Q&A Paint burning off stovepipe

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QandA

New Member
Staff member
Nov 27, 2012
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Question:

The question is: Around the bottom of the stovepipe, up to 6-8 inches above the collar, the black paint is disappearing, leaving the gray metal showing.

This seems to have happened a lot this week (although the wife disagrees) while I was home on Christmas vacation. It has been pretty cold and I have been loading the stove up before bed.

Is the stove running too hot and burning off the paint? Or is there another cause?



Answer:

It probably got very hot a couple of times. This does not mean that you are constantly overfiring. It could have been that the stove was operated incorrectly for a short period of time and built up creosote in the pipe. If this creosote was then lit, a short hot fire would result that could overheat the pipe.

Could also be that the pipe was not manufactured correctly. Most high temp paints are good enough so that the pipe can actually glow red hot (not recommended!), and then still be black when it cools.

Get yourself a magnetic or probe thermometer and monitor the stovepipe temperature. A stove without a thermometer is like a car without a speedometer...
 
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