Is a solution of baking soda and water the best rust preventative for surfaces inside a coal stove? How often do you treat the surfaces and do you do it during the buring season? I coated the inside of my stove and still got a little flaking and buildup. Any suggestions, I don't want this to happen again or continue to hurt my stove.
Rust Prevention
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I asked this of my chimney sweep about my Harman wood/coal stove.
He replied that it is usually not necessary with routine cleanings but, if done, sprinkling baking soda down the chimney, around the firebox and ash clean outs should help neutralize the (sulfuric, from burning coal, not wood: not much in 'low sulfur' anthracite) acid which can cause corrosion of the metal parts over time. Do this in Spring (when the humidity starts to increase), just after a cleaning, for best results.
Aye,
Marty
He replied that it is usually not necessary with routine cleanings but, if done, sprinkling baking soda down the chimney, around the firebox and ash clean outs should help neutralize the (sulfuric, from burning coal, not wood: not much in 'low sulfur' anthracite) acid which can cause corrosion of the metal parts over time. Do this in Spring (when the humidity starts to increase), just after a cleaning, for best results.
Aye,
Marty
Oh, since moisture accelerates rust and corrosion, I would not add water to baking soda. Also, the powder is easier to apply.
Aye,
Marty
Aye,
Marty
I always put baking soda inside my Alaska stoker at the end of the season. Make sure to clean it well, any flyash that contacts moisture makes sulfuric acid, and if it's under a layer of ash, the baking soda won't do any good. I had a few corrosion problems with the Alaska, but this year's floods really finished it off. I can't even open the doors now, and the motors were all seized. Sad to see it go to the scrap bin, but I get a new stove to replace it, so that's cool.
Shake it, baby...
"Dust" your chimney*, firebox and ash box.
Aye,
Marty
*Pour a box down the chimney.
"Dust" your chimney*, firebox and ash box.
Aye,
Marty
*Pour a box down the chimney.
Yep, just toss small handfulls in, kind of spread it around. You could probably put some onto a dry rag and rub it in if you wanted, I just bought the cheapest store-brand baking soda and chucked handfulls in. I replaced my single-wall every year, so I took that out and put a cap on the thimble for the summer.
That would work, after you neutralized the acid in the flyash. At the end of a season, I can literally scrape yellow sulfur off the inside of my stove. Oil would just seal that in. I usually give the woodstove a shot of WD-40 inside at the end of the season after a good cleaning.
The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) neutralizes (inactivates) the sulfuric acid thus stopping the rust progression.
Oil covers the sulfuric acid and extisting rust and, perhaps, slows the rust process down by becoming a barrier to air and moisture.
Like duct taping over a corroded tailpipe - you're headed for disappointment sooner rather than later.
Aye,
Marty
Oil covers the sulfuric acid and extisting rust and, perhaps, slows the rust process down by becoming a barrier to air and moisture.
Like duct taping over a corroded tailpipe - you're headed for disappointment sooner rather than later.
Aye,
Marty
I have fixed so many rusted cars over the years here in the rust belt it makes me sick. There are 2 truisms about rust I know of. 3 Really. #! IT WILL RUST LIKE YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Bet the whole family jewels on that one. Second, IF ITS THICK IT USUALLY JUST FORMS A RUST COATING LIKE GUN BROWNING OR BLUING WHICH ACTUALLY PROTECTS IT. However see # 1 for the complete story. #3, If you keep it coated with about anything to keep the oxygen and acids off the surface you won't rust. However, see item one for the complete story.
In all its gonna rust period and thats about it. The big thing you can do is keep it coated with something yo inhibit it which works pretty well. Having thick metal just seems to have that magic effect of not letting the rusting get going to whrere it begins to pit. Strange isn't it how you see 1950's cars sitting in a field with the paint all gone and that nice sheen of brown on the hood but no pits or holes yet your10 year old car looks like an Apache gunship had a pass at it. Its a combination of very thin hardened steel which has galvanizing these days to help abate this. Secondly most cars are made out of recycled beercans and bailingwire so full of impurities that it rusts much faster. US cars USED to be virgin steel, not sure these days but all the imports are recycled trash. As I tell everyone, " listen, on a quiet night in March you can hear them rusting". Take heart your stove is sure going to outlive my Chevy.
In all its gonna rust period and thats about it. The big thing you can do is keep it coated with something yo inhibit it which works pretty well. Having thick metal just seems to have that magic effect of not letting the rusting get going to whrere it begins to pit. Strange isn't it how you see 1950's cars sitting in a field with the paint all gone and that nice sheen of brown on the hood but no pits or holes yet your10 year old car looks like an Apache gunship had a pass at it. Its a combination of very thin hardened steel which has galvanizing these days to help abate this. Secondly most cars are made out of recycled beercans and bailingwire so full of impurities that it rusts much faster. US cars USED to be virgin steel, not sure these days but all the imports are recycled trash. As I tell everyone, " listen, on a quiet night in March you can hear them rusting". Take heart your stove is sure going to outlive my Chevy.
If your burning in the stove then stop your worrying.
By all means clean it in the spring and spray it down
with a nice fogging oil. All that ash and coal mixed with moisture
will eat that hopper box and your vents is just 2 or 3 seasons.
I suppose that is why the dealers keep those parts on hand as they
knows what will wear out due to poor maintenance.
By all means clean it in the spring and spray it down
with a nice fogging oil. All that ash and coal mixed with moisture
will eat that hopper box and your vents is just 2 or 3 seasons.
I suppose that is why the dealers keep those parts on hand as they
knows what will wear out due to poor maintenance.
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