Stainless steel combustion chamber

[panman]

Just started shopping for a wood-burning insert for my open fireplace. Have looked at most of the common name brands and all use firebrick in the combustion chamber. One brand --Supreme--uses a stainless steel chamber. All of the numbers are good, EPA, BTU, Burntime, area heated but the fact that the industry standard is firebrick this stainless steel unit has me a little leary. The design is nice and flush with a large glass door . If anyone has any views as far as pros and cons I would love to hear them . Thank You

 

[citizanken]

I am not familiar with the model that has the stainless firebox, but my insert is lined with soapstone, not firebrick, don't forget to check out the Clydesdale from Hearthstone.

 

[berlin]

depends on the type of stainless used; some types are not very good at dealing with the thermal cycling and tend to develop cracks prematurely. 304L comes to mind. mild steel with firebrick has worked very well for a long time, i wouldn't bother with stainless for a woodstove.

 

[Roospike]

A full Stainless steel combustion chamber is not the way to go on wood stoves , wood boilers or wood furnaces.

Now stainless steel iner parts or great like secondary burn chambers and other parts.
Pacific Energy has Stainless steel secondary burn chamber , SS top iner plate , SS side rails and a SS front air inlet.

Lifetime warranty on the stove and parts except fire bricks .

 

[begreen]

Hmmm. Seems to me we recently had a discussion about indoor boilers in which this company was considered one of the premium brands. They've been making them for years and prefer stainless:

Carbon vs. Stainless Steel in our Wood Boilers

The internal surfaces of a Wood Gun™ Wood Boiler include any surface touched by the flame, smoke, wood or exhaust. The internal surfaces may be manufactured with carbon steel or stainless steel - it's your choice. We recommend stainless steel because carbon steel will show deterioration within 10 years though the unit may continue to function for as much as 20 years. We have had stainless steel boilers in service for 19 years, and they show no sign of deterioration. We use 1/4" thick 304 stainless steel (as opposed to 409) for unsurpassed quality.

(broken link removed to http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/woodboilers.htm)

 

[Roospike]

Hmmm. Seems to me we recently had a discussion about indoor boilers in which this company was considered one of the premium brands. They've been making them for years and prefer stainless:

Carbon vs. Stainless Steel in our Wood Boilers

The internal surfaces of a Wood Gun™ Wood Boiler include any surface touched by the flame, smoke, wood or exhaust. The internal surfaces may be manufactured with carbon steel or stainless steel - it's your choice. We recommend stainless steel because carbon steel will show deterioration within 10 years though the unit may continue to function for as much as 20 years. We have had stainless steel boilers in service for 19 years, and they show no sign of deterioration. We use 1/4" thick 304 stainless steel (as opposed to 409) for unsurpassed quality.

(broken link removed to http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/woodboilers.htm)

I'm just going off my own experence with steel (being a fabricator) and many others had said on out door wood boilers ( not that i recommend OWB ) Most of the OWB companies that offer mild steel and stainless steel full fire boxes offer life time warranties on the mild steel fireboxes and only 3-5 year warranty on the stainless steel fire boxes.

I've seen a many OWB with broken full stainless steel fire boxes and needed repaired vs less of the mild steel fire boxes needing fixed. I've been on many services calls on the SS repairs (tho i dont offer Mobile welding service myself i have been with ride ons Mobile welding services on repairs with friends/owners i know)

Just my experience over the years vs reading a companies listings and claims.

 

[begreen]

This is an IWB. Been in business many years with a good reputation so I'm not sure if it's the thickness, quality of welds or what. But they seem to stand behind their work.

 

[Corey]

IMHO - if stainless* had any problem with thermal cycling, we wouldn't be using it for our flue liners, BBQ grills, car exhaust, burn baffles, and any other place that sees a lot of temperature variation. Truth is, stainless steel (the metal) is no more prone to thermal cracking than carbon steel.

Now you notice that I used the asterisk and later put 'the metal' in parenthesis. The other side of the coin is that stainless requires a bit more care than carbon steel to insure a quality weld. Some manufacturers may not go to the extra steps to insure this quality...which may lead to cracking down the road. The manufacturer may also elect to use a slightly thinner plate of stainless to help offset some of the increased cost. The thinner material may also be more prone to cracking and/or warping. Stainless also expands more than carbon steel when heated (about 2/3 more), so care must be taken to allow for extra expansion room in the design. All of these things together may make a stainless 'design' more prone to cracking although the metal itself is not.

I would treat a stainless lined stove like a stainless lined dishwasher. It is a neat feature...probably adds extra cost...certainly not required for proper or efficient operation...may be more durable...but only assuming it is properly engineered.

Corey

 

[Andre B.]

Talking about stainless without specifying which alloy is kind of pointless.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel

I bet a lot of the problems with "stainless" in outdoor boilers (water heaters really, I have yet to see one that uses steam to deliver the heat) is do to water chemistry, how many owners of these things do you think actually test and correct that on a regular schedule.
_____________
Andre' B.

 

[precaud]

Please stop spamming our forum.