Rust inside the stove.

[Bod]

Due to the fire bricks crumbling away, I am having to change them.

Behind the old ones there was an amount of rust scale.

Should I treat the rust with Vactan/Fertan type products, then paint with heat resistant/exhaust paint, before re-bricking?

Or will that be a waste of time and effort?

The stove is a Villager Heron, about 20 years old, welded steel construction.  No appreciatable thinning of the sides can be seen.

 

Bod

[dor]

Don't try painting anything!   It is quite normal for stoves to have a thin coating of oxide where it is not in direct contact with the flames, e.g. behind the firebricks.

 

However if you have a leaking back boiler, that could lead to excessive rusting, but that would be fairly obvious.  Also if you don't cap the chimney when it is not alight you can get water running down inside the stove. Assuming the rust you have found is just a thin coating, leave it there as it is protecting the rest of the steel.  If you remove the rust, it will just create a new layer.

 

 

[blackrose]

Rust treatments and painting would be a waste of time inside a stove. Roughly scrape off what you can, clean it out and check for any gaps or chinks of light coming through at the joints. If you see any seal them up from the outside with Envirograf. Check the flue seal too. Re-line it with new firebricks a and that's it.

Edited May 30, 2020 by blackrose

[blackrose]

23 minutes ago, dor said:

Assuming the rust you have found is just a thin coating, leave it there as it is protecting the rest of the steel.  If you remove the rust, it will just create a new layer.

 

 

 

Agree leave it alone if it's just a thin layer of rust. If it's thicker rust that's falling off then I'd scrape it off and get it out.

[Stilllearning]

And for the top of the stove pipe, when you want to cap it , the neatest trick I ever saw was done by a cousin of mine. Get a tin can of the right size to stick over the roof plate and with a can opener, remove one end , then with one of those old can openers that make a triangular hole in a can lid, make 3 or 4 holes round the top of the can SIDES, but NOT in the top. This cowl will now happily sit on the stub of the roof plate. You can even put it on with the fire almost out, and leave the boat quite safely. There will still be air circulation, so no condensation in the stove or pipe work. Put a heavy weight on top of the can to stop it blowing off on a windy day.

[Machpoint005]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

Rust treatments and painting would be a waste of time inside a stove. Roughly scrape off what you can, clean it out and check for any gaps or chinks of light coming through at the joints. If you see any seal them up from the outside with Envirograf. Check the flue seal too. Re-line it with new firebricks a and that's it.

 

Which Envirograf product, please?  Will it seal against carbon monoxide?

[Richard10002]

34 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Which Envirograf product, please?  Will it seal against carbon monoxide?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Envirograf-Silicone-Sealant-Resistant-Degrees/dp/B00OOO7PUG

 

I use this one. Usually get it on ebay.

 

Beware!!! I think the instructions say to let it cure possibly for a few days. Then, when you first light the stove after sealing, the sealant will smoke like crazy for a while. I've done my stove/flue joint twice in 10 years. Second time, I was ready, so opened all the windows and doors, lit the fire and got out PDQ until it all settled down.

 

No sign of Carbon Monoxide in the ten years I've been using it.

[ditchcrawler]

12 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

 

 

No sign of Carbon Monoxide in the ten years I've been using it.

But did you detect CO before you sealed it

[Richard10002]

7 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

But did you detect CO before you sealed it

On the two occasions I have used it, it was because I was replacing the stove/flue collar thing, and then the flue itself a few years later. So the answer is NO.

 

Having said that, I think I would have been ill advised to fit the collar thing, and the new flue, without using some kind of sealant..... wouldn't I?

 

 

[Bod]

Thanks for all the replies, I did get the answers expected.

 

Bod