Fresh high temp paint keeps burning off hottest parts of insert and causes headaches

[Mr. Jones]

Not sure what to do now. I painted it, and looked great until I had a fire. Problem is, it's a little too glossy, and it's burning off the top and sides, making it non glossy there so it stands out. It's also stinking, and giving me headaches. I tried it yesterday with the doors open. So, I re painted the parts it's burning off, and did it again tonight. Same result. This paint says it's good up to 1200 degrees. Surely I'm not reaching that hot. I did only let it set for about 6 hours before the first fire though. You'd think it would be dry enough by then. Not sure what else to do, other than sand off this glossy paint, and find a higher temp non glossy alternative. Not sure if paint gets any higher than 1200 degrees protection though.

 

[barmstrong2]

Stove shops will have factory paint. Get the paint off that you've applied and use the factory stuff and be done with it.

 

[Timberwolf530]

First, rough it up with sandpaper, then use a high temp primer before you apply the paint. It should only smell the first time you burn in it after painting.

 

[Jags]

And keep in mind that a break in needs to be done on fresh paint. Typically 3 fires starting the first at a low temp and the last ending in a high temp. Allow stove to cool between each fire.

 

[begreen]

Stove shops will have factory paint. Get the paint off that you've applied and use the factory stuff and be done with it.

Agreed. I had a similar issue with our stove pipe. Different paints may not be compatible. I know for certain that putting an acetone based paint on a lacquer finish doesn't work.

 

[xman23]

If it was called stove paint, I think the smell issue would clear up with burn in fires. Since your only drying the paint, get it hot. But different finish, I don't know.

 

[Mr. Jones]

I'd take a picture on my phone and show what it's doing, but I can't seem to do that anymore on the new forum since it says my pics are too high quality or big, and not sure how to fix that. It stinks bad, causes me a headache literally, and seems like there's a gloss finish on it, since it's definitely glossy. Looks pretty, but the issue is it's either burning off, or if it's just curing, it's going back to a dull finish, and stands out at the hottest parts on the stove. The outer parts, and lower areas of the stove never get hot enough, so they stay pretty and shiny. It literally looks worse now, like, uh, it needs to be painted, pfft. It's called Krylon high heat with a picture of a webber charcoal bbq on it. I can keep re painting those spots, but then it's just going to keep burning off, or curing, and looking different, and stinking every time. At some point, I need to close the doors and windows when I have a fire. Maybe I should try a different brand. Maybe there's a brand that goes hotter? 1500 or more degrees? Keep in mind I didn't over fire, and specifically kept the fire choked down as low as I could before it went out to slow bake the paint on trying to keep it from doing exactly what's it's doing.

 

[begreen]

What stove is this. My guess is that you need Stove Brite paint, but not really sure. Best to call the dealer tomorrow and ask.

 

[Jags]

Yes - check with the dealer. They will know what you need and I am pretty sure it will not be Krylon. You may actually need to remove (as best you can) the Krylon paint that is on the stove.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Yea, I started scraping with a razor blade scraper and a fire going. It was still sticky when hot, and came off in sheets rolling up on the blade too easy. Like it never dried, yet when cold it wasn't sticky. What a giant waste of time and money. Well, it looked great when I didn't need to use it, lol. Smelled like burnt crayons. My stove is old, so I don't have a manual for it that would tell me a certain type of paint. I'm guessing they powder coated these things at the factory. It's an old lopi, mid 80's.

What ticks me off is I feel like I've been duped by false advertising. It says it's good for up to 1200 degrees on a wood stove. I doubt I even got to half that.

Edit. I read the back, and it says it's 1200 intermittently, and 600 continuously. Pfft. Again, border line false advertising. It should say 600 total on the front, and not in tiny lettering on the back a paragraph down.

 

[BCC_Burner]

Don't get mad because you screwed up and bought the wrong product. Massive waste of money? How much does a can or two of spray paint cost? Did you buy a gross of cans of the paint? I don't know about you but as an owner of a wood stove, a propane grill and a charcoal grill, I can say with certainty that the exterior of the wood stove sees by far the highest sustained temps of the three. The exterior of my grills rarely exceeds 450 degrees, while my woodstove sits at 750 for hours on end.

Knowledge is power...

 

[Mr. Jones]

Says right on the can WOOD STOVE PAINT. Not sure how you get that's my screw up. That's false advertising to me. The "scientists" at quality control don't know how hot a stove gets, yet throw it on there that it's ok to use on them??? Again, how is that my fault? It's more of a waste of time than money, but it still costs $10 a can. I bought two. Also masking tape, paper, gas to the store 20 miles away, two more cans at 10 a pop of a different brand, sanding paper. Did I mention time? Yea, I'm not happy i bought a product that duped me into thinking it would work, and I still stand by my comment that it's border line false advertising. In fact, I think I'll call them up and complain to refund me the $20, like it says so on the can if not satisfied. I don't make $70 an hour, so yea, it's money to me.

I'm not sure how much your time is worth, but Iv'e got at least 4 hours of sanding every nook and cranny, including the shroud, which makes for a mess everywhere. I started out with one ten dollar can of WOOD STOVE PAINT, and it looked great, until my first fire. Now I'm into it hours of time and around $80. Yea, I'm not satisfied with the product.

 

[begreen]

Paint manufacturers can not predict incompatible materials. I saw this same thing happen when touching up some older DVL pipe with a very good stove pipe - Stove Brite. It turns out that for that batch I should have used a lacquer based paint like Krylon high temp. Within minutes after the pipe started getting warm it alligatored and wrinkled badly.

 

[ResilientDesigner]

Glad I ran across this thread. We have an old Woodmaster wood/coal stove (like what you find at Tractor Supply) in the basement, a yet-to-be installled VC Defiant (that we'll put in the barn/shop), and I was so impressed with the Defiant that we recently purchased a VC Resolute for the first floor of our 140 yr old 1600 sq. ft. home. I got it for $250, cleaned it up and ran a wire-brush power drill attachment on it yesterday, and was planning on painting it today. Thing is -- I really like the look of the raw metal. And when I read some of the posts in this thread, I'm glad I haven't put the Rustoleum High Temp paint on yet.

My question is: if I leave the stove unpainted, I'm guessing it will rust lightly every Spring/Summer/Fall from the moisture in the air. So what if I oiled it, much like a cast iron skillet? Any issues/concerns? I don't want a big greasy box in the room, and I don't want it smoking as it gets seasoned either The stove is not installed yet, so I can oil it and season it outside this first time, but once its installed, I don't want to be forced to move it outside every fall to season it, so I'm thinking its one of those ideas that sounds good at first, but should be discarded.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[moresnow]

Any chance VC has a color you like? Oiling a stove seems. Um. Potentially dangerous?

 

[ResilientDesigner]

Any chance VC has a color you like? Oiling a stove seems. Um. Potentially dangerous?

Well, I wasn't going to use motor oil... We use cast iron pans/skillets in all of our cooking, and occasionally you have to season them. I thought the same approach could work here, with a cast iron stove. I would lightly oil the stove (lard, olive oil, whatever), fire it outside to season it, and then bring it inside to use. My hope is that a light coat of oil would basically keep the rust at bay, but not soak it so much that it would continue to season/smoke while using it in the house. Another concern is that if I decided to paint it later -- I've got some oil to remove!

Just wondered if anyone had done something similar. The baked on enamel finishes from the factory seem to be the best, but short of that, I wondered if high-temp stove paint was the only option.

 

[Jags]

I think you will find the repeated high body Temps of a wood stove is a bit too much to maintain the seasoning like a skillet. Also many parts like the legs will not get to the Temps needed to actually season the cast. Don't be afraid of the paint. After a couple of smokey episodes it's all done.

 

[moresnow]

I am a cast iron cookware fan as well. Good stuff.

 

[MountainDream]

If you can't find proper stove paint, get some VHT brand header paint at an auto parts store. It is rated at 2100 degrees, and I've had good results with it on various high temp items. Follow the directions to the letter

 

[tarzan]

The smoke point of cooking oils are well below the temps you would expect to see on your stove top. Once the smoke point is reached you will basically cook off the protective coating.

 

[BenTN]

I cook a pack of cheap bacon on top of my smoker firebox once a season to keep it "seasoned" and rust at bay. as others have said the constant temps of your woodstove are higher than the smoke/flash point of most oils. I am not sure the 6 hours before baking is anywhere close to what would be needed for the paint to cure. I would spring for a more reputable stove paint and allow several days prior to firing stove to slow bake. krylon may make good paints but my thought is that everything in that big box/DIY home store is spec'd to meet a price point not quality.