in the basement.
I noticed the back firewall was warped some months ago, but ignored it, and it cracked -- resulting in a hot fire that I couldn't damp down -- so obviously I quit using it then.
To my surprise, when I took the upper & lower fireback off, the secondary chamber has a lot of ash and the refractory and the metal cover are literally in pieces -- I don't see how it could have been working well recently -- so maybe I'm easy to please.
So I need to replace the upper and lower fireback, refractory, and refractory cover. Just from internet pricing, it looks like those alone will be over $500. The catalyst looks fine, but it's got to be old. That's another $200.
I figure if I'm going to spend over $700 on this, might as well try to do it right, especially now that I have it all apart.
Questions:
-- Do I replace the catalyst - even though it LOOKS fine - just based on the fact it's AT LEAST 8 years old?
-- How do I tell if the secondary air probe & flap are working right? With the stove taken apart, the probe looks ok. The flap is open at rest/cold -- is this correct? Is it supposed to close only when hot? Don't quite know how that is supposed to look.
-- Are you supposed to replace gaskets (doors, ashpan, etc.) just by age, or only if there seems to be air leak problems? I've replace the gasket at the top griddle cover a couple times over the years, but nothing else.
-- Is this stove too old to spend $800 on? Seems well made overall. Seems like their reputation has fallen recently -- but were these earlier generations more respectable/durable?
-- Any other hints or advice? I thought about buying a new one, but it looks like even if I spend $700-800 on parts & gaskets that it's a lot cheaper than a new top loader.
Thanks!