rust in burn chamber

[dvsstrike]

hello everyone i see it's that ime of the year again. well any ways i just opened up my empress stove to see if my clean job was still good and to my dismay i see rust all over the inside of the friggen thing. its just spotty and not super thick. the burn pot is severly rusted. Is this normal due to the nature of these thing being like a bbq grill somewhat...
thanks for the replies i know i will get some good ones.

 

[woodsman23]

Yes rust happens on all steel parts, just light sand it with some steel wool and wipe it off and burn...

 

[buildingmaint]

Mine too, I even had a bunch of those silica gel sacks in there

 

[seige101]

I am in the same boat as your. Last weekend took the stove apart to make sure everything was good for this coming season and noticed rust everywhere inside. Here is what i did, took all the parts out from the inside, put a fine metal brush attachment into a high speed drill and brushed until the rust was gone. After that i blew all the dust off and hit everything with several coats of high temp stove paint.

On the inside of the stove i used a wire brush and gave everything a light once over, then blasted all of that with a coat of black paint.
I will have to remember when i do my final cleaning in the summer to give the entire inside with a light once over of wd-40.

Tim

 

[mgambuzza]

Same here with my Quad Castile. When I bought it in April, burned it maybe twice before retiring for summer, I couldn't believe that by summer there was rust all over the iron and steel parts of the stove. Contacted the manufacturer who said it was normal and just needed to sand and touch up. I've been doing the same routine for the next three years and no, the rust hasn't significantly progressed. It is simply a result of non use and moist environment during the summer season. I was told if I disconnected it from the chimney during those months it wouldn't have the exposure during summer months, but it is too much of a pain to move, disconnect, cap off, and wait to see if it makes a difference.

 

[pegdot]

I guess the rust is universal. lol I opened mine yesterday to give it a test run before it's needed and it was coated with rust. Yikes! Next year I'll spray some oil or something on it to see if it helps.

 

[srjtr7]

I also had the same issue....started to post about it with pics.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/23850/

I took it all apart, sanded inside...and sprayed this rust killer / inhibitor I picked up at Home Depot. It turned all the rust black.

Sanded again, sprayed hi temp black paint inside.

Took out the brick plates.....don't sand them....they will get ruined. I sprayed rust stuff. Wire brushed them clean.

Painted them with the hi temp black.

Stove looks pissa now.

I will do a springtime maintenance from now on to prevent this from happening again.

 

[ButcherOfMalta]

I also had the same issue....started to post about it with pics.

...
I took it all apart, sanded inside...and sprayed this rust killer / inhibitor I picked up at Home Depot. It turned all the rust black.
...

srjtr7, I was going to do the same thing using Mar-hyde one-step rust converter but, I wasn't sure it should be used
in high temp. environment.

It also stated not to use with water based paint. I have high temp paint (Stove Bright) that was given to me with the stove.
Pretty sure it's non-water based.

Anybody aware if the rust converter could cause problems?

srjtr7, have you burned your stove since applying the rust product?

 

[CygnusX1]

I've found that placing an open box of baking soda in the stove during the summer reduces the amount of rust.

 

[tinkabranc]

I've found that placing an open box of baking soda in the stove during the summer reduces the amount of rust.

Same here...open box of baking soda sits in the ash pan over the summer.
Does not cure the rust, but does help reduce the amount.

 

[John H]

What I do is clean everything in the spring and spray WD-40 on everything on the inside.

John

 

[MCPO]

My Harman P38 was pretty clean and it spent the 3 previous years out in the garage heating a small workshop with a concrete floor. I think whatever superficial rust that was on the burn pot could have been rubbed off easily so I ignored it.
But WD 40 is the stuff to use in the spring or whenever it gets cleaned .

 

[srjtr7]

I also had the same issue....started to post about it with pics.

...
I took it all apart, sanded inside...and sprayed this rust killer / inhibitor I picked up at Home Depot. It turned all the rust black.
...

srjtr7, I was going to do the same thing using Mar-hyde one-step rust converter but, I wasn't sure it should be used
in high temp. environment.

It also stated not to use with water based paint. I have high temp paint (Stove Bright) that was given to me with the stove.
Pretty sure it's non-water based.

Anybody aware if the rust converter could cause problems?

srjtr7, have you burned your stove since applying the rust product?

I will look up what I used.

The rust stuff said non flamable, and did not say anything about painting......I think. Washed it all off and dryed it all before painting.

I have run the stove a bunch of time since doing this.

Ran it from low to high.

I am on 15 hours burning today.....everything still looks great.

I will clean it tomorrow and see how it is holding up.

 

[treehackers]

Too late for this burning season but after this winter is over and you do your end of season cleaning, wipe everything down with fluid film. The stuff is a little pricey but come next fall you'll have little or NO rust. After this burn season I will spay my burn pot and put it aside for 6 months. When I get everything ready for the new burn season, it's like new.

 

[srjtr7]

for the rust removal I used this (broken link removed)

Safe, fast, effective on:
rusted or new metal, galvanized, aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, chrome, brass, plastic, brick, stucco, stone, porcelain, fiberglass, ceramic, glass, and more...

Ideal for painting
when dry, accepts any primer, paint, coating, etc., and provides a clean surface free of contaminants, which allow a secure bond for coating.

Earth-Friendly:
Water-Based . Biodegradable . Non-Flammable

for paint I used

Black Stove Bright hi temp paint.

After alot of burning, it all still looks great. Any ash or soot wipes off with a damp cloth.

 

[ButcherOfMalta]

srjtr7, Very nice. Thanks for the speedy reply too.

I'm not sure I'm going to have much luck finding it in my area (I searched Lowes, Home Depot online).

As an alternative I may end up with CLR http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productList&Ne=4294967294+647&category=CLR&N=0+4294961719+4294965128&Ns=p_product_brand_name|1&sortOp=brandZ

for the rust removal I used this (broken link removed)

.....

 

[srjtr7]

They do have a store locator on their site. (broken link removed)

I have used CLR for other projects, it does work well once you disolve it. I looked on CLR's site and it is non-flamable.

It does not say anything about painting over it.

I would suggest testing it on a small spot, or somewhere that is not visable all the time.

I tested on my back wall.....the brick plates cover them. So if it messed it up, I would not care.

Good luck.

 

[ButcherOfMalta]

They do have a store locator on their site. (broken link removed)
...
.

Whoops missed your reply before popping off to the store.

I ended up getting Naval Jelly. Works pretty good. Stove was rusting pretty bad. Still working on it.
So far, I cleaned up the door's metal seal edging which covers the glass gasket and just re-painted with high temp paint.

Need to hit the stove interrior one more time with the Naval Jelly.

The instructions on the Naval Jelly say to wash it off after letting it do its work (and before it dries).
I used a wet cloth.

Going to install the door edge seal rope gasket in a minute, using high heat silicone sealant.
A bit nervous about doing it, Hope I get it right the first time.

Luckily I have an alternate heat source to keep my procrastinating self warm.