What kind of wood stove is this & do potato peels prevent creosote build up?

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Don2222

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Feb 1, 2010
9,192
Salem NH
Hello
Potato peels?
What make and model wood stove is this?
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[Hearth.com] What kind of wood stove is this & do potato peels prevent creosote build up? [Hearth.com] What kind of wood stove is this & do potato peels prevent creosote build up? [Hearth.com] What kind of wood stove is this & do potato peels prevent creosote build up?
 
? And no.
They are wet.
 
Neat-looking stove, thought it looked like something I saw on Obadia's site once upon a time, but I took a quick look and didn't see it. I also looked around for a scientific explanation for the potato peel thing, and didn't find any. There does seem to be a ton of anecdotal stuff, but I put this in the same pile as "you can't burn pine" stuff. I will admit though, I don't look nearly that good when I am loading the stove in my sleepwear (i.e., t-shirt that is well past it's prime with shorts to match)!
 
Just got this from another forum member!
Glad there is some truth to it here! :-)
Interestingly enough, this is technically true. The question is if the concentrations in potato peels and cans are high enough to have the same effect. Doing a spot check of the MSDS for three commercial Creosote remover products, the active/ingredient common to them is manganese acetate. (The actual percentage of manganese is withheld as a trade secret on the MSDS)
Both steel and aluminum cans contain manganese as part of the alloy (~ 0.35 to 1% manganese) and the average potato contains 0.3 grams of manganese (most of which is concentrated in the skin).
So potentially, they could work the same as the commercial products, converting the sticky tar-like creosote into the easier to remove flaky creosote.
 
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Containing manganese does not mean it should work in a similar way. It all depends on the chemical form it is in when it enters your flue.
If manganese is all that's needed, buy some multivitamin...

I still believe that the loads of water in the peels in the pic would do more harm than any constituent chemical might reverse.
 
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Neat-looking stove, thought it looked like something I saw on Obadia's site once upon a time, but I took a quick look and didn't see it. I also looked around for a scientific explanation for the potato peel thing, and didn't find any. There does seem to be a ton of anecdotal stuff, but I put this in the same pile as "you can't burn pine" stuff. I will admit though, I don't look nearly that good when I am loading the stove in my sleepwear (i.e., t-shirt that is well past it's prime with shorts to match)!
Well there's your problem. You need more lace and the holy tee shirt isn't transparent enough. Post pics when you have these things corrected!
 
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Just got this from another forum member!
Glad there is some truth to it here! :)
Interestingly enough, this is technically true. The question is if the concentrations in potato peels and cans are high enough to have the same effect. Doing a spot check of the MSDS for three commercial Creosote remover products, the active/ingredient common to them is manganese acetate. (The actual percentage of manganese is withheld as a trade secret on the MSDS)
Both steel and aluminum cans contain manganese as part of the alloy (~ 0.35 to 1% manganese) and the average potato contains 0.3 grams of manganese (most of which is concentrated in the skin).
So potentially, they could work the same as the commercial products, converting the sticky tar-like creosote into the easier to remove flaky creosote.
According to https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170032/nutrients, the manganese in just the potato skins is 0.023% by weight. If we assume that manganese in potato form and manganese acetate react with creosote the same way, and that creosote logs have only the same percentage of their active ingredient as aluminum cans do (both of which are pretty big assumptions), you'd need to burn 140 lbs of potato skins to get the same effect as one 3.2 lb creosote log. I don't think the amount of potato skins shown in that video are going to have any impact whatsoever.
 
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Heck no! Pics not required! I’m old and this is my only set of eyes.
I understand, there are no danger of pics showing up. My kid said, "What has been seen can't be unseen." I wouldn't subject anyone but family to my fading middle-aged glory!