Crack in wood stove

[Skeletor]

This is a modern Blaze King wood stove with a catalytic converter it was bought new 15 years ago. Plus we have CO detectors in the house.

I understand the idea of the stop drilling but can't leave a hole in my wood stove. I will try drilling then welding the hole afterwards. Worst thing that will happen is it will crack again and I will weld it again, maybe with a different method or material.

I bet my blaze king cracked in exactly the same spot. I drilled a hole at the ends of the crack and ground down the weld witha cutoff wheel. then mig welded it up. I emailed blaze kind but they didn’t even respond…….

 

[jaxs]

Metal repair is one of my fields but even I understand cast iron can't be welded with same filler as commonly used for steel. Unfortunatly the filler color contrasts to the parent metal. Nickel alloy rod for stick and wire,silicon bronze for gas braze. I suppose paint would cover it ok. I suggest doing some research at Welding Tips And Tricks.com before having another go at it.

 

[big bubba]

as mentioned, drill both ends, grind slight v groove along crack & braze w/flux coated rod. might consider slight pre heat as well. repaired a crack in cast iron pump housing, worked fine. regards

 

[Hilbilly]

As I have already noted this is a mild steel stove there is no cast iron.

There have been several suggestions to use brazing rod and I will do some checking on that. Maybe it is more capable of dealing with the expansion and contraction these stoves go through

Skeletor: did your weld hold and did you weld in the hole?

 

[big bubba]

ok sorry, missed that. much easier to repair

 

[Hilbilly]

ok sorry, missed that. much easier to repair

no problemo, lol.

I just found another hairline crack at the bottom right hand side of the door. Appears to be a weak spot at the door frame. Funny thing is I have an older Blaze King Princess that I use my shop and it does not have these issues. I suspect the problem with the King is that it has a larger door opening and that combined with the thin steel plate, lacks the strength required in that area.

I recall questioning the thin steel used on these stoves when I bought the Princess (about 20 years ago) and was told they had not experienced that being an issue, yet every other stove they sold had much thicker steel. For the price of these stoves you would think Blaze King would make them a little more durable.

 

[big bubba]

sounds like you're on the right track though. were it cast, much more problematic
you might post before & after repair images, good luck
also, after repair, (sounds very tacky) but wonder if you could tack a baffle plate on the door interior to help avert future issues?

 

[Hilbilly]

It will be a while though as I don't plan on doing this until the heating season is over or just about over.

 

[Skeletor]

As I have already noted this is a mild steel stove there is no cast iron.

There have been several suggestions to use brazing rod and I will do some checking on that. Maybe it is more capable of dealing with the expansion and contraction these stoves go through

Skeletor: did your weld hold and did you weld in the hole?

It held fine. I didn’t drill a large hole so I just welded it shut. Maybe 1/8” or 3/16” I forget.

 

[Skeletor]

To me the kings door opening weld looks like it wasn’t welded with enough wire or the robot went too fast. It just looks like it’s too flat. I went to school for welding and welded for my job for many years.