Vent piece rotted off outside the house...

[Dakotah]

Have a St. Croix Lancaster stove. Installed it before last winter and it worked find all winter. Has worked well this winter but a bit less heat output we have all put down to the lower quality corn due to late harvest(Nov) during the snow and not being as clean as last year.

Today I was outside(-8f and 30-40mph winds) and motion caught my eye. Went to the side of the house and where the stainless pipe comes out of the house the end piece(the downward facing piece that looks like a small shovel piece) was blowing in the breeze. Rocking back and forth. On close inspection it has rotted right off all around the circular exhaust vent pipe. Pushing it away from the pipe showed a build up of ash that left about a one inch hole for exhaust to get out. Between that and it laying close to the opening it might explain why last night we were cold in spite of the flame looking OK. NO full flow exhaust.

Is this common? I will get a new piece next week when I can get into the nearest town that has one, a couple hours away.

Is this something I need to watch? Anything I can do to prevent a recurrence of this happening?

thanks.

[rona]

Some people have been having good luck with putting a 90 degree plastic elbow on the end of your 3 inch exhaust pipe as that won't corrode and it doesn't get hot enough to harm the plastic. The reason it corrodes is the cooling off of the exh and it doesn't hurt the plastic.
Sounds odd but I know several people who are doing this and it does work.

[nuclearrepairman]

Dakota: Corn is VERY corrosive. I've had an Auburn for 5years and I'm on my 4th vent system. My latest vent system is a Selkirk DT-M which uses AL29-4C Stainless Steel components which so far is superior to any previous systems I've installed. Make sure to check your warranty before replacing parts as they may well be covered.

[byrn-e-stoves]

Hello nuclear repairman fellow Ontarian.
_________________
cornstoveheating.com
st croix
fahrenheit
Bixby
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[Maizie]

We had to replace our downward facing vent cap last Fall. It lasted 2 1/2 heating seasons. The rest of the venting was still ok. Like Nuclearrepairman said, corn ash is very corrosive. Have you cleaned out the length of the exhaust pipe on a regular basis? We have a brush attached to a long fiberglass flexible rod that we got from our dealer to clean the vent pipe.
We started cleaning out the vent pipe about every three weeks this year. After we use the brush, we also run the shop vac hose through the venting.
Hopefully this will extend the life of our vent pipes.
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Fudgie from da Southernest part of Michigan!

[nuclearrepairman]

Hi byrn-e-stoves: Good to see a St Croix dealer here in Ontario.

[rickw]

if you have simpson pellet pro they make a 12 in. all stainless piece of pipe that may fix the problem
_________________
Keepin' warm with corn
St. Croix Lancaster
Harman P38
Go Bucks!

[Dakotah]

Thanks for the information. I got ahold of the dealers service guy and since we bought it from them the warranty covers it. Will pull it off Thurs morning and take it with me when we go to 'the big city' (all of 34.000 pop) and get the new piece in exchange.

I was surprised it rotted out. Didn't know just how corrosive the corn ash is. Have ordered a brush for cleanout for the pipes and will run it through about once a month along with the 6+HP shop vac for a better cleaning each time.

I have the exhaust going up 3 feet behind the stove and then out the wall about 18 inches. Have thought of just running it out the wall straight from the back of the stove. Would have to patch and reinsulate the wall hole it goes out now but that would be a straight run out.(and canted at a bit of an up angle so smoke doesn't sit inside if all power gets lost) Does that make more sense? Can be done easily and I can use the saved pipe for the next Lancaster I get for our basement this next season.

[rona]

I would suggest leaving the three feet going up as it makes a natural draft if the power goes out so you don't get a possible smoke in the room situation.

[rickw]

i put a galvanized tee on the end of my exhaust. a 4 in. tee on the end of my 3 in pipe when it rust off i will get another. on mine it seems to rust the outer jacket off the pipe where the cap locks on. acidic moisture seeps back in that joint. so i put the tee on and secured it with a short screw on the top so it only contacts the venting on the top. will see what happens.
_________________
Keepin' warm with corn
St. Croix Lancaster
Harman P38
Go Bucks!