Baffle on a Quadrafire - 1988

Hello,
I have a 1988 Quadrafire 2000 series. Recently happened to take a look at the baffle and it has a gigantic hole in the middle, looks melted through. I was finally able to order a baffle, but now I have no clue how to remove the old one. I found an old manual on Quadrafire's web site, but the internals are rather different from what they show. I've included a picture of the interior as I'm not even sure that the secondary-combustion tubes(?) are okay. They also have a different layout than the manual I tracked down as there is only one in the back going from side-to-side, and then one tube going from back to front that is connected to the one in the back. I feel like I'm rambling on about this, but would love some input. Thanks!

Chris Conant wrote:Hello,
I have a 1988 Quadrafire 2000 series. Recently happened to take a look at the baffle and it has a gigantic hole in the middle, looks melted through. I was finally able to order a baffle, but now I have no clue how to remove the old one. I found an old manual on Quadrafire's web site, but the internals are rather different from what they show. I've included a picture of the interior as I'm not even sure that the secondary-combustion tubes(?) are okay. They also have a different layout than the manual I tracked down as there is only one in the back going from side-to-side, and then one tube going from back to front that is connected to the one in the back. I feel like I'm rambling on about this, but would love some input. Thanks!

Baffling.
(couldn't resist, but I'm done now. ahem.)

The "should this lead to nowhere" part looks to me like it could be bringing the pre-heated air supply for your secondary combustion, coming from air intakes in the sides or bottom of the stove. Hard to tell; the end of that pipe does look mangled. But it might be supposed to dump there near the door, and just have lost some of the end of the pipe. Can you see any other dead end holes, like on the sides where an "H" might have been supported?

We have limited experience taking apart woodstoves; sometimes the plates come apart with screws or bolts, sometimes sections just lift off, sometimes it's not designed to be easy at all.

But I would try the folks at www.chimneysweeponline.com, or at some of the older stove shops like http://www.bryantstove.com/. The former is pretty well informed about current stove trends; the latter are very good at restoring older models (though by "older" they usually mean 100+ year old antiques).

I would also be tempted to use a refractory material or coating on the new slab. Iron and steel are just not that good at surviving the temperatures of clean combustion, and iron stoves are often hopelessly optimistic about this. Not sure if there is an approved upgrade, but if you do track down someone who actually knows in the process of this repair job, it might be worth asking about it. There are reflective paints and coatings that might help - you can read about some of them on home blacksmith sites.

Yours,
Erica W

one other thought looking at your picture - looks like you may need to replace some firebrick in the back, too.

-erica

Chris, I am having to replace the same tubes and cannot find them anywhere. Do you remember where you were able to get a replaement from.
Also what model is  your stove.  Thanks for any help