Cleaning My Stoker Weird Chemistry

Today I took on the messy job of cleaning my stove. yuck! For those of you doing this for your first time make sure you wear a mask. I'm not talking about the light weight paper masks. I would suggest a respirator mask. Coal ash is extremely acidic and will mess up your lungs. If you don’t have the energy for a little maintenance then I don’t suggest you buy a coal stove because you’ll be doing a light cleaning twice a season too. Not quite evasive as the end of year cleaning but it needs to be done. The ash falls out of the pan and will close up your exhaust pipe which will mess with your draft and efficiency of the stove. I guess its worse with a bottom vent but…………The first step was removing any residue coal in the hopper and pushing the debris along with any crumbs on the grate into the ash pan. I then removed the grate and unclogged several holes that had coal pieces stuck in them. I then took a paper towel and started to scoop up the ash (lots of it) and discarded it into the ash pan. I removed 80% of the ash that way. Then I took my trusty shop vac and went to town removing as mush ash dust as I could. I had to use a screw driver to loosen some of the ash that accumulated in the corners. I then used a stiff car brush and gave the walls another good scrub. I was also very careful not to destroy the gaskets on the doors and under the grate. Here comes the weird part. I mixed a quart of alcohol with several tablespoons of baking powder and used this elixir to wash down the inside of the stove. The baking soda helped to neutralize the acidity of the ash and the alcohol was a good base to mix with since it dries fast and allowed the ash to be suspended in a liquid for easy cleaning. What was interesting is that last year I used a rust stop product -LPS-3. I hardly had any flaking unlike last year when the metal inside my stove flaked off like layers of an onion. After I was done with the inside I removed the SS pipe and exhaust motor. The exhaust motor had some serious rust on the fins but the fins were still structurally sound. I also washed this down with my elixir and used a screw driver to remove some chunks of rust. For the SS pipe I simply washed out in the sink and then blew it dry using my compressor. Lastly, I cleaned up the hood for the direct vent and sucked out any ash that was in that pipe. I was sure to use my alcohol and baking soda to remove all residues. My plan now is to use a product that converts rust to a black paintable surface. For the fins on the exhaust blower I will also top coat with a rustuleum paint. For inside my stove I'm playing around with the idea of using a 1200 degree paint for the walls. When I'm all done I'll probably have 3-4 hours invested in my time.

traderfjp wrote:I had to use a screw driver to loosen some of the ash that accumulated in the corners. I then used a stiff car brush and gave the walls another good scrub.

If you clean the stove within the first couple of days of shutdown all of the ash can be vacuumed up. Once the moisture from the air gets in the ash it will start sticking to surfaces and causing rust under the ash. I cleaned my stove the same day I shut it down for the season and I just vacuumed up all of the ash and wiped down the inside with baking soda and water mix. I do not have any flaking of the metal at all. They are kind of a pain to clean but I cleaned my SS chimney and total tear down, clean and reassemble of my stove and blower motors in about 4 hrs.

What are saying. I waited to long which compromised the metal inside my stove and made my job harder and I'm not too bright. Ok....Guilty. I'm a teacher and the kids suck my brains out during the year so I have to rest up on the weekends to do battle during the school day -this doesn't leave much time to clean stoves. Seriously though I'll try cleaning the stove when I shut it off next year. The ash definetely has some moisture in it.

If I read your first post correctly,, the first year you used the LPS-3, and liked the results?? I have suggested the LPS-3 product, but since I don't have a stove in use,, I'm currious if it was a good product for rust prevention??

Greg L

It works well. I do have some flaking though.

So far my stove has been shut down for 3 months, maybe even 4 already. I tore it apart and vacuumed it very well within 24 hours of shutting it off. Then all I did was close up the openings fairly well and place a "Damp-Rid" bucket it the bottom of the stove. I looked inside yesterday and the Damp-Rid had about 1/2" of water in the little catch cup, and the inside of the stove looks just like the day I cleaned it - maybe a few specks of surface rust here or there.

The stove is in the basement, which is quite dry, and fully finished. There is a dehumidifier down there and also it's tapped into the HVAC system, so it keeps it dry with the A/C. Even still, there's enough moisture getting into the stove to activate the Damp-Rid. Good stuff!

Chris

Yes, I did forget to mention to diconnect the stove from the flue pipe and the outside combustion air.