This morning I was having a fire in my tiny house (stove installed last fall). The fire was dying down so I threw a little piece of split wood on as well as an old end piece of 1x6 fencing that was unstained but I am worried may have been treated. I was aware I shouldn't burn dimensional lumber but had been burning little pieces all winter since I had so much scrap left over from my build. I noticed the stove made some strange popping sounds and smelled a bit hot. I came down to discover it had turned from beautiful stainless steel to a rainbow color heat tempered steel. It did not seem over heated as I have seen it get too hot in the past. I need to check if there was maybe a small chimney fire but I suspect it was a chemical reaction from the dimensional lumber. I also noticed the stove gasket sealant I used to insert the t-pipe into the back of the stove seemed to be crumbly and looked kinda burnt. I am just sick because this 4 inch (nearly impossible to come by) s.s. flue pipe kit cost nearly a grand! Is there any way to get this steel back to it's polished state? Any thoughts on what happened?Should I replace the pipe? Paint it black? Just curious what you all have to say on this matter as I have only read about this occuring on the exterior pipe. Thank you and pardon the long winded story!
Discoloration (interior)Stainless Steel Flue Pipe
- Thread starter OffGridSquid
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Discoloration is normal. How close is that pipe to the wall and is that copper spaced an inch off the wall with a gap top and bottom? Does it transition to chimney pipe when it hits the ceiling?
Yes it is well within the clearance with gaps all around. The copper has barely even got warm when the stove is roaring. It transitions to double wall before the ceiling.
So there is no way from avoiding this explosion of tempered color? It has been going for 5 months with no change in color in the steel and then suddenly changes in a matter of minutes? This is normal?
So that's single-wall above the flue outlet? That discoloration is from heat, not chemicals. Your stove should never be "roaring!"
The pipe close to the flue exit, and internal stove parts, will get too hot in a big hurry if you have big flame in the stove. The flames, at max, should still be kind of "lazy."
It is normal, you got it hot but that color is not a sign of damage.
There are ways to remove it. What you need to do is go to the harley sites and look at removing "heat bluing" from SS pipes. Those biker guys like shiny pipes and when their polished stainless steel pipes turn blue or brown they want to rejuvenate them.
Idaho and a squid, maybe a nuke in the navy?
So that's single-wall above the flue outlet? That discoloration is from heat, not chemicals. Your stove should never be "roaring!"
I suppose it was just a figure of speech. I just meant when the stove is really hot it never got hot enough to heat the copper up.. it always remains cool. Does anyone know if there is any way to polish the stainless steel back to its original state? I was thinking about trying methods like people use on mufflers..? I might just paint the single wall (discolored part) black if not. I loved how that shiny steel looked though
!Good suggestions Highbeam! Nope not navy here I work in the mountains of Idaho.. speaking of which nice Stihl! 440? 461?
This is a tiny stove called the Hobbit by Salamander stoves for tiny houses, rvs, boats ,etc. It's clearances are less than a standard stove. I remember making sure it was well within them (though I cannot recall what they are at present). plus the copper and and 1 inch space behind it is actually over killer on clearances lol.
It would be hard to heat the copper up. What you need is a surface flue meter on that single-wall (if that's what it is.) Since it's stainless, you will need to drill a screw hole into the pipe to secure the meter.
I am only checking because I see tons of stuff in tiny homes that isn't safe. I don't mean to be a pita.
Sorry I misread your post.. I thought you were talking about the stove. I believe the manufacturer of the 4 inch steel pipe said the clearance neede18 inches around the pipe. I have the
No worries! I appreciate the concern.. I too have seen many errors in people's tiny house builds. I spent a good deal of time researching clearances and talking to the manufacturer of the stove and the flue pipe and made sure everything was exactly as it needed to be. As I said I have had my stove reaching into the high temps of the "best operating zone" as well as seen it in the "too hot" and could always put my hand on the copper and leave it there indefinitely.. even when it was "roaring" for extended periods of time. Which is why I went with copper in the first place(apart from aesthetics) It is a great heat shield! I will post pictures!
Yes the pipe should be 18 but with your shielding it could go down to 6". I was wrong earlier when I said 12Sorry I misread your post.. I thought you were talking about the stove. I believe the manufacturer of the 4 inch steel pipe said the clearance neede18 inches around the pipe. I have the
No worries! I appreciate the concern.. I too have seen many errors in people's tiny house builds. I spent a good deal of time researching clearances and talking to the manufacturer of the stove and the flue pipe and made sure everything was exactly as it needed to be. As I said I have had my stove reaching into the high temps of the "best operating zone" as well as seen it in the "too hot" and could always put my hand on the copper and leave it there indefinitely.. even when it was "roaring" for extended periods of time. Which is why I went with copper in the first place(apart from aesthetics) It is a great heat shield! I will post pictures!
It looks great. Personally I don't mind the blueing at all. But it's not my house.
That Stihl was just a 290, it did really well but I have since upgraded to a much larger pro model dolmar 6400 which can pull the 28" bar just fine in our PNW species. It normally has just a 20" bar on it though for bucking duties. The dolmar is 64 cc and I think just a bit bigger than a 440.
A slang name for an enlisted sailor is a "squid". Seems every branch has a special name for their lowest rank members. I had friends in the navy nuclear propulsion program that trains in Idaho and some of them would happily return.
Lol thats what others have been saying too.. I just love that clean chrome look..well, at the very least, it goes well with the heat patina on the copper 
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.Lol that was a good guess though ( Squid)! Sounds like a nice saw! I think that large bar must have thrown me off, it looked like the same size saw we use out in the field.
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