Seems to me creating a heat differential is the whole point of the heat shield: heat shield-hot, door-cool. The problem is the air space between the two isn't a very good insulator. Stuffing some kind of insulation in there just does what the air is supposed to do, only better. I suppose too big a difference in temp could warp the door; I don't know. Those doors seem pretty stout to me. I've had fiberglass in mine a week or so; keeps the door cool enough to put your hand against it and leave it there.
Another idea might be to add a second heat shield to the existing one. A sheet of steel, 4 bolts and some spacers; would be pretty easy.
Other than being black around the exposed edges, I don't see any change since I put it in. The outside of the door stays cool to the touch and the inside surface of the heat shield is covered with fine brown ash rather than creosote.Don't see any problems so far.
I've had some R13 in the door for about 3 weeks now and have the same results as david78. The outside of the door is cooler to the touch and the inside reflective plate doesn't have the creasote on it as before. The fiberglass insulation is blackened on the outside edges, but other than that, it seems to be holding up.
A hard lesson, but it seems we ( and perhaps other OWB makes & owners ) should have a spare draft blower and a spare pump. The suckers always go out at the worst possible times.. and if I'm not mistaken you aren't the only one that had a failure of either the pump or the draft blower. Might be interesting to know how many more have had an issue with either. It is a warrenty replacement. Make sure you get yours at n/c.
:censored:
I have a Shaver 165, I installed it about 7 weeks ago, I woke this morning, Christmas morning and the house was cold. I checked the fire, fire was fine, but the blower wasn't running, I checked it out and the blower motor has quit working. Good voltage and good ground to the motor, but nothing. NOBODY is open on Christmas, I opened the draft on the blower as far as it would go and the temp came back up, but right now I have absolutely no way to control the temp in the firebox. The blower on mine is made by Dayton, hopefully Grainger will have one in stock tomorrow. Has anyone dealt with Shaver on a warranty claim?While on the way to Grainger the next morning to pick up a blower motor, Billy from Shaver called me and offered to send a replacement or a refund of the one I purchased. He was helpful and professional, I was truly impressed that he called so quickly. We also got a follow up call from Shaver later that day to make sure everything went okay.
I'm very happy with the response time and helpfulness of the Shaver staff.
Thanks.
I had a blower failure in October. Email billy at weldrite and ask him to send you a replacement, he will but it may take a few days to a week. In the mean time buy a replacement from grainger or elsewhere and then you'll have a spare on hand.
FYI, my blower failure was caused by a leaky pipe that dripped on the blower.
Thanks Fletcher,
Got the blower motor coming, Billy and Shaver were great about it. I don't have any leaking pipes, but I do have steam leaking (I think) in the top/back of the unit. Enough steam that the insulation is wet and dripping, it doesn't appear to be dripping on the motor, but the insulation is quite wet. Is this the leak that I'm reading other ppl are having that needs to be resealed around the domestic water coil cover?
Also, I'm going to make the modification to the blower draft and add the soleniod while I'm changing the motor.
Im just wondering why everyone is stressing the need for hi-temp silicone when regular silicone sealer holds up in engines running 240 degrees.The boiler never gets over 200.I used regular silicone sealer,and it is working perfectly,no steaming,no leaking,and i shot the area with my infrared temp lazer,and got 180 degrees.I am getting dripping from inside the roof,mostly because of the expose single wall chimney,leaking all that heat under the roof.I am going to wrap the chimney with hi temp header wrap,and hopefully this will stop the sweating.
I too initially used standard silicone, but after boiling the water once, the steam quickly destroyed that clear silicone. I had steam leaks all around the plate. The worst part was pealing that crap off after the steam hardened it beyond belief. It turned to a hard yellowish plastic blob that took two hours to clean off. I hope you don't have the same experience, but to anyone who hasn't decided what to use yet, please spend the extra $5 on the hi-temp stuff and save yourself the trouble.
Are you talking about wrapping your chimney with solar guard? I added a few more bats of unfaced R30, and it fills the void right up to the roof, but wrapping the chimney first definitely couldn't hurt.If the temps stay around 40 today and tomorrow, I'll wrap my pipe with some leftover solarguard. See if works as well as its supposed to. Two wraps and I should be able to touch it w/out a problem.
As far as the ridiculous slide cover for the copper coil, thats one project thats top of the list for spring. I have no idea what they were thinking when they made that. :censored:
Are you talking about wrapping your chimney with solar guard? I added a few more bats of unfaced R30, and it fills the void right up to the roof, but wrapping the chimney first definitely couldn't hurt.
You better document whatever you come up with for the cover modification. I'm thinking you're on the right track with a rubber gasket, maybe add 4 studs and wing nuts, for removal. I like the idea of the removable cover, lets you see what's going on inside, but not at the expense of the pain in the ass sealing.