Concerns of submerged stove

[Battenkiller]

Stove cement is based on sodium silicate. Once that has thoroughly dried, it is relatively waterproof, so I doubt any long-term damage has been done. If it was my stove (they are cast iron, not steel BTW), I would immediately start warming it from the inside with very small kindling fires. This will help with the rust on the inside. It will also help with drying the interior of the home. Even if you have to keep all the windows open, using the stove will dramatically lower the relative humidity inside the living space and dry it out much faster... hopefully, before mold can take over everything.

However, if you really were planning on doing a complete rebuild, why not do it now? That way you can clean and inspect every part of the stove and put it back together airtight. It will burn more controlled than it did last year, guaranteed. If you just replace the gaskets and the stove won't burn in a controlled manner at all, you will have to take it all apart anyway.

Where in the Northeast do you live? I am in upstate NY. If you aren't too far away from Saratoga Springs, I wouldn't mind coming over and helping with the rebuild. Sounds like you had groundwater seepage coming in through the walls? I had that bad, and would be in the same predicament if I wasn't pumping it out for two days. As it was, there was a time where it was coming in faster than it was getting pumped out, and I was wishing I had two pumps and praying to several gods that the power wouldn't go out. Man, that was a lot of rain!

 

[begreen]

Mold is a big concern with flooded basements. My BIL deferred on this, thinking it would dry out and they ended up with a serious mold issue inside the walls. Definitely plan on tearing out all drywall to at least 1 ft above the waterline.

moved post to the classic stove forum for more focused answers about the Defiant 1A.

 

[mywaynow]

I spent 8 days at 12-15 hours a day removing crap, cleaning and cutting away sheetrock. 48 lawn/leaf bags were used to remove my stuff. It is good down here now (I am in the basement as the only connection to the net is hardwire; toasted the wireless router in the water), no smell of mold. We went through 15 gallons of bleach in the clean up. Two gallons went down the well since it was taking water from the basement. My gun safe was under water, and now the walnut stocks are cracking/swelling. Don't even know if I will be able to burn before mid-October. I have a ton of catching up to do, and once I have an idea of what may or may not be covered, I have tons of work to do down here. Much of the contents that survived are in a tent on the patio, or in my garage where the Camaro used to be. She is parked at my parents, just down the road.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

LEe just gave our area another backslap. Schoharie County is flooded again. I didn't think I'd be able to get home today. Of the 5 ways I knew out, 4 were closed and I took a chance on the one that brought me out through BFE. I drove on roads I shouldn't have, but got out and was able to pick the little one up at daycare.

Matt

 

[begreen]

This has been a soggy year for NYS. Good year to own a kayak. I hope this storm is the last you see for awhile.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I hope its a mild winter. Some of those counties don't have any money left for snow removal.

Matt

 

[Dune]

You probably already know this, but the reason for the slow, cooler fires is that the metal parts expand and contract with heating and cooling. If two pieces that normally would slide past each other are rusted together, the slow fires give the rust a chance to break up slowly, rather than cracking or bending the metal.

Very true as well as allow any moisture that may have been absorbed by the fire brick to evaporate slowly instead of a small explosion (vaporization pressure).

including the metal itself...
Metal holds quite a bit of water for those who don't know.

Not sure how much it would soak up in 5 hours or if it would even matter, but steel definitely absorbs water.

Metal Absorbs Water?

 

[Jags]

You probably already know this, but the reason for the slow, cooler fires is that the metal parts expand and contract with heating and cooling. If two pieces that normally would slide past each other are rusted together, the slow fires give the rust a chance to break up slowly, rather than cracking or bending the metal.

Very true as well as allow any moisture that may have been absorbed by the fire brick to evaporate slowly instead of a small explosion (vaporization pressure).

including the metal itself...
Metal holds quite a bit of water for those who don't know.

Not sure how much it would soak up in 5 hours or if it would even matter, but steel definitely absorbs water.

Metal Absorbs Water?

How would steel hull ships work???

 

[daveswoodhauler]

You probably already know this, but the reason for the slow, cooler fires is that the metal parts expand and contract with heating and cooling. If two pieces that normally would slide past each other are rusted together, the slow fires give the rust a chance to break up slowly, rather than cracking or bending the metal.

Very true as well as allow any moisture that may have been absorbed by the fire brick to evaporate slowly instead of a small explosion (vaporization pressure).

including the metal itself...
Metal holds quite a bit of water for those who don't know.

Not sure how much it would soak up in 5 hours or if it would even matter, but steel definitely absorbs water.

Metal Absorbs Water?

How would steel hull ships work???

Must be why subs can dive....they get too wet
Must take a lot of dehumidifiers to get the sub back to the surface

On a practical note, I think your best bet is to go with fans/dehumidifiers, and perhaps start a very small fire as other posters have indicated.
Very sorry for your loss and all the damage.