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[fryedaddy]

I just have a general question about temperatures and maybe the styles of stove that
may increase chances of firebox condensation.

The type of stove I run is a Pre-Gasser version, it has a 3/16" thick firebox and has
a water jacket that surrounds it. It has a blower and (6) 4" tubes that run from the
firebox to the back box approximately 3' long each.

Is the condensation issue only to be worried about with the gasser models or all stoves.

The only reason I ask is my father has the same type and brand but a smaller version.
He has been running his 25yrs with no problems other than the bottom of the back box rusting out.
He runs his up to full temp once at night 180-190 then doesn't fill it again till the next night.
His temperature is back down to 100-120 and has never had a problem with the box rusting.

I never let my stove get below 160 but it seams odd hes never had a problem.

[Scott7m]

If his entire water jacket is down to 120, that probably also likely means there isn't much fuel left in the firebox, no wood in the firebox means no moisture left, but when he Is burning hard, his water temps is 180 and it's going straight out the pipe.

Now if his stove was full of wood, and hooked to to many things and was robbing his return temps, a cold spot can develop and give moisture a place to develop inside the box

[fryedaddy]

I think I understand what you are saying.

As long as the stove isn't ran at 150 or below full time condensation isn't a problem.

Is this correct?

Thanks for the explaination.

[Scott7m]

No, what I mean is that when his water temps drop down below 140, he likely don't have any fuel left in the stove to create the moisture.  The moisture comes from the wood, if your moisture content is 25% and you throw in 100 pounds of wood per day, well that's 25 pounds of water the stove has to get rid of. 


Where the problem occurs is when you have a firebox full of wood and a nice fire inside and the stove won't go over 140 due to it being overload or undersized, it can also become a problem if you have a return coming back cold due to an over worked loop, for example if you had one looped hooked to a swimming pool, your return temps would simply be whatever the pool temp was 70-80 perhaps

[fryedaddy]

Scott,

Thank you for the help, I understand the condensation issue now.

[Scott7m]

Good, sometimes folks get confused on where the moisture is actually coming from!