Coalpail.com Forum

With the winter that won't end, sooner or later the warm weather will arrive and it will be time to shut down the coal stoker. What do you do to protect your pride and joy. I have a Harman Mag for the last 20 yrs, I scrape as much as I can and then wire brush what I can,followed by a complete vacuum finally I spray the entire inside with WD40 and install a 60 watt light down the outlet and into the ash bin. I wipe the outside with WD40 and oil all the motors and bearings. My glass front is pretty bad from the years of use, I try to clean it but it seems like the heat has made it cloudy. I also remove the Black Chimney Pipe, vacuum the inside and store it in my attic(for some reason stored in the attic doesn't affect it, if I leave it in my garage it's a pile of rust in a month) This year I installed a Harman Super Mag in my home, this doubles my spring time cleaning. Am I missing anything or any better ideas are welcome.

There's numerous threads on Spring Cleaning, do a search, you'll might find some other info.

Many of us use LPS3 instead of WD40, seems to hold up better.


Cleaning for Spring/Summer

Spring Maintenance

This year it will be Fluid Film on the inside, don't get me wrong LPS3 is far superior but we are only protecting for up to 6 months and not subjecting our stoves to other rigors of corrosion that LPS3 would warrant. Fluid Film is Lanolin based and way more friendlier on people.

If you have been using this routine for 20 years, I think you are doing much better than a lot of people. Some people manage to ruin a stove in 3-4 years!

WD40 will burn off quickly and the light bulb keeps things dry, I vote to keep doing the same thing.

No big deal with spraying again with WD40 if needed. I'm doing that as well. cleaning good then WD with a 60 watt bulb.

It has been mentioned on this site before. I use a ceramic infrared heater that is apparently often used in reptile aquariums. it just screws into a normal light socket. Past years I have used both a protective spray and the heater, but the heater just caused the coating to vaporize so this year I think I will just use the heater. As long as the inside of the stove stays warmer than the surrounding environment, moisture should be driven out of the stove.

I usually don't have much cleaning to do once I shut down. I vacuum out the stove each time I change out the ash pan and brush out the exhaust tubes every couple weeks, so I have barely any build up of ash during the heating season.

So other then some surface rust inside, my stove is looking pretty good. Actually the odd thing is, most of the corrosion seems to be occurring where there is some of the factory paint still intact. Where the paint has chipped/burnt off (including the burn plates), the bare metal is staying very clean and rust free. I am guessing some moisture may be migrating between the paint and metal and getting trapped there. Any sort of protective coating probably isn't penetrating as well in those locations.

I caught the dryer monster that was stealing my socks. So as a punishment it has to clean my boiler now.

The only thing WD-40 is good for is shining up dirty ATV or dirt bike plastic. It's a crappy lubricant, and an even worse metal protector - unless you enjoy applying it every week in a damp environment. Water washes the stuff right off!

LPS-3 is on the completely opposite end of the spectrum as far as metal preservation goes. Top of the line - you won't find anything better. It's also VERY expensive.

There are several in between, like Cosmoline, and Amsoil Heavy Duty Metal Protector. Cosmoline is like watered down LPS-3, but since the stuff isn't going to sit for 2 years, it's a cheaper alternative, & works GREAT without any re-application.

I just picked up a new boiler tube brush - I'm ready to clean .... but I might just let this thing run all summer long for DHW. We'll see - have to see which is more economical first.

Not cleaning time here yet just got 18 more inches of snow in the past 24 hrs. I used fluid film last year and it worked great . I also use a heating element that one would use in a gun safe etc. and it keeps out the moisture while drawing less than 10 watts and has a lifetime warranty whatever that means these days. I had zero rust , even the stove pipe looked almost like new but I used some old motor oil on a rag on the inside of that. It did take the better part of a day but I'm slow I guess . I keep thinking spring but it just doesn't want to come .

You might want to check this out.
http://www.accuratereloading.com/rustest.html
http://www.6mmbr.com/corrosiontest.html
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=10700/guntechd ... ventatives

Do most of you clean your boilers twice a year; spring and fall?

The past 20 years I've only cleaned my stoker once a year, always the day I shut it down, this spring I have a new stoker plus my older one and my parents also purchased one, so I'll be cleaning three, hopefully all the same day and let's hope it's a weekend.

Thanks kubota. I will be running mine all year for dhw. I'm
thinking of cleaning it soon and then again late fall.

Kubota2007 wrote:With the winter that won't end, sooner or later the warm weather will arrive and it will be time to shut down the coal stoker. What do you do to protect your pride and joy. I have a Harman Mag for the last 20 yrs, I scrape as much as I can and then wire brush what I can,followed by a complete vacuum finally I spray the entire inside with WD40 and install a 60 watt light down the outlet and into the ash bin. I wipe the outside with WD40 and oil all the motors and bearings. My glass front is pretty bad from the years of use, I try to clean it but it seems like the heat has made it cloudy. I also remove the Black Chimney Pipe, vacuum the inside and store it in my attic(for some reason stored in the attic doesn't affect it, if I leave it in my garage it's a pile of rust in a month) This year I installed a Harman Super Mag in my home, this doubles my spring time cleaning. Am I missing anything or any better ideas are welcome.

Thanks guy..I'm going to do what you do. But not until May 1st. We have a long winter here.I have had good luck with WD on all my stuff including all electrial connectors on boats and motors,snowplows, truck engines,snow machines for 35 yrs now. I usually buy it in gals and will vac out the inside and spray heavy with my sprayer. 60 watt Rough Service bulb in the Ash Pan.
I had a 1974 K5 Chev and the interior courtesy light didn't work for years. I sprayed the switches and connectors and after about 3 days it started working and worked for years more. Since then I don't look back or bad rap WD. I have never never had electrial issues with WD on any of my above machines.

AKHEARTH wrote:Do most of you clean your boilers twice a year; spring and fall?

Yes...sometimes at Xmas also.