Cracking seam cement

[WoodShed]

Hi all,

New to this forum and searched for an answer but didn't find one, so apologies if this question has been answered in previous topics.

We just bought a house that came with an older cast iron stove. We started using it and discovered that the seams all needed resealing with cement, and that the pipe that comes out of the stove was not sealed to the pipe that goes to the chimney. We sealed all seams and followed the directions for curing the cement (low fire for an hour and a half, high fire for two hours) but now, two days later, the seam at the pipe has about 1/8-inch crack showing and the newly cemented seams on the front of the stove are cracking and falling apart.

I have since learned that we should have cemented the stove seams from the inside - we will try that on the next warm day when we don't need the stove. For now, it's just a bit leaky. But how would you go about sealing the pipe? We can't get to it from the inside. Any ideas?

 

[snowtime]

First you should have a sweep check that chimney. You do not know how it was maintained. Get it looked at. Second air leaks in old stoves can lead to runaway fires. Get the stove cemented before using. Clean that stove really good so you can see everything and what condition it is. Use a vacuum. On the pipe I cement the joint from stove to first section of pipe. If your cement is not adhering well then make sure the pipe and stove are clean and you might have to rough them up for adhesion. The fact of the matter is you need to push the cement between the pipe and stove if there is no space then try it without cement. If the space is large than I would get a new section of pipe. The important thing is this is used equipment and wood stoves need maintenance as do chimneys.

 

[WoodShed]

Thanks. When we bought the house, we had a new chimney liner put in and the whole system checked out by a chimney sweep and repair company - they said it was all kosher and good to go. I think the idea of pushing the cement into the space between the stovepipe and the adjoining pipe is a good one - when we recently tried to seal it up, we just ran the cement over the top of the seam. When the stove heated up, the seam (still damp) expanded and cracked. It's possible that we got the stove too hot, too quick, but we followed the directions, so...

Anyway, thanks again. Do you have a recommended brand of stove cement?

 

[snowtime]

Ok you got a new liner with old stove. To get the cement down between the pipe and stove get a small putty knife. As with the stove joints force that stuff in. I like a clean joint and have found that bending 1/2 of a putty knife 90 gives me a good angle to force and smooth the cement. I use Rutland's but any wood stove cement will work just do not use silicone.

 

[DAKSY]

If you can't get the Stove Cement procedure to work at the pipe/stove seam, try some small (1/4") stove gasket...
You may hafta jam it down into the seam with a flathead screwdriver...
As far as the stove seams go, you're probably gonna hafta find a repair manual & disassemble the unit in order to get a good seal...
***NOTE*** The following instructions contain some technical terms not used anywhere but in the Hearth Industry!***
Most of the older cast iron (i.e. VC) stoves were of a tongue & groove construction & ya hadda GOOB up the groove side & SMOOSH the tongue side into the GOOBED groove...
Then there were new tie-rods that hadda be tightened to hold the thing together - which caused more of the GOOB to SPOOGE outta the seams...
A wet rag was then used to wipe off the excess GOOB before it dried...
Then ya paint it your favorite StoveBrite or VC color & VOILA!
Ya got a new (lookin) stove!

 

[BrotherBart]

But under no circumstances should you tell your friends or family that you performed the above procedure or they will henceforth refer to you as a GOOBER. :lol:

 

[littlesmokey]

I've worked on lots of stoves and never, yes that's never goobed or smooshed. That must be an Upstater thing.

Even if you don't teardown and rebuild now, you really need to clean as much of the old cement as possible, chip and chisel(technical terms) and be overly generous with the new cement and force into cracks.

Set your Spring schedule for a few days to do the whole thing right and make a nice Summer flower stand for the family.