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[bruey]

was talking to a friend of mine about keeping the water in balance  in my stove and he said he doesent worry about that anymore he drains it from his stove at the end of each year,  does anyone else do this? after he told me this i think its such a simple idea, am trying to figure out if it might hurt the water pump or anything else? willie, some help please

[RSI]

You want to leave it empty? Not a good idea. It will rust way worse unless you could get it completely dry. The remaining water in it will keep evaporating and condensing on the sides and will rust like crazy because of the air. If you have water with proper chemicals in it, it will have little to no air at the metal and the chemicals will counteract it.
I recommend filling to the top of the overflow if anything.

[willieG]

i very much agree..your stove will take on moisture from the air and rust much faster than with the stove full

that is one reason many companies tell you that after you clean yoru stove out for the summer that you should give the inside of the fire box a thin coat of oil (this will prevent that moisture that the stove collects from getiing on the the bare steel of your firbox

also as a note to those who do put oil on your inside fire box NEVER use, used car oil ithas more corrosives in it that just about anything i prefer chain saw oil  as it seems to stay on best.

[bruey]

thanks a bunch, makes sense now.

[RSI]

I never heard that about used engine oil. Do you have a reference to anything about that? I would think engines would rust really bad inside if that were true. I can see it having metal particles and some moisture in it from condensation in an engine but wouldn't have thought it would be enough to matter. I suppose years ago oil from a diesel had some sulfuric acid in it from the sulfur in the diesel fuel but that has been gone for a few years.

[Ridgekid]

Not an expert, but I would also recommend the Water Chemistry is correct also.

[willieG]

I never heard that about used engine oil. Do you have a reference to anything about that? I would think engines would rust really bad inside if that were true. I can see it having metal particles and some moisture in it from condensation in an engine but wouldn't have thought it would be enough to matter. I suppose years ago oil from a diesel had some sulfuric acid in it from the sulfur in the diesel fuel but that has been gone for a few years.

so search of the net and you will find used motor oil is ful of carcinigens (maybe wrong spelling but i can spell CANCER) and lead, zinc and some other bad things for humans. years ago my dad used to spray his used oil on his undercarage and inside the motor compartment. It did seem to help keep the rust of the undercarrage but on the thin metal of the inner fender wells, well they about fell out and the old guy at the gm dealer ship said it was because used oil has all the gunk deposits from a hot burning engine in it and most of the good stuff in the  oil has been used up. he went father to tell us that new oil is very slippery and used oil is not, used is no longer slippery because it has absorbed all the dirt from the engine. it made sense to me then and still does now.  i also am no expert but after searching the net the old fella appeared to know whathe was talking about

[RSI]

I didn't say it wasn't true, just that I never heard it before.

[willieG]

i did not mean to come across as if you were implying it was not true, if i did i appologize. And i am not 100 percent sure it will cause things to rust any faster than not using anything but i do know there are bad things in the stuff. I mean we used to w ash in gasoline, diesel, paint thinner and probably some still do, even though we know it is bad for us. Heck look at the amount of people still smoking and just starting, with all the information out there about that you would wonder how the tobaco companies still survive, but they do, so i suspect that many folks will still put used oil in their stoves (some in the summer and some in the winter too..LOL)

[bruey]

willie, how in the world do you get the inside of your fire box clean enough to even see the steel. i have never found anything to cut the creasote off.

[willieG]

i scrape the inside of my stove best i can (with a small round nosed shovel like they had years ago for digging tile) and then use a siphon hose on my air compressor and siphon out the oil right from the jug...i use chainsaw winter grade oil, give it a good coating, fill to the top with water and go enjoy summer. i always wonder for a few days in the fall when i light the fire if the stove will make another year trouble free.