Has anyone had first-hand experience of rapid corrosion of stainless steel chimney liners from using ocean driftwood? I've burnt a lot of rain rinsed driftwood in my old plate steel stove venting into a clay lined chimney with no noticeable problems over the last ten years. Now I may install an SS liner and wonder if it might be less forgiving of minor amounts of salt.
Salty driftwood
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i wouldnt be as worried about the SS liner as the more corrosion prone carbon steel of the unit , of even more so of non mettalic items such as catalytic combustors which im sure would suffer greatly from the salt content. old smoke shelf units t may not hurt as much though. given the choice i do not think i would make a habit burning ocean driftwood
Thanks for the advice. It's a non catalyst, and I do plan on replacing the the baffle, perhaps I'll make the new one from SS vs carbon steel. I'm not convinced that SS is more resistant than carbon in this application though, my old logger boss told me he tried SS stove pipe in the early 80s and it lasted much shorter time than black steel. Strange.
granted ,im not speaking from experience, so your old logging buddy may be right , if thats the case maybe a SS liner would be vulnerable to that stuff.
here is a quote from the owners manual of my insert
"Do not burn driftwood or wood that has been in the salt water, doing so will void your warranty"
"Do not burn driftwood or wood that has been in the salt water, doing so will void your warranty"
I just find it hard to fathom that a regular steel stove pipe is going to outlast a s.s. one.
You sure your logging buddy didn't like to tell tall tales or embellish a lil here & there.
Coal is rough on pipe, but s.s. is recommended for relines on coal appliances.
Of course there is different grades of stainless also. T316 Is rated for coal I believe. While 304 is not. I think thats how it goes
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Anyways, why not forget about the driftwood and not chance it? Unless thats the only form of wood you can get/use etc.
You sure your logging buddy didn't like to tell tall tales or embellish a lil here & there.
Coal is rough on pipe, but s.s. is recommended for relines on coal appliances.
Of course there is different grades of stainless also. T316 Is rated for coal I believe. While 304 is not. I think thats how it goes
.Anyways, why not forget about the driftwood and not chance it? Unless thats the only form of wood you can get/use etc.
It is counterintuitive to think SS could be less durable than mild steel. However, nickel is one of the elements which makes SS stainless, and it can react with carbon monoxide at low temperatures.
The reaction is as follows:
50-60°C 230°C
Ni + 4CO → Ni(CO)4 → Ni + 4CO.
The first part of this reaction is Nickel metal reacting with 4 parts carbon monoxide at 50-60°C (120 or so F.) to form Nickel carbonyl, which is a gas. At higher temperatures it decomposes back into nickel and carbon monoxide. This process is used in the commercial refining of Nickel. So it is conceivable that the nickel could be removed from the SS by flue gases.
Of course it's also possible that this reaction does not occur to any significant degree when nickel is alloyed with other metals, as in stainless steels used in chimney liners.
The reaction is as follows:
50-60°C 230°C
Ni + 4CO → Ni(CO)4 → Ni + 4CO.
The first part of this reaction is Nickel metal reacting with 4 parts carbon monoxide at 50-60°C (120 or so F.) to form Nickel carbonyl, which is a gas. At higher temperatures it decomposes back into nickel and carbon monoxide. This process is used in the commercial refining of Nickel. So it is conceivable that the nickel could be removed from the SS by flue gases.
Of course it's also possible that this reaction does not occur to any significant degree when nickel is alloyed with other metals, as in stainless steels used in chimney liners.
OH.
Why burn driftwood, unless it is the only wood you have....many stoves specifically say not to..
Why burn driftwood, unless it is the only wood you have....many stoves specifically say not to..
I have seen drift wood eat a way a ss liner and the secondary ss burn tubes it is extremly corrosive and i would stay away from it.
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