Cleaning for Spring/Summer

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robb
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Post by robb » Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 11:00 am

Ok I am going to be firing down for the spring. What do you guys do to clean your stove?

I was going to
#1: Take all stove pipe out and clean it, leave it out for the summer (i can put in a low humidity area) and place insulation and cap over hole)
#2: Take liner out of hopper and clean it thoroughly
#3: Clean all ash and fines out of inside
#4: clean an inspect glass
#5: clean and inspect rope gaskets.....

What do you clean hopper and pipe with (solution or just vacuum and wipe out?)

Thanks in advance

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 11:47 am

Most use a water and baking soda solution to neutralize the acids. Dry thoroughly and store in a low humididyty area like you said. I also use LPS3 spray on the metal surfaces. Should look great in the fall when its time to fire up.

 
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Uglysquirrel
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Post by Uglysquirrel » Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 12:09 pm

Used that dessicant granular stuff (see last years posts under" dessicant") you can buy at HD in the plastic holder plus a larger refill bag to keep the RH down in the stove, put the disassembled stovepipes/baro in there as well (pocono...big interior), also had a cheap digital RH meter in there, lowest it ever was was 18% RH, when the dessicant got worn out went up to ~38% RH, so it told me when to change the dessicant, which was pretty much once a month. Put a taped message on stove frt to remind me when dessicant changed last, feeble mind I have.

Cover exhaust pipe as you mentioned, push plastic bags into stoker feeder slot to keep humid air out of interior. did not remove stoker but cleaned stove inside with vac and steel wool.

i did not wash pipe and stove insides with neutralizing solution, just cleaned off ash with brush & steel wool, this year I will do same plus LPS 3 anti-rust on pipe Id's..stuff is VERY good but not cheap. Found first year with pipes that after using the baking soda solution on pipes you need to coat with the LPS3 soon or rust will form. Seamless steel pipes now ending 3rd year, still seem robust. Hope this helps.


 
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lowfog01
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Post by lowfog01 » Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 2:43 pm

I disconnect the chimney connector black pipe and check it for pinpoint holes. I replace it if necessary. My chimney is a class A pipe on the outside of my house so I close off the inside pipe off at the thimble with a black pipe cover and open the clean out valve on the bottom of the chimney. Then I spray the inside of my chimney with the garden hose to remove as much fly ash as I can and try to get a covering of baking soda down the inside. Once the chimney is dry I close it up and ignore it until the fall.

On the stove itself I vacuum out the ash, remove the fire bricks, vacuum again. If your stove has a ceiling baffle try to get as much ash off of it as possible. I look for any rust that may be forming and treat that with a rust stopper and paint. Then I wipe the stove down with a baking/soda water mix. I replace the fire bricks as necessary and store my black pipes, barro and anything else that will fit in my firebox. I also put in a new moisture eater from HD. I close of my stove exit hole with another black pipe cover. Then I polish my brass trim and I'm done.

Every couple of years I repaint the stove because it is the center point of my family room and after a couple of years it starts to look dingy. I take off the door and brass. I do the door outside. I find a huge cardboard box - like a washer and dryer or refrigerator came in and cut one side out of it. I sit the box around the stove, put down newspaper and spray paint it one side at a time. I used a metallic black paint last time and it really looked great, much better then just the flat black it came with. There are lots of colors to chose from but since it has to last a year or two, make sure you love it. I got one of those paint can sprayer trigger handles so the paint comes out very smoothly; without any globs of paint. It's very easy.

That's my spring cleaning routine. I suspect everyone will be a little different but much will be the same. Lisa

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Thu. Mar. 24, 2011 7:30 am

In my experience the Baking soda/Water mix does not work for me. I found that the first year I did this I had rust starting all in the stove. The following year I did nothing but vacumme out the ash, wipe it down inside, LPS3 the rust spots (from the previous years baking soda/water) and no more rust started. Now going into my 4th year and by not using the baking soda "wash" my stove has not rusted anymore. Anyway ..my observations.

 
stokersmoker
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Post by stokersmoker » Thu. Jun. 23, 2011 9:01 am

I used Comet on the inside of the glass with a scrubby sponge and that got almost all of the haze off the glass. Worked great, so I started using it inside the stove to get the coating of ash dust out. Inside the stove looked like new, but now its rusted really bad. Not quite sure what to do now to "restore" the stove or stop it from rusting more so the operation is not compromised. Stove is not even a year old. Any suggestions on how to do this the right way??


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Thu. Jun. 23, 2011 11:18 am

Yea, don't use comet--it's for porcelin ;) go over the insides with a course/med. steel wool and WD40 the tears out of it & do it again in a week or so--& if you're still seeing any rust--do it again :( if you could reach it with comet--you can reach it with steel wool

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Thu. Jul. 07, 2011 8:47 am

I paint the inside of the stove with hi temp paint at the end of season every few years....keeps her from rusting even though a bunch of the the paint comes off during the burning season.

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