Stove care after shutting down

[SawdustSA]

I have done a quick search but did not find anything related to this question.

What is the best method to preserve your stove after shutting it down for the summer? We live along the coast and the high humidity in summer creates plenty of surface corrosion on the inside of the stove.

In the past I used to block the flue on the inside of the stove, clean off any loose flaky rusty spots and painted it with a water based rust preventative paint. The baffle gets removed and treated the same way. This only helped partially.

So far this year, I have just left it as is with the old ash inside and it actually appears fine so far.
PS I live in South Africa, that's why we have summer now.

What is the recommended method?

 

[TedyOH]

I would use a light coat of WD-40, not that I'm saying that's "recommended" for your stove or for coastal corrosion protection but that's what I'd do I suppose.

 

[Fred Wright]

When we were kids, the neighbor man would remove his kitchen wood burner every spring and leave it set on the covered back porch. He'd coat the thing with stove polish to prevent rust. It worked.