Newbie Question, I hope!

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Buck123

Buck123

New Member
Nov 12, 2011
4
Swamps of Maryland
I am a new wood burner. We installed a freestanding stove into a huge hearth in a home we just purchased. Also installed was a stainless liner, cap, and connector to the stove. We've been burning for three weeks and have been really enjoying it. Now the issue- we just noticed this week that the stainless connector (from liner to stove) is turning black and the liner is turning a copper color. It isn't soot. It is some discoloration of the metal. I believe we have been burning good dry wood within the recommended temps. Do I have something to worry about here? Thanks in advance! If I don't here back I'm reluctant to fill it for the night and the dreaded oil heat will have to kick in..... $$$
 
Welcome to the site. I can't really chime in on this, not experienced enough yet, but pics of what you got may help.lots of folk here should be able to answer your question fairly swiftly.
 
Could you put a picture up? That would help alot, what temps are you burning at, what type of stove, what height is the chimney ? All this would help someone to diagnose the problem.

Pete
 
Rainbowish or the copper color sounds normal. The black coloring don't sound normal.
 
Thank you for the quick replies. Attached is a pic of the issue. I hope it does the trick. I've never posted a pic before anywhere. We have a Drolet Myriad and have been burning between 300-500F. Although it is sometime lower when it goes to coals overnight. There is a small silver penmark on the connector which I put on when running in the liner to make sure it wasn't slipping at all.
 

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forgot to add. The chimney is 25" masonry, with terra cotta liner, with a stainless steel liner running thru the terra cotta.
 
I don't see any problem with that. Stainless will often turn various colors as it is heated. I'm sure it gets hot as heck right there at the flue collar.

In a general sense, if it isn't glowing red (that starts at about 950), then you are OK. In testing, such pipe is taken up to 2100 degrees (flue gases, not the pipe)...so you can be sure it can take a lot of heat.....

As a comparison, keep in mind that stainless steel on a gas patio heater is designed to glow a bright cheery red (probably 1200 degrees) full time.
 
+1 on that. Same with an ss exhaust, grill of ss getting discolored.
 
Those are oxide colors. If you have ever overheated a drill bit you would notice the tip of the bit having turned purple. Look at the bottom of this page at the "tempering range" and it should make some sense. http://www.mooseforge.com/heatcolors.html
The black (more of a purple) being the hottest, and the bronze color not having gotten quite as hot. You could polish it up between fires for entertainment to watch the colors change as the pipe heats up.
 
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