Gasket in the Wrong Place??

Hi. Hopefully Jerry or someone can answer this question for me. I was just oiling my motors and checking my stove over in preparation for the first burn of the season (this will be my second winter with my LL Pioneer). When I was behind the stove, I noticed a gasket material in the back of the stove near where the feeder motor is bolted to the stove. It looked a bit odd, with what looks like flyash on it. So, I removed the grate from inside the stove and took a look inside the stove. Here are a couple of pix of what it looks like inside the stove, and from behind.


In the picture below, it's the gasket on the left side that I'm questioning. The gasket at the top I know is correct. It is to keep the vibration down between the hopper and where it rests on the stove. BTW, my installer did not install that. He left extra gasket with the stove, and I installed it after watching the video (which is very good - thanks Jerry).


So, what I'm wondering is if my installer F*'ed up the assembly and this gasket should not be where it is. And secondly, if I can just loosen the bolts on the back, remove the gasket, and tighten the bolts and be good as new? My guess is that the gasket should not be there, and may have caused some combustion gas to leak into house. I do have CO detectors near my stove and throughout my house, and none registered anything during the course of the year.

Thanks everybody for reading this post, and all the help you've given me from the get go.

If it were me , I would loosen up the 4 bolts that hold the grate assembly in place and slide that gasket up into place and retighten the 4 bolts. It looks as if the gasket had slid down and he tightened things up without noticing the out of place gasket.

Hi Gambler. Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure where I'd slide it up to. That is a separate gasket from the one that the hopper is resting on. It seems to be firmly (and intentionally) attached to where the grate assembly is bolted to the stove.

So, just to confirm, your Pioneer does not have a gasket in place where this gasket is?

Judging fromthe location as shown in the pictures you should be OK with things as they are, even though the gasket seems to be slightly lower than it should be, it is still sealing.

The gasket you are looking at is the one glued to the stoker, this comes as an assembly when the stove is shipped and the dealer simply bolts the stoker in place. As Gambler already suggested you can loosen the stoker and slide the gasket up into place, you might have to slip a putty knife in there to loosen it up so it will slide. If that doesn't do the trick, best bet is to remove the hopper, then reomve the stoker to get the gasket reattached in the right place.

I'm sure Jerry will chime in with some addional info when he gets a chance. In the mean time since you have no CO probelm you should be fine to burn for this season and then tear it down for cleaning and reattacjh the gasket in the spring.

SteelerCoal wrote:So, just to confirm, your Pioneer does not have a gasket in place where this gasket is?

My Pioneer has a gasket at the same place yours does (between the stoker assembly and the stove) but mine is not down into the stove that far. As Matt said it must be sealing ok. But would not like seeing that much gasket exposed.

I think I would let things alone for now. If you try to remove or loosen the burner I can bet that you will break off the 1/4 " bolts holding the feeder in place. If you are concerned with it leaking gas, then I would remove the hopper and place furnace cement in the gap between the feeder and the back of the stove. When you get ready to fix it with new gasket, soak the 1/4" bolts good with a lube so they will come out without breaking.
Jerry

Thanks guys. I fired her up, and she's pumping out the heat. I'll probably replace the gasket after this burn season.

I almost forgot how much heat the stove kicks out, and how quick it heats up. I'm sweating, and loving it. Once again, great stove Jerry.