Piazzetta Monia opinions

[Bioburner]

I would be tempted if having bottom burnout issues to cut it out and have a little thicker piece of stainless welded in. Maybe having a couple pieces of metal cross the base to help cool the base(heat sink) can be a simple way to resolve heat stresses. I have had no more issues after I added some stainless welds to the pot to stop the cracking.

 

[Bioburner]

I would be tempted if having bottom burnout issues to cut it out and have a little thicker piece of stainless welded in. Maybe having a couple pieces of metal cross the base to help cool the base(heat sink) can be a simple way to resolve heat stresses. I have had no more issues after I added some stainless welds to the pot to stop the cracking.

 

[Pascal_Maertens]

Yes, the grate will crack after 1 - 2 seasons. This should be kept clean with a wire brush daily.

it's only the deflector on top of it, and yes now they are replacing it with a new Stainless steel one that should last.

for the grate that would crack I never had any request for this but it's made of cast iron so if a customer drops it, it will crack.

 

[Pascal_Maertens]

Yes, the grate will crack after 1 - 2 seasons. This should be kept clean with a wire brush daily.

it's only the deflector on top of it, and yes now they are replacing it with a new Stainless steel one that should last.

for the grate that would crack I never had any request for this but it's made of cast iron so if a customer drops it, it will crack.

 

[Bioburner]

The pot of my Elena is not cast.

 

[709GADE]

The burn pot of my Monia is cast iron and the deflector is stainless steel,I have the new deflector , and it is not flaking at all...

 

[Pascal_Maertens]

The pot of my Elena is not cast.

it's not a Piazzetta

 

[gusto]

it's only the deflector on top of it, and yes now they are replacing it with a new Stainless steel one that should last.

for the grate that would crack I never had any request for this but it's made of cast iron so if a customer drops it, it will crack.

Pascal
I will try to post a couple pictures of my Sabrina burning pot with cracks and some internal erosion after 8 pallets

Regards
gusto

 

[gusto]

Pascal
I will try to post a couple pictures of my Sabrina burning pot with cracks and some internal erosion after 8 pallets

Regards
gusto

 

[chken]

View attachment 172698

My grate looked EXACTLY like that as well after 2 seasons. My dealer replaced it under warranty. I figured it was a disposable part that needed regular replacement after a couple years.

 

[Pascal_Maertens]

so I`ll have to order some cause my oldest customer are now 4 years old and still havent had any request for this.

 

[gdphishman817]

My grate looked EXACTLY like that as well after 2 seasons. My dealer replaced it under warranty. I figured it was a disposable part that needed regular replacement after a couple years.

I only got 2 seasons out of my burn pot as well, I was also able to replace it under warranty.

 

[Pascal_Maertens]

hey does someone have a neet picture of this I would like to send it to my distributor

 

[gdphishman817]

hey does someone have a neet picture of this I would like to send it to my distributor

Here's a picture of mine

 

[chken]

Here's a picture of mine

That looks awful!

 

[chken]

hey does someone have a neet picture of this I would like to send it to my distributor

Here's mine from last season that was replaced by my dealer as a warranty item:

I wonder if the batch numbers are the same as Gusto's, as the cracking seems to be the same.

 

[gusto]

Here's mine from last season that was replaced by my dealer as a warranty item:
View attachment 173374

I wonder if the batch numbers are the same as Gusto's, as the cracking seems to be the same.

So much for email notification ,better check my setting again

Yes same numbers on the on the grate (burning pot) D67030250 The rear baffle plate bulged out a bit on the bottom half and I have a bit of a gap
were the baffle plate rests on the pellet chute and had to grind the top edge of the burning pot so can slide in easy again

Later

 

[HotTamale]

Had to replace my burn pot (under warranty) after 2nd season. Cracks appeared after first season! The new burn pot is beginning to show fast signs of erosion on the back.

 

[Stagg3r]

So erosion on the burn pot is most likely related to materials in the pellets you are burning. In real life I'm in industrial water treatment engineer. Think boilers and cooling towers. Iron will crack from impact or repeated rapid cooling and heating. Fire pots in stoves are subject to this all the time. Iron will erode due to oxygen and several other corrosive byproducts of burning biofuels.
Ideally, you would have only enough oxygen to allow the reaction to take place and all corrosive byproducts would be eliminated or blocked. This is what we do with amines and oxygen scavengers on the water side of boilers. It is more difficult to control this on the fireside although there are numerous fuel treatments that prevent crystal formation, etc.
The point is, it is reasonable to expect erosion of a firebox and the rate probably more dependent on the content of your fuel then the design of the box. Normal indicators of "quality" pellets won't have much bearing on how corrosive the byproducts are.
And, yes... Eventually all parts of the fireside are disposable, as anyone that has to buy parts for a firetube boiler will tell you.

 

[gusto]

So erosion on the burn pot is most likely related to materials in the pellets you are burning. In real life I'm in industrial water treatment engineer. Think boilers and cooling towers. Iron will crack from impact or repeated rapid cooling and heating. Fire pots in stoves are subject to this all the time. Iron will erode due to oxygen and several other corrosive byproducts of burning biofuels.
Ideally, you would have only enough oxygen to allow the reaction to take place and all corrosive byproducts would be eliminated or blocked. This is what we do with amines and oxygen scavengers on the water side of boilers. It is more difficult to control this on the fireside although there are numerous fuel treatments that prevent crystal formation, etc.
The point is, it is reasonable to expect erosion of a firebox and the rate probably more dependent on the content of your fuel then the design of the box. Normal indicators of "quality" pellets won't have much bearing on how corrosive the byproducts are.
And, yes... Eventually all parts of the fireside are disposable, as anyone that has to buy parts for a firetube boiler will tell you.

Can the problem be avoided by using some type of stainless?

Regards

 

[Stagg3r]

Can the problem be avoided by using some type of stainless?

Regards

This will be an unsatisfying answer but nevertheless, sometimes. The reality is that there are chemical compounds that don't play nicely with different grades of stainless either. Stainless would be less likely to be reactive with various byproducts of burning pellets. Look at it this way, it's unlikely that using stainless will hurt.. much

Also...
I also wanted to add after taking another look at Chken's burn pot; if you are getting clear crystilization like that, you are developing fouling (basically scale but on the fireside). When your pot gets to this point, you should wash it.
Let it get completely cool and simply place it in very clean water. Many of the compounds that will corrode iron are salt based and are very water soluble.
I use de-ionized water at work but evaporation distilled water from any grocery store is great too. You can even use home filtered water if that is all you have. Simply drop the pot in a large enough bucket so that you can keep the part submerged while you work on it and get a wire brush. I have the small wood handled brass ones laying around for my accounts so I use one of those. Let it soak for a few min and gently brush off any remaining deposits. The goal here is to get the corrosive byproducts, not hack away at any stuck carbon/clinkers.
When you have finished brushing, remove the burn pot and give it a quick pat dry with a paper towel or tag. Now, this is important if you don't want a ton of rust on your BP, get a hair dryer, set it as high as it goes, and quickly get the pot bone dry. You should get very little, if any, rust and that can be quickly removed with your (also dried) metal brush.
I don't go nuts with this. Once or twice a season is usually enough. Let your eyes judge. If it looks like Chken's photo I referenced above(not picking on you at all, just a perfect picture of crystal formation), it's time.

 

[chken]

This will be an unsatisfying answer but nevertheless, sometimes. The reality is that there are chemical compounds that don't play nicely with different grades of stainless either. Stainless would be less likely to be reactive with various byproducts of burning pellets. Look at it this way, it's unlikely that using stainless will hurt.. much

Also...
I also wanted to add after taking another look at Chken's burn pot; if you are getting clear crystilization like that, you are developing fouling (basically scale but on the fireside). When your pot gets to this point, you should wash it.
Let it get completely cool and simply place it in very clean water. Many of the compounds that will corrode iron are salt based and are very water soluble.
I use de-ionized water at work but evaporation distilled water from any grocery store is great too. You can even use home filtered water if that is all you have. Simply drop the pot in a large enough bucket so that you can keep the part submerged while you work on it and get a wire brush. I have the small wood handled brass ones laying around for my accounts so I use one of those. Let it soak for a few min and gently brush off any remaining deposits. The goal here is to get the corrosive byproducts, not hack away at any stuck carbon/clinkers.
When you have finished brushing, remove the burn pot and give it a quick pat dry with a paper towel or tag. Now, this is important if you don't want a ton of rust on your BP, get a hair dryer, set it as high as it goes, and quickly get the pot bone dry. You should get very little, if any, rust and that can be quickly removed with your (also dried) metal brush.
I don't go nuts with this. Once or twice a season is usually enough. Let your eyes judge. If it looks like Chken's photo I referenced above(not picking on you at all, just a perfect picture of crystal formation), it's time.

Thanks for the advice. It's funny because if someone asked me, I'd have said it was salts in the wood fibers in the pellets that was causing the corrosion. I've wanted to stick the pot in water, but I was worried I would be corroding it even faster! And, with only one pot, you can imagine, not wanting to fool around with something that's working. I always wanted to have two pots so that one can be soaked/cleaned while one is working in the stove, so that's one reason why I didn't mind getting a 2nd pot. All the better it was a warranty replacement.

I've been hoping that Piazzetta would get a stainless pot option, but the only one we've seen was a photo 2 seasons ago of a cast iron grate with a stainless steel flange.

 

[Stagg3r]

I only have had to "soak" mine for 15 min. I fully understand your fear and all I can say is that I have done this 3 times so far and I have no issues with rust, corrosion, or cracking. The latter is probably due more to my patterns of use and luck more than cleaning. Point is that the process isn't very time intensive when you use a wire brush. As long as you use pure water, clean quickly and dry immediately, you won't cause any measurable additional corrosion.

 

[chken]

I only have had to "soak" mine for 15 min. I fully understand your fear and all I can say is that I have done this 3 times so far and I have no issues with rust, corrosion, or cracking. The latter is probably due more to my patterns of use and luck more than cleaning. Point is that the process isn't very time intensive when you use a wire brush. As long as you use pure water, clean quickly and dry immediately, you won't cause any measurable additional corrosion.

Thanks, I just didn't want to experiment with my one grate. Now that I've got two, admittedly one has a crack, I plan to incorporate the soak into my routine.

 

[709GADE]

what is the reason for soaking in water?