Corroded Heat Exchanger

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Firebug315

New Member
Oct 24, 2016
4
Syracuse NY
Bought a second hand stove for my basement. Firebox was pretty dirty. Did notice a bit of rust on the exchanger tubes. Also the previous owner mentioned that they used the stove with a Tstat. Back in my forced air furace days I had and exchanger crack and it was explained to me how contraction and expansion caused it.

Do I need to worry about surface rust on the tubes or cracking from it being used like a furnace previously??

Thanks for the input
 
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I have only seen some loose tubes. (Santa Fe aluminum)Never any tubes rotted out on pellets stoves.
 
How he ran it was probably fine, maintenance who knows. I'd scrape and wire brush the tubes and inspect them closer , make sure you don't see any pin holes or larger holes for that matter. Beyond that, If they leak you will know it when you fire it up LOL ! But they can get pretty ugly looking and still be good.
 
Thing is that the fire chamber is under a vacuum and can suck air in from the exchanger if there is a hole or crack. One may not know there is a problem and another good reason for the industry to go to a vacuum fire chamber.
With a bit of thought one can see why the cooler back of the stove with the tubes bringing in cooler room air and it being shielded a bit would collect more combustion products just like the window.
 
Welcome to the forum! Hope it is still outside or in garage so you can clean with compressed air but disconnect tube to vac switch to be safe. Once clean you can test fire outside... What brand stove? IIRC many of the Quadrafire have aluminum heat exchangers and we have seen a few members that have had them come off the flare.
 
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