Hi all,
the preamble: We have an old home with an old Leyden Hearth wood burning insert. I'm guessing it's 20+ years old and for the 10 years we've been here it's worked pretty well. My only issue with it is that it's not sealed tightly around the glass and there's usually high fanning of the fire- so I tend to go through wood. It does seem to kick out a lot of heat in that room and into upstairs but the rest of that floor gets cold with all that airflow. It's geriatric and now starting to have some issues. The small retaining clips that hold the glass pain against the window frames somehow disappeared (maybe corroded off?) and one could push the glass easily into the firebox. I can't seem to find these clips online. I can get the glass to stay put by wedging small screws around the frame but obviously this a very short term band-aid. I'm considering just sucking it up and spending the $ for a new Vermont Castings insert that the local folks sell (look like stove and labor cost will be around $4k).
question (understanding there's no real answer- just opinion from folks in the know): if I can't find these clips, is it worth it to get a welder to weld new brackets on to hold the glass? Or, with it being old/inefficient should I just suck it up and get a new stove? I don't want to be wasteful and certainly I'm not jumping to spend $4k-- but we love burning wood in the winter and I'm wondering if I should just suck it up and get the new stove.
Opinion?
Thanks all.
