DampRid in your wood burning stove !

[Itslay90]

Do anyone use it after you clean out your wood burning stove, to prevent from high humid in spring, summer, and fall Inside your wood burning stove ?

 

[begreen]

I've never done it, but no harm if the summers are damp and humid typically.

 

[BigJ273]

I started this year. I checked it tonight. There was water in the bottom. Be careful, i suppose if u forgot to check it, it could overflow. The water is a salty brine from the obsorbant that is used. I imagine that would be terrible for the metal bottom of your stove/and bricks, if it ever overflowed. I’m looking to switch to the moisture pouches instead for this reason

 

[xman23]

Probably not going to do much, as the stove can endure 600 degree heat. But I'll give it a try and see what gets absorbed.

 

[Ashful]

I just close the fireplace doors and place a GoldenRod or DriRod (made for gun safes) under each stove. The small amount of heat coming off the DriRod keeps everything dry.

The avatar shows it open, here's the same fireplace in summer:

 

[stoveliker]

Yes I do use damprid. In fact, I take the telescoping section of stove pipe out and cap the stove and the chimney sides. That creates a closed box stove (I block the air inlet too) in which I put damprid. My stove is in a basement that needs dehumidification in summer.

Humid here near the Sound. The moisture coming down from the chimney would likely force you to empty the damprid every few weeks. I have 2" of water total from the whole season because it's closed off.

 

[Ashful]

I'll bet anyone a beer that, other than basement installations, very few stoves are ever condemned or retired due to exposure to summertime moisture in air-conditioned houses.

 

[stoveliker]

I'll bet anyone a beer that, other than basement installations, very few stoves are ever condemned or retired due to exposure to summertime moisture in air-conditioned houses.

Sure. And I bet anyone a beer that very few cars get damaged from weather (other than hail) by being exposed to the weather by being parked outside in a driveway, and yet people use garages - because they care about their toy.

Air-conditioned homes have not much to do with the moisture *inside* a stove with a big pipe connecting it to the outside...

After my first summer with the BK I was unhappy seeing a red/brown rust layer inside the stove. So I close the box off from the outside (and inside) and put damprid in it. Whether that rust would be decreasing the lifetime of the stove, I don't know. I just did not like it and it's easy to prevent.

 

[Ashful]

Really? No visible rust on mine, although maybe its just hiding beneath all the creosote!

Given that even these top of the line stoves cost less than 5% of what I've paid for any of our current cars, I'm not sweating it.

Before realizing stove tech is ever-improving, I used to look at them as permanent fixtures. Heirlooms, even. Now, I recognize them for what they are: consumables! When this pair is worn out after 15-20 years, there will be better tech available to replace them. Hopefully BK doesn't make it too ugly.

 

[stoveliker]

I do brush it out after a hot fire at the end of the season - so there is bare metal inside the stove.
This stove cost me 1/3 of my new car (And I got the stove, new on the pallet, at a good discount from another user of this forum...)

It's funny - I think you and I are not far apart in gross income, but we're sooooo different in how we spend that money.

I choose to spend my $$ elsewhere (i.e. not car or stove) and try to be a good steward of the resources that went into them, regardless of how much they cost. That is not criticism to other choices, just an explanation of mine.

I thought my stove was one of the better looking ones, though

 

[vatmark]

No but now I am wondering if I should.

 

[Ashful]

It's funny - I think you and I are not far apart in gross income, but we're sooooo different in how we spend that money.

You're making some assumptions there, stoveliker! But this isn't the place for that discussion. The point is that whether it takes you 4 hours or 40 hours to earn the cost of a BK, its service lifetime is going to be limited by factors other than how well you clean it each summer.

 

[stoveliker]

its service lifetime is going to be limited by factors other than how well you clean it each summer.

And yet, I thought, the advice of BK is to do a final high burn at the end of the season to crisp up the creosote in the box so it can be brushed out easily. That would suggest that the state of in the inside of the fire box does matter for its longevity.

However, when I search for that in the manual to confirm, I can't find it. Maybe I "learned" that here. (The question then is whether that was from BKVP or from some other user.)

 

[Ashful]

I'm sure it's a good habit. But I promise you that, at least in my case, the lifetime of the stove sitting behind me right now will be determined almost solely by how many times I forget to close the bypass and leave it ripping wide open for 1 - 4 hours. I had been averaging once per year on that, but this year that happened at least twice, once with me asleep in front of the damn thing for more than 3 hours. I'm surprised I didn't have sunburn, when I woke up.

 

[stoveliker]

That has happened an exactly zero times in the three heating seasons for me. So, trying to keep the next largest reason as small as possible.

 

[Ashful]

That has happened an exactly zero times in the three heating seasons for me. So, trying to keep the next largest reason as small as possible.

Start operating two at a time. I think the law of squares must apply, here. At least, that's the excuse I'm going to claim!

 

[stoveliker]

Yeah, I can see that

Zero^2 = ... Oh wait....

 

[Ashful]

I think there's an additional rounding error in there, somewhere.

 

[brenndatomu]

Removing the stovepipe would mean the stove would be the same temp inside and out...should not be damp inside then. (unless its in a damp basement)
Or if you own a stove that has easy access to the stovepipe from inside, you could simply install one of those blow up flue blockers to accomplish the same thing.

 

[stoveliker]

Mine is in a basement. And the inside temp is not the same as the basement temp (reverse draft often in summer). And to add a flue block I have to take off the pipe anyway, at least that is easier than through the bypass.