Did I do a bad thing? LOL.

Where do you see rust Welkirk? I dont have any rust on the outside of the stove that I am seeing....just on the inside Maybe you are seeing the high temp red silicone mess mixed in with the furnace cement? The top is covered with dust too....I am not the best housekeeper.
Red Ash...my dad asked me the same thing. I will try to check it out tonight. It wont be hard to get it dark around the stove........my cellar is like a dungeon.
I'll have to get help if I take the hopper off. That does not sound like fun. I'll try to figure out what is going on using Red Ash's idea first before starting in on taking it apart.
thanks for all your input!
-deb

My bad, It thought that reddish-brown stuff in the middle of your furnace cement was corrosion. When I blow the picture up alittle, I can see it's high temp silicone. Sorry.

What a cob job, eh? Why does this silicone have to be red? I tried to scrape most of it off before I put the cement on, but, I couldnt get it all off.

byrdy, is the red patch in the middle of the cement rust or silicone? I thought it was rust just as coalkirk did. It is not a big deal to have some rust in that area as the moisture from the coal can corrode that area. Your stove is vented with a top mounted power venter. On this type of stove you must have the draft set properly or your exhaust may leak out of the stove and into the house. Keystokers have a safety cut off that senses if the exhaust is not being sent outside. The sensor will shut down the stove in a major malfunction, but the stove will continue run in a situation where the draft is too low. This low draft situation would allow some exhaust to be blown into the house. I am not saying that this is happening but it is another scenario which would explain some of your problems. When you check with the flashlight check the top of the hopper with the lid off. LsFarm's hopper theory works well in a low draft situation.

deb,
I would recommend contacting your dealer right away and seeing
what they say about this. If the top of your stove truly had come
apart at the weld, I would think the manufacturer would want to
know about it.
If it is a gasket down below, where the hopper meets the back
of the stove,, that is a different story, as you probably do have
some sort of gasket there.

byrdy, Skip my first question. You beat me with your last post 8)

byrdy11 wrote:What a cob job, eh? Why does this silicone have to be red? I tried to scrape most of it off before I put the cement on, but, I couldnt get it all off.

Try a stiff wire brush.

Byrdy11,


There is a much easier way to check that seam for a leak. There is a commercialy availiable product that can check for a cracked weld seam. It is called spot check, or magnaflux is another name. It consists of a penatrant and a developing agent. You would have to shut the unit down and clean off all that furnace cement and silicone. Next you would clean the ash off the unit's inside along the seem in question. Then you will take and spray the penatrant liberally along the inside seam. Then usually and this depends on the product you wait a few minutes and you would then spray the developing agent on the outside of the seam. If there is any crack or fissure in the weld the penetrant will show up red on the outside as well. You can probably pick up the stuff at a welding supply shop or at Graingers for about $ 20 for both. A note of caution ventilate the basement as well as you can the vapors are somewhat hazadous and try not to inhale it. Also spray the penetrant on the inside because it will stain the developer will wash off. Also Lsfarm is right weld seams should be covered under a stove body warranty.

Hey dutch, you must be bad luck himself. You just recommend calling the company and within hours it almost burns to the ground! That is some funny stuff.

hopefully it wasn't one of their stoves burning in the plant,
with a bad weld,,, that caused the fire!!

it sounds like they will be able to recover quickly and get
things going again.

let's hope so, it's a terrible thing no matter how bad the
fire was.

Do not weld that or put gasket there,you need to check your draft it is a direct vent stove you are not getting proper draft i am suprised the safety switch has not shut it off.

I just just called the dealer where xh bought the stove....and the owner was convinced that the direct vent is probably in BAD need of a cleaning.....so it appears as though I need to take the direct vent off the top and clean it! And maybe clean the pipe leading to the chimney too-with a broom handle he suggested! Fun stuff. So, that is the first order of business. I think I will round up some help, or at least back up for when I really screw things up!
As the world turns.....stay tuned!

Thanks for taking the time to read my posts, look at my pictures, and offer some advice. I truly do not know very much here, and although I'm not unintelligent, it is pretty intimidating, although the paper manual that came with the stove is like "Keystoker maintenance for dummies" with really good pictures, etc. NOw I"m trying to decide when to do it, and maybe thinking it will be a good weekend project, turning the stove off on a friday night and doing it late on saturday or something. I hope it's not too hard. This single life is tough sometimes! I'm cheap too, and dont want to pay someone to do something I MIGHT be able to do myself!

byrdy11 wrote: I'm cheap too

You and everone else here.

Well, I finally got around to taking the direct vent off to see what was going on....bad ash build up! I cleaned it and oiled the fan and all that...cleaned and vacuumed the whole thing. It took me a couple of hours and now it's good. No smoke or anything. The ash build up was really bad. Now I know I guess!
thanks for all the advice!