Close Call

With the kids asleep, we were watching tv when Andy went to stoke the fire. Unbeknownst to him as he opened the door, the pin in the top hinge popped out and the door was suddenly at an awkward angle!  I gave a yelp of panic to alert him of the imminent danger. With a glove on one hand, he stood still while I scrambled to get a few oven mits so that we could handle the hot door and rectify the situation!













The pin had unfortunately slotted back into the hole on the stove side preventing the door to close. However we managed to pop it out, angle the door back and secure it shut thanks to the three locks associated with the handle. Obviously we didn't put any wood on and let the fire burn down knowing we had a job to do in the morning.













Our thoughts of a quick fix in the morning were hampered by the fact that as the fire died down overnight the door cooled into a slightly different position to normal and initially we were unable to unlock the handle! With a little perseverance, we opened the door and reinserted the pin. Over the next few days, we kept a close eye on the movement of the pin. It soon became obvious that this was a serious design flaw and a call to the manufacturer was made.


Turns out they were aware of this issue and the solution was a simple one! Two new pins were delivered. These 'special' pins have a groove at the base into which a flange is clipped. As you can see, the pin still makes its way up but can't pop out. A great reassurance to us.  Apart for this minor crisis, we absolutely love our stove and the fire briquettes have burnt beautifully too!