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Three hours fighting a flue that just wouldn't seal right
I had a job last Tuesday in an old house near downtown and the flue damper was about half an inch off from closing tight. Took me three hours of adjusting cables and shimming the plate before I got it to seal properly. Anyone else run into flues that seem like they were installed wrong from the start?
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beth_baker691mo ago
tessap98 dropping that grinding tip is gold lol. I had a similar nightmare on a 1920s craftsman and ended up having to file down the whole pivot bracket because the factory tolerances were just garbage. Swapping to stainless cables saved me too, but what really sealed the deal was adding a thin bead of high-temp caulk around the damper frame to close those tiny gaps that still leaked air.
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Man, I feel your pain on those old flues. Had a similar nightmare on a Victorian last fall where the damper was off by almost an inch. What finally worked for me was actually removing the whole damper assembly and grinding down the hinge pin slot just a hair to let it seat better. Also swapped out the old cables for stainless steel ones, they don't stretch as much over time. That adjustment gave me enough room to get the plate flush without shimming it into oblivion.
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spencer1992mo ago
Oh man, tell me about it. I once spent three hours wrestling with a damper on an old house just to realize I'd been trying to install it upside down. Felt like a real genius that day.
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