Why is this happening?

So, I did some work on the stove today to get it ready. I test fit the piping and zeroed the manometer and added some fluid to it. I did not reinstall the draft inducer because it requires 12" from the stove and since I added a second 45º elbow to get it to line up I was only left with roughly 6" from the stove. I did hook the manometer up to the pipe just to see if the unlined chimney was drawing without a fire and got .01" Wc so I guess that's a good sign.

I opened the hopper door and this is what I discovered:


Can't really tell from this picture but it's covered in surface rust/scale and it's very, very flaky.


In this picture you can see where there is a gap between the surface rust/scale and the actual door. There is an air gap all across the door. I noticed the door doing this the end of the 2010/2011 season but this season it seems to be worse. I have four tubs of Damp Rid that gets changed every so often all the doors are closed and there is a cap on the stove outlet.

The hopper door seems to be the only part of the stove that seems to be rusting like this.

Humidity + acid = mess you see...
Mine does the same thing...
So did the Mark II...
Brush it off fire it up...
The 100 watt light bulb would keep it warm and dry for $16 month here...
May give it a try...
next year...
The twins sucked up all my time and brain power for the last 4 months...
Did not even get to clean out the stove this year...

I used the damp rid in my furnace for about half the summer. The damp rid was working as I could see water collecting in the tub BUT I don't think it was working quite good enough. I could see moisture collecting on the inside of the firebox and it felt damp, and there was rust and scaling like in your pictures. Half way thru the summer I changed over to the 100 watt bulb and a couple days later when I checked it, the firebox was dry and warm and the moisture on the walls inside was gone. I'll use the 100 watt bulb from now on. If I did my math right, it will cost around $9.00 a month at 12.5 cents per kilowatt...

That's what I'll do next season. I was going to do it this season but the misses wasn't too keen on having a light on all summer.

You want to remove the pipe from the chimney during the summer and cap the thimble or the chimney draft will pull the damp air thru the stove.

I'm On Fire wrote:I did not reinstall the draft inducer because it requires 12" from the stove and since I added a second 45º elbow to get it to line up I was only left with roughly 6" from the stove.

Tape or seal all your joints and seams on the pipe also,then if you don't have enough draft,then reinstall the inducer.

I do remove the pipe from the stove. I didn't cap the throat plate but only because the throat was wide open all summer until I had the throat plate made up.

I'm also point to seal the crap out of the new pipe, with high temp silicone.

It's just the nature of the steel plate that your stove is made from. It could probably do that for years and not bother it too much but it does look funky. Cast iron won't do that, it gets pits instead. Me, I would give it a shot of WD40 or some other such coating at the end of the year. That and the damp tubs or a bulb would stop that I'll bet. Even a coat of that primer rust inhibitor stuff that turns black would stop it also. Prolly burn off the first time you light it but so what.

Yep, what SZ said

LIGHT BULB!!!

I used to spend alot of time and effort plus $$ for LPS coating to clean and safeguard my boiler for the off season. Starting last season I took the advice of wiser men than me and used a drop light inside. It looks just like it did inside when it was burning. No corrosion or flaking. I do remove the vent pipe and stuff an old towel in the vent opening. It is absolutley the way to go, other than to burn year around. Whatever minor amount of eletcric is used is more than made up for in extending the life of your coal burner.

Oil dry in the ash pan and a 40 watt bulb on an old drop light.

Electric here about 21 cents per kw...

I put a 60W in the Golden and let the stove pipe in place. That way the air moves inside all the equipment and up the chimney. Sealing the stove or chimney keeps humidity inside and is just worst. Remember when you enter inside a house having been closed for months without any air circulation...or if a basement is keept closed without air circulation...the best way to control humidity is creating an air movement.
One other thing that could help is to begin and finish the season with a wood fire. The wood soot is then coating the parts with an alkaline deposit and can protect the parts. We don't see very often a wood stove having acidic problems.

Pierre,

I was actually going to light a wood fire in the stove during the spring when I shut down. I had the wood in it and I had the newspaper and matches. I struck the first match and then blew it out. Then I took all the wood out. My wife asked what I was doing and why I was cleaning the wood out of it. My response was, 'I hate creosote and how the wood turns everything black.'

Stupid me. I should've gone ahead with the wood. lol

You'r righr IOF for the creosote, nobody like it but before having problems with it we must burn some wood...just a few fires is not a creosote issue. For the black side, it's about like what you said for the silicone color: red, gray or black, as long as it does the job...
One of these days we should find a ""Real solution"" for that corrosion problem.

CapeCoaler wrote:Electric here about 21 cents per kw...

I had figured it'd cost around $4.80 a month to run a drop light. The main reason why it wasn't done was I didn't have a drop light to use and my wife didn't want to buy a cheap one from work.