OAK bad bad no no inside of stove

[mnoack]

sometimes moisture can accumulate in the stove entering through the oak during the summer months as well , usually its more prevalent in stoves with full liners going up flues as they 'draw" a bit, what ive recommended in the past to help dessicate stoves in the off season is a couple boxes of baking soda like you put in your fridge. this not only absorbs moisture but also helps with the "stack smell" you can get from the stove setting idle with what little ash is left in the unit accumulating moisture. as a rule also you should never leave pellets in the hopper over the summer as they can absorb moisture and swell in extreme cases and not burn well in more moderate ones. i put one box in the burn pot and one in the hopper. ive not seen rust at all with my unit since doing this.

Great idea. I was thinking I might have to disconnect the stove.

 

[Xena]

Zeta, ever wish you never
said anything at all about something?

Haha. Nah it doesn't bother me at all. I've been a Moderator for 4 years on
a Harley motorcycle forum that's got almost 30k members so I'm used
to this stuff and it doesn't phase me. If my post helps one person now
or in the future then it's served the purpose. ;-)

 

[littlesmokey]

Anton Smirnov and StrangeRanger are right on the money, Mike has followed up. You are suffering from the attributing cause to the wrong factor. Humidity will cause rust on a metal (iron based) surface. The high humidity is the cause. Unlike Mike's very good suggestion to use baking soda, I prefer cat litter. Add the BS if you like, but the perlite in the CL will attract the moisture before the ash. I have a preferred brand that I use with the metal of my inventory, but it's proprietary.

Besides, the surface rust you see will not eat through your stove, it will stain your clothes and look ugly, but it is not highly corrosive.

 

[insuranceman1]

Zeta, ever wish you never
said anything at all about something?

Haha. Nah it doesn't bother me at all. I've been a Moderator for 4 years on
a Harley motorcycle forum that's got almost 30k members so I'm used
to this stuff and it doesn't phase me. If my post helps one person now
or in the future then it's served the purpose. ;-)

Which Harley forum?

Here is my baby that I took for a spin this weekend! :cheese:

 

[insuranceman1]

Zeta, ever wish you never
said anything at all about something?

Haha. Nah it doesn't bother me at all. I've been a Moderator for 4 years on
a Harley motorcycle forum that's got almost 30k members so I'm used
to this stuff and it doesn't phase me. If my post helps one person now
or in the future then it's served the purpose. ;-)

Which Harley forum? Here is my baby that I took for a spin this weekend! :cheese:

 

[mullet]

I'm now contemplating disconnecting the OAK I installed this Fall.
Cleaned the stove today and for the first time ever, saw rust and don't like it.
Going into yr #4 with this stove and never had a hint of any rust in there
until now so I know it has to be because of the OAK and a combination
of the abnormally warm/wet weather we've been having here. Bummer.

I don't understand "disconnecting the OAK"? I am not trying to be a smartass but if you are saying burning oak in your pellet stove causes rust I am lost.

 

[Sawduster]

OAK = Outside Air Kit.

 

[mullet]

OAK = Outside Air Kit.

AHH thanks dude. I never hooked mine up, I never saw an advantage to it.

 

[MCPO]

You would have to think some of these pellet stove makers would be smart enough to know that OAK`s are not required.
Look at the money Englander`s could be saving if they simply deleted the inclusion of the OAK.
Just ask the previous poster as he sees no need for it. (Yes, I`m being a bit facetious)

 

[mullet]

You would have to think some of these pellet stove makers would be smart enough to know that OAK`s are not required.
Look at the money Englander`s could be saving if they simply deleted the inclusion of the OAK.
Just ask the previous poster as he sees no need for it. (Yes, I`m being a bit facetious)

I just read through my manual and it sates that a OAK is only required in a trailer (Mobile Home).

 

[MCPO]

You would have to think some of these pellet stove makers would be smart enough to know that OAK`s are not required.
Look at the money Englander`s could be saving if they simply deleted the inclusion of the OAK.
Just ask the previous poster as he sees no need for it. (Yes, I`m being a bit facetious)

I just read through my manual and it sates that a OAK is only required in a trailer (Mobile Home).

I don`t think it`s always that cut and dry.

My Harman manual reads: "Outside air is optional except in Mobile Homes and where building codes require it. The benefit of outside air is increased efficiency and should be used in small, or very well insulated homes." (End of paragraph)
In larger and not so well insulated homes the same benefits might not be so noticeable and probably less proportional but never the less it would be there.
I believe with Englander stoves it is required.
Being the common sense mechanical minded type that I am , I discovered from the very beginning that it is redundant to use the room (already heated) air to supply the fire when outside air could easily and inexpensively be fed directly into the combustion pot with the side benefit of less drafting of cold air into the house and with more heat retention , not to mention that cold air supposedly contains more oxygen than warm air and increases the fire`s efficiency. These marginal benefits may or may not not be readily noticeable in some homes but any reasonably intelligent person would have to believe and accept these benefits as realistic and sensible.

 

[Xena]

Sweet Softail insuranceman1. Forum probably wouldn't interest you.
It's Sportster specific.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

You would have to think some of these pellet stove makers would be smart enough to know that OAK`s are not required.
Look at the money Englander`s could be saving if they simply deleted the inclusion of the OAK.
Just ask the previous poster as he sees no need for it. (Yes, I`m being a bit facetious)

actually we are serious enough about the benefits of the OAK that we include the kit with every stove, and we consider it as mandatory for all installations the performance differences have been lab tested at our facility and the advantages of having it installed convinced us to add the kit and require its installation. as for code considerations , code states that the installation must meet both code requirements as well as the instructions included with the unit, so if the oak kit is listed as mandatory in the manual then to comply with code it must be installed, even though code only specifies that it is mandatory in mobile homes for all stoves.

 

[insuranceman1]

Sweet Softail insuranceman1. Forum probably wouldn't interest you.
It's Sportster specific.

Ok know I am off topic.

Thanks love my SED. Hey a Harley is a Harley.

Now back to the oak. Sorry guys.

 

[Xena]

It's the xlforum.net.
You might like our sister site.

Vtwin

 

[bungalobob]

Well, I'll be doing my first in depth cleaning next week. I'll post my findings, hopefully no sign of rust. Brought a bag of pellets in from the garage a little while ago, lots of moisture on the bags out there. Crazy weather for sure.

Well, just to follow up on my cleaning that was planned. After pulling the OAK inlet piping I found absolutely no signs of moisture entering the stove. There was no rust, no rings of sediment, nor signs of any dripping, no signs of moisture whatsoever. So I will leave my OAK as is, except I did wrap the inlet with insulation to preven the moisture on outside of hose building up. This is on the Harman P68, maybe its the design, all stoves could be different. Granted, my stove has run for just less than a month, maybe not long enough for rust to show, but there would have been early signs.

 

[Galroc]

I have severe rust on my Quadra Fire Mt. Vernon AE that I bought last February. I use a OAK because the Mt. Vernon seems to run better with it.

But, I noticed a ton of rust on the burn pot and the removable back plate. No rust on anything else, like the heat exchange plate behind the back plate.

I also noticed that rust accumulated independently of actually running the stove.

When I first started the stove a few months back, I noticed the burn pot was incredibly thin at the upper lip. The back plate had sheets of metal flake off.

I assume it is down to bad casting of those two parts. I have a call in to the dealer to come out take a look.

But, if those parts are replaced, I will make sure the stove is extremely clean after heating season and spray everything down with cooking spray.