Unexpected rust

[Brokk]

I have to admit being surprised at the rust I found when I looked to start up my stove this season. I mean, after reading what some people do to prepare their stoves for the summer, that some moisture might get in from the chimney and cause some surface rusting. What I wasn't expecting was the rust I got outside of the stove. I had rust outside of the glass on the door. I had rust at the base of my stove in a couple spots. Most annoyingly I have rust in where the heat exchange vents blow out. I can't get in there to treat that area which is what makes it annoying. Inside the stove there was all levels of rust. That is reachable. So anything I could get to I sanded, wiped down the rust dust and applied perma-blue (my favorite rust treatment for steel). I don't view my house (room) as overly moist in the summer, though it is New England and we do suffer our own humidity issues. I'm just not used to steel sitting in a protected house to start rusting away like that.

Any thoughts of how to prevent this better next year?

Brokk...

 

[dpwoods]

Brokk…

I too had a bit of a surprise when I fired up my Harman P61 for the start of the season. At the end of last season I completely cleaned out the inside of the stove with a shopvac with the brush attachment. I did the pellet brush through the vent from inside and out, removed the exhaust probe and cleaned it, vacuumed out the pellet hopper, etc. I used a can of pam (spray vegetable oil) and sprayed the inside of the stove with what I thought was a generous coating.

We had a cool summer without much humidity, I didn't think much about it. However, when I opened the door of the stove this fall I found some rust had formed in the corners and nooks and crannies where the oil hadn't coated completely. Some interior flat steel areas also had some light surface rust.

Next year I'm going to oil to the point of dripping, then reapply a week later. Some paper towels on the stove floor and horizontal surfaces will collect any extra. I didn't seal the air intake and vent pipes this spring, I will next year. I'm thinking about some moisture absorbing packets inside the stove as well..........

dpwoods

 

[swalz]

I had no rust inside my stove, I coated it with Cooking spray real good. The outside was a different story, did not notice it until I was up close getting it ready to burn, lots of surface rust on the sides and top. I took some steal wool and removed the rust wiped it down real good and gave it a good couple coats of high temp paint. I think that it only had a light coat of paint so it started to rust from the humid days we had this summer. I don't run the AC unless it gets bad and that was about 2 weeks worth all together this summer.

 

[imacman]

Next summer, put some of these in the stove.

www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&parentType=index&indexId=cat20799&hasJS=true

 

[Brokk]

Next summer, put some of these in the stove.

www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&parentType=index&indexId=cat20799&hasJS=true

Would you put them inside the burn area or also in the hopper? How far do their effects reach? I'm worried about the rust I can't see which may bite me when my auger seizes up or fans stop spinning. Also, do you recommend spraying the outside and heat exchangers from the outside with cooking oil as well?

Brokk...

 

[imacman]

.....Would you put them inside the burn area or also in the hopper? How far do their effects reach? I'm worried about the rust I can't see which may bite me when my auger seizes up or fans stop spinning. Also, do you recommend spraying the outside and heat exchangers from the outside with cooking oil as well? Brokk...

Brokk, after the stove is completely cleaned, I put a medium size one in the "burn area" (firebox), and a small one in the empty hopper, stuffed a rag into the exhaust outlet and OAK inlet on the stove, and called it a day. I didn't do any spraying w/ Pam or anything else, and had no rust build-up over the summer.

I sold the Astoria just the way it was, and the new owner checked it out front to back, inside and out, and he thought it was fine.

 

[pelletizer]

Macman do you use AC in your house in the summer? that may help with moisture.

 

[imacman]

Macman do you use AC in your house in the summer? that may help with moisture.

I do, but this past summer here wasn't all that bad. I'd say that we really only had about 3 solid weeks of high humidity. the rest of the summer, I had the doors open.

 

[pelletizer]

Well looks like those moisture eaters may be the answer. I have seen at home depot in a small plastic bucket a product to suck up moisture in basements.
Looks like I am on pellets this week since my Becket burner is currently off the peerless waiting on me to get off my ass and get new electrodes.
Got me a tank of oil to burn up.

 

[RGoemaere]

It's nice to know that so many folks had a problem w/ rust this year! We just finished cleaning out our P23 - de-rusted, pulled the auger, etc. HUGE note to self (as advised by others) - be sure to shut everything down properly in the spring, seal/stuff all outside openings, and use silica gel!

Thanks for all the troubleshooting ideas and solutions!