One of my best clients called me tonight with an interesting problem. I wasn't really sure what to tell him but I promised I'd stop by one evening and look.
Here's the deal.
My client got sick of the electric bill and started looking for a woodstove. Its took him all winter but he finally found one last week on craigslist. He already had a existing flue so he just threw up a couple pieces of stovepipe and he's good to go. Or so he thought.
Turns out this stove had been stored in a barn and had started to rust. Seller had cleaned it up with a wire brush and instead of painting it, decided to oil it. :laughing: As the story goes he used about a quart of 10w40 on this thing and the cast iron has really soaked it up.
You can see where this is going. The first fire ran them out of the house as soon as the stove got hot and started smoking.
So is there any type of chemical or degreaser I can use on this thing that won't produce toxic smoke/fumes when the stove heats up?
My first thought was to drag the stove outside and build a fire in it to burn off all the oil but I wonder if I could ever get it "clean" enough to not smoke/smell in the clients home.
Any suggestions?
Here's the deal.
My client got sick of the electric bill and started looking for a woodstove. Its took him all winter but he finally found one last week on craigslist. He already had a existing flue so he just threw up a couple pieces of stovepipe and he's good to go. Or so he thought.
Turns out this stove had been stored in a barn and had started to rust. Seller had cleaned it up with a wire brush and instead of painting it, decided to oil it. :laughing: As the story goes he used about a quart of 10w40 on this thing and the cast iron has really soaked it up.
You can see where this is going. The first fire ran them out of the house as soon as the stove got hot and started smoking.
So is there any type of chemical or degreaser I can use on this thing that won't produce toxic smoke/fumes when the stove heats up?
My first thought was to drag the stove outside and build a fire in it to burn off all the oil but I wonder if I could ever get it "clean" enough to not smoke/smell in the clients home.
Any suggestions?