Bringing cold stove in from outside...condensation/rust a concern?

[Intheswamp]

I'll be picking up my little blue/black enameled F3CB this Wednesday. The morning temps at the pickup point (north Gerogia) will be in the low 20's with the day's high there in the upper 30's...I'm hoping to be there bright and early being as a slight chance of rain is stated for after noon. I will be bringing the stove back to south Alabama where the high will be around the mid-50's and I hope to arrive back home at about the time of that high.

It will be several weeks before the install is done...still got some prep work to do and Christmas is a busy time anyhow so the stove will have to sit patiently for a while. Naturally, I don't want to handle/load/unload the stove more than I have to so I'm figuring on off-loading it at the house and stick it in a corner until I'm ready to install it.

The question is....should I be concerned with a condensation issue from bringing it in from the cold into the ~70* environment of the house? The stove is enameled but I figure there are areas that are not and that could be subject to rust. With cameras and such sometimes it's a good idea to put them in a zip-lock bag when coming in from the cold so that the condensation will form on the bag and not the camera/etc itself. With the cold that we've been having here the humidity levels have really been low (for us) but coming the middle of the week a chance of rain begins to develop and I feel the humidity level might rise a bit. The stove will have shrink wrap around...should I leave this on for a day or so until the temperature of the stove stabilizes? Take it off to begin with? ???

Any recommendations or thoughts are appreciated! I sure don't want to start out with some rust spots anywhere!

Thanks,
Ed

 

[begreen]

Don't sweat it. There may be a thin layer of condensation, but it will dry off quickly in the house unless left in a damp area. Leave the doors open for better air circulation until the stove temp = house temp.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree with BeGreen. It will dry off in the house. If not, it certainly will on your first burn. Make that first burn a very light fire too.

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks for the feedback, BG. I'll unwrap it and let it air out.

I'll try to relax a bit now. Just didn't want to mess anything up.

Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

I agree with BeGreen. It will dry off in the house. If not, it certainly will on your first burn. Make that first burn a very light fire too.

Dennis, we posted at the same time and I didn't see your reply until I just looked back...

The manual says to break in the stove with:

1st - Burn for an hour with the highest temp getting to 200F and then let the stove cool down to room temp.

2nd - Burn for another hour but this time let the highest temp get up to 300F and again let the stove cool to room temp.

3rd - Gradually build temperature up to 400F...let cool down. (Here it doesn't state to burn for an hour, just to get the temp up to 400F...???)

4th - Begin regular burning.

I'm trying to figure out how to limit the temps to 200, 300, 400 degrees. I know the amount of wood and the air supply will govern this, closing the air supply is easy but how do I figure out how much wood to use?

Man I wish that little stove was ready to fire up...gonna be down below 20F tonight....that's COLD for south Alabama!

Ed

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ed, what we did was for the first fire, we just put some kindling in and lit it. Then just let it cool down.

Second fire more kindling plus 2 very small splits.

Third fire was kindling and 4 splits.

That did the job nicely.

20 for a low doesn't sound so bad now that we are seeing zero or below! But I know for your area that has to feel extremely cold. Enjoy that stove!