Wood, Coal or Pellet Stove Corrosion During the Off Season

[bdhsfz6]

During the warm months when the stove is not in use, dampness enters from the chimney and causes corrosion. I tried using Damp Rid and other moisture absorbing products, but there is just too much moisture for this to be effective. The flue has a damper but it doesn't seal completely and moisture gets past. For the last few years, I started taking out a section of flue pipe between the chimney and stove to keep moisture out. This works but as you can imagine, it's a messy job and leaves the stove unusable until the flue pipe is replaced. Not convenient if you want a quick fire on a chilly spring or fall day.

I'm not aware of any damper that seals the flue completely. What do others do to protect their stoves from internal corrosion when not in use?

 

[ponytug]

Flue stopper.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

We used to plug the stove pipe with wool, but we had sheep to sheer so it was always available.

 

[ponytug]

We used to plug the stove pipe with wool, but we had sheep to sheer so it was always available.

The fluestopper is made from hardy Yorkshire herdwick wool felt.

Chimney Sheep® Draught Excluder

When it comes to draught-proofing chimneys, you can’t get better than a Chimney Sheep® chimney draught excluder. As the best chimney draught excluder on the market and the only one with industry reassurance via the BBA , a Chimney Sheep® draught stopper will keep your home draught-free and...

chimneysheep.co.uk

All the best,

Peter

 

[bdhsfz6]

The fluestopper is made from hardy Yorkshire herdwick wool felt.

Chimney Sheep® Draught Excluder

When it comes to draught-proofing chimneys, you can’t get better than a Chimney Sheep® chimney draught excluder. As the best chimney draught excluder on the market and the only one with industry reassurance via the BBA , a Chimney Sheep® draught stopper will keep your home draught-free and...

chimneysheep.co.uk

All the best,

Peter

Looks interesting but how do you get it in the flue without removing the pipe. Can't do it from inside due to the stove design.

 

[ponytug]

Looks interesting but how do you get it in the flue without removing the pipe. Can't do it from inside due to the stove design.

They make other sizes and shapes, but my guess is that your stove has secondary/tertiary combustion, so that's not going to solve it for you then.

The only other blocking solution that I know of is actually capping the flue every spring and uncapping it in the fall. It works ok if you have decent access to the cap (flat roof, fixed ladders), but I'm guessing that's not the case.

Is it feasible to clean out the ashes and soot in the spring and then leave the door off or fully open? If not, would you consider coating the inside every spring with a stove blacking compound?

We had our damper tested recently and it leaked several hundred cfm@50Pa (standard conditions). That's just crazy high in my opinion. It has no seal, and the tolerances are +/- 3/8" or so.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CalG]

I always pull the stove flue pipe from the down stairs stove during summer. The front room stove is soapstone. During pre season cleaning, I have not noted corrosion under the condensed combustion products.

The chimney thimble is stuffed with fiber glass batting, just because it's at hand. Aluminum foil works also.

 

[Cycledude]

During the warm months when the stove is not in use, dampness enters from the chimney and causes corrosion. I tried using Damp Rid and other moisture absorbing products, but there is just too much moisture for this to be effective. The flue has a damper but it doesn't seal completely and moisture gets past. For the last few years, I started taking out a section of flue pipe between the chimney and stove to keep moisture out. This works but as you can imagine, it's a messy job and leaves the stove unusable until the flue pipe is replaced. Not convenient if you want a quick fire on a chilly spring or fall day.

I'm not aware of any damper that seals the flue completely. What do others do to protect their stoves from internal corrosion when not in use?

I have wood furnace in basement, rust inside the furnace is something I have never worried about, my furnace is over 40 years old

 

[oosik]

We are just too dry here to get any type of corrosion. You might consider using stainless steel stove pipe. I used double wall stainless on my wood stove. Simply for safety reasons.

 

[bdhsfz6]

it's not the pipe that corrodes, it's the inside of the stove. It's a Harman Magnum Stoker and uses ordinary 1/4" sheet steel for the fire box. Moisture combines with the coating of fine coal ash and makes sulfuric acid. It's impossible to completely clean ash from all the recesses in the stove so the best approach is to keep it dry.

Removing the flue pipe between the stove and chimney does the job but it's messy and leaves the stove unusable for the occasional fire on a cool spring or fall day.

I was hoping to find a mechanical damper that would completely seal the flue but would open easily to light a fire.