Kuuma Vapor-fire Rust

[MooseBucks]

Brand new VF installed end of April. Ended up having condensation form and now I have a rust issue. Anyone else run into this and what do I do?

 

[brenndatomu]

Must have the chimney hooked up?
I disconnect over the summer, block off and hang a desiccant bag inside.
Also bought a can of Stabil fogging oil to use inside, but haven't done it yet

 

[peakbagger]

A lot of folks swear by camphor blocks which evaporate and leave thin coating on surfaces to keep them from rusting. In order for them to work the space needs to be sealed off.

A stove connected to chimney is effectively "breathing" bringing in moist air down the chimney during the daytime where some of it condenses on the colder inner surfaces, then at night its slightly warmer than the outdoors so it "breathes" out up the stack. Putting a light bulb inside the stove should keep it over dewpoint but ti does use power.

 

[MooseBucks]

Must have the chimney hooked up?
I disconnect over the summer, block off and hang a desiccant bag inside.
Also bought a can of Stabil fogging oil to use inside, but haven't done it yet

Thanks, It still was but I disconnected as soon as I found this yesterday. I thought the VF was stainless steel so I'm surprised/concerned about how quickly it has rusted.

 

[brenndatomu]

Thanks, It still was but I disconnected as soon as I found this yesterday. I thought the VF was stainless steel so I'm surprised/concerned about how quickly it has rusted.

The HX is not SS...

 

[lampmfg]

If your chimney is hooked up during the summer, you can get humid air flowing down the chimney into a cool basement which thus produces condensation inside the furnace. As mentioned above, disconnecting the stove pipe in the summer will eliminate the issue. Secondly, what you show in the photo (a little bit of rust) is no concern as this surface plate is 1/4" steel. The heat exchanger is made with mild steel to ensure better heat transfer.

Thanks

 

[brenndatomu]

A lot of folks swear by camphor blocks which evaporate and leave thin coating on surfaces to keep them from rusting. In order for them to work the space needs to be sealed off.

Thanks for that! Surprisingly I've never heard of that before.

 

[MooseBucks]

If your chimney is hooked up during the summer, you can get humid air flowing down the chimney into a cool basement which thus produces condensation inside the furnace. As mentioned above, disconnecting the stove pipe in the summer will eliminate the issue. Secondly, what you show in the photo (a little bit of rust) is no concern as this surface plate is 1/4" steel. The heat exchanger is made with mild steel to ensure better heat transfer.

Thanks

Thank you & appreciate it!