Stainless vs. Steel

[sdenison]

Hello All,

I am in the process of rebuilding a Vermont Castings Intrepid II stove. I am completely disassembling and rebuilding it. Along the way I am going to replace all the fasteners. I was considering Stainless steel for the new fasteners and was wondering what the general opinion was on fasteners in a wood stove. Should I use SS, Schedule 8 steel, or general nuts and bolts.

Thanks for the advise.

 

[zig]

Any steel fastener exposed to heat will tend to rust; the more heat the more corrosion. To me it's worth the extra cost to not have to fight with something down the road.

 

[defiant3]

Yeah, this is an ongoing discussion. On the one hand, ss. is less likely to break next time you need to loosen it. On the other hand, if it DOES get seized, then you've got a really hard bolt to have to drill out! I like regular grade 5 hardware and lots and lots of Never-Seize. Seems to work really well, it's cheap, easy, and if it does fail all I gotta drill through is mild steel. On an Intrepid II, it's mainly the glass clip retaining screws ,those 3/8" bolts that come through the back that hold the fireback in place, and the screws that hold the "doghouse" around the thermostat that are potential problem areas. Give em plenty of the silver goo!!