Inside firebox rust in a Jotul F 50 TL Rangeley

[MidwestLife]

Hey everyone. About nine years ago our current house was built and I had a Jotul F 50 TL Rangeley installed (I got the recommendation from this forum among other on-line sources). I am the only one in the house who uses the stove so I use it on my days off, think weekends, sometimes during the week. Since I don't burn all that much, I usually have it cleaned and inspected every couple of years. I've always had good results with the cleaning, but not so much the inspection. I am putting more details below my main question for those who are curious. In the end, after some changes to the chimney and me closing the air vents to the firebox, I developed condensation in the firebox. Fully opening the air intake seems to have cured this issue.

I now have some surface rust in various areas of the firebox. Some of it came right off with a carbon steel brush, some of it seems heavier and might need some work to totally remove. For the grate and other removable pieces, I can use electrolysis to remove the rust.

My main question is, once I get as much of the rust removed as possible, it is it allowable to use Rust-Oleum High Heat paint to cover up and protect the metal surfaces of the inside of the firebox?

Longer version of the issues and actions that ended up causing the rust:

It was discovered a couple years ago that our chimney was not up to code for the height above the roof line. I think this was an issue earlier, but I can't really recall. Since I had the funds available, I definitely had our go to company bring the chimney into code. About a foot in height was added.

Another issue I had was I was finding bees, either dead, or barely alive, near the stove, when temps were starting to cool. Only found about four outside the stove. When I looked into the firebox, saw maybe five more just trying to stay alive. I figured there are holes in the stove they were getting through, possibly the main air intake hole, so I just moved the air control knob to fully closed.

So last year, towards the end of summer, I noticed that condensation was forming on the glass of the stove. This has never happened before. Since I didn't think bees were likely an issue anymore, I re-opened the air intake and have never had this happen at all this summer. I believe the extension of the chimney, combined with the way the winds blow and a mound on one side of my house, has caused more outside air to travel down the chimney than before, thus bringing more moisture into a firebox where the air vents were shut.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The paint inside won’t last.

How much rust are you seeing?

Have your chimney and air intake cleaned after the bees. You don’t want a nest in the chimney catching fire. And you don’t want the clean air feed obstructed.

 

[MidwestLife]

The paint inside won’t last.

How much rust are you seeing?

Have your chimney and air intake cleaned after the bees. You don’t want a nest in the chimney catching fire. And you don’t want the clean air feed obstructed.

It isn't a lot of rust. Appears mostly surface. Some small spots, patches completely removed with a few passes of a carbon steel brush. The worst areas seem to be the left and right sides behind the firebrick. I'm not really sure why that would be. With a drill and wire brush attachments, some time at a certain spot, most of the rust comes off.

The bees were likely the mud kind. I had it cleaned after that issue, so no huge hornets nest or anything. Worked fine all last winter so I guess no blockages.

 

[stoveliker]

I'd leave the rust inside. Just burn.

If you run AC in summer, the outside of your stove will be cold. Humid air from the chimney can then cause condensation in the stove.

So what I do is to take the stove pipe off, cap the hole in the stove and the pipe going in the wall. Then I close the air inlet and put a can of damprid in the stove. This may be aesthetically problematic if the stove is in the living room (mine is in the basement).