McMaster-Carr parts for Monitor 441 - burn mat and gaskets

[guitargirl]

Hello,

Regarding parts from McMaster-Carr for the Monitor 441 heater, I have ordered the items that HayZee518 posted to service my heater.

Silica sheet goods 1/16" thick, size 40"X40" - 9362K16 - $21.50 now $33.82
Silica Fabric - A woven fabric - .026 thick, 36" wide - order by the foot 8799K3 $9.54/ft now $10.52/ft
Silica fabric - .090 thick, 39" wide, per foot, 8851K33 - $26.56/ft now $27.09/ft
BOROSILICATE GLASS - Viewing window material
1/8" thick, 2" X 1" - 8476K321 - $1.20 each – now $3.96 each

I probably should have read his post better, as it now appears I have 3 different materials which I can use for a burn mat….and no gasket material…which is what I need most.

Other folks mention using 9323K21 - Fiberglass Paper Ultra-High Temp Insulation roll - 10 Feet x 16” x 1/8” for their gaskets. Do I need to buy this as well, or could I cut the 9362K16 board into gaskets?

[FYI - 9362K16 is a Heat-Shielding Millboard Insulation with a 1360 degree F maximum temperature, 39” long x 39” wide x 1/16” thick. The dimensions of this item make it expensive to ship! ($70+ in my case!!!)]

My husband usually does the heater servicing, and he has reused the gaskets several times, so I know I will need new ones. This year he is very ill, so I’m getting a crash course in many home maintenance jobs. He rebuilt the burn chamber a year or two ago, so I'm hoping all I need to do is clean the heater and replace the gaskets.

I'm also looking for the pdf of the 441 gasket template.

Thanks so much!

[adnadeau]

Found this on ebay

[adnadeau]

There seem to be a lot more web stores selling Monitor parts these days. It might even be cheaper to just buy the factory gasket than to buy material & cut it to size. Advance Repair Service (KeepUsWarm dot com) has the 6317 top gasket for $24 + shipping. I saw it on eBay for $19.xx & free shipping. The burn mat is also for sale at cheaper prices than it used to be.

[FordMan59]

The 1/16" think material wouldn't be thick enough. I use 9323K21 and it works great in most cases. If I have an area that I'm in question about I simply cut two identical gaskets and double them up. If I recall correctly the only place I've done that is around the igniter. A roll of the gasket material will likely last a lifetime. Most gaskets in my 422 progressively go from one large size down to something a little smaller. Meaning the largest gasket may be something like 7.5OD (outside diameter) x 7"ID (inside diameter) another gasket be 7"OD x 6.5" ID then yet another be 6.5"OD x 6.ID. By them progressively getting smaller you can make most of the gaskets needed to do a complete gasket set out of a piece of material about 8"x8". I bought the roll I have in 2012. I've used on it and sold some pieces off of it to others who needed a piece to make gaskets out of and I've probably still got 7' or so. This is also much stronger material to work with than the original Monitor gaskets on the first use. After they've been exposed to heat for awhile they're like the Monitor gasket material in that they want to come apart when disassembled. You can buy a whole roll of this material for about the cost of 2 or 3 Monitor gaskets.

[guitargirl]

The 1/16" think material wouldn't be thick enough. I use 9323K21 and it works great in most cases. If I have an area that I'm in question about I simply cut two identical gaskets and double them up. If I recall correctly the only place I've done that is around the igniter. A roll of the gasket material will likely last a lifetime. Most gaskets in my 422 progressively go from one large size down to something a little smaller. Meaning the largest gasket may be something like 7.5OD (outside diameter) x 7"ID (inside diameter) another gasket be 7"OD x 6.5" ID then yet another be 6.5"OD x 6.ID. By them progressively getting smaller you can make most of the gaskets needed to do a complete gasket set out of a piece of material about 8"x8". I bought the roll I have in 2012. I've used on it and sold some pieces off of it to others who needed a piece to make gaskets out of and I've probably still got 7' or so. This is also much stronger material to work with than the original Monitor gaskets on the first use. After they've been exposed to heat for awhile they're like the Monitor gasket material in that they want to come apart when disassembled. You can buy a whole roll of this material for about the cost of 2 or 3 Monitor gaskets.

Thank you FordMan! I did buy the 9323K21 and now I've got lots of gasket material, which makes me feel so much better. :-) I now have another issue, and I'll start a new thread about that...the dreaded yellow flame.

[FordMan59]

Glad I was able to help. I occasionally get a flash of yellow flame when it goes from one part of the burn cycle to the other but as long as it's not burning a large continuous yellow flame I don't worry too much about it and I don't have trouble with it sooting up the chamber. When I rebuilt my 422 in 2012 for the first time since new it was burning quite a bit of yellow but the inside of the pot and chamber was still pretty clean. I'd put the heater in service in 1996 and usually burned about 125-150 gallons of fuel per winter in it so the ring had been in use for 16 years. I figure the original ring lasted through at least 2000 gallons of fuel and the 422 probably runs at least 75% of the time on low so that's a lot of hours of run time. Since the rings are getting more expensive I took the new ring out of my 422 and had it welded all around the circumference last year instead of in just the few places done at the factory hoping it would help prevent warpage and last even longer. So far it's not giving any problems welded all the way around. In a few years I'll probably take the ring out and inspect it, if the weld is cracking I'll have it re-welded.

[guitargirl]

Glad I was able to help. I occasionally get a flash of yellow flame when it goes from one part of the burn cycle to the other but as long as it's not burning a large continuous yellow flame I don't worry too much about it and I don't have trouble with it sooting up the chamber. When I rebuilt my 422 in 2012 for the first time since new it was burning quite a bit of yellow but the inside of the pot and chamber was still pretty clean. I'd put the heater in service in 1996 and usually burned about 125-150 gallons of fuel per winter in it so the ring had been in use for 16 years. I figure the original ring lasted through at least 2000 gallons of fuel and the 422 probably runs at least 75% of the time on low so that's a lot of hours of run time. Since the rings are getting more expensive I took the new ring out of my 422 and had it welded all around the circumference last year instead of in just the few places done at the factory hoping it would help prevent warpage and last even longer. So far it's not giving any problems welded all the way around. In a few years I'll probably take the ring out and inspect it, if the weld is cracking I'll have it re-welded.

This is good to know! After my overhaul, Things look pretty good. I get some orange flame here and there, at changes in the cycle, but it doesn't last. And I have no sooting up! I go through about 500 gallons a year and my heater runs pretty hard in the winter.

Just a side thought. I was thinking about the burn rings and how they mushroom out. I remember from clock work about annealing and squelching metals. I wonder if the constant heating anneals the metal and makes it more pliable, and prone to distorting. I thought if a form were made for the ring, for use to put the top back into shape, and then the ring was squelched, if it would be reusable. Maybe these concepts don't apply with such high heat, but it was a thought.

[hawkins111]

Once the burner ring has warped it is no longer serviceable. The metal has changed state and will no longer stand the same amount of heat. One thing you can do to extend your service life is to use the Economy Plus feature. It will keep the heating and cooling cycles down, which will allow the ring to last much longer. The ring and mat are the two things that cause the most service problems. With Economy Plus on, the temp will go 12 degrees over the set temp before cycling off. When the heater starts it goes to Low and continues to burn on Low until the temp is satisfied. You will have to put up with large swings in room temp between On and Off. It does take quit a while on Low to get to the room set temp. Economy Plus can extend your service time quit a bit. I get 6 or 7 years before service, where before I would only get about 3 or 4 years.