Stove grate repair

Why did the grate crack?

Will it crack again somewhere else?

Weld it with Nickel 55 (with preheat and slow cooling) and collect your money immediately.

It probably will crack again somewhere.

I don't know why it cracked . I'll be ordering some Ni rod in the next day or two , looks like the best option . I wish I could find some nickel rod in TIG filler , but have come up empty on that search - I'm a better TIG weldor than stick ...

It is handy to have some nickel rod.

They sell it in tig filler form also at McMaster Carr.

It is very expensive.

I have a small collection of all kinds of welding rods, including nickel rod. I used it a couple of times.

Is this a wood Stove ?

If so grates are not to be used. Wood on top of the blocks of insulation cement.

The wood stove gets to hot inside and burns them up. It also uses up a high amount of room.

I was a 17 year user of a wood stove and would have one here but have a fireplace. Wood stove in several years as an insert.

Mart> Why did the grate crack?

The grate I added to my woodstove last year, to distribute air under the fire all the way to the back and keep it from clogging with charcoal, is scrap (mis-)perforated stainless sheet bent into a low arch. It does the job and has held up very well so far, as have the stainless replacement side baffles I installed at least 10 years ago.

-jsw

Gotta disagree with you Martin . My primary heat here is a wood burning stove , a King Circulator . It has a grate with an ash pan underneath , and the lower half of the firebox is lined with fire brick . A properly maintained fire will not heat the grate as much as you might think , air circulation keeps it from overheating .

As a kid I built a natural-draft metal casting furnace whose grate was a broken garden rake, which supported the weight of the fuel and lead without bending.

-jsw

I'm not a welder and I suspect you need top preheat a larger area, But this is cool for preheating a smaller piece.

Mikek

That's pretty cool ! I do need a larger area heated though , the grate is about 11x13 inches . I haven't decided yet whether to use a wood fire or build a fire brick enclosure and use one of my foundry burners . I'm leaning towards the firebrick/burner option just because it's cleaner and I'll have better control . Have you seen the youtube videos where they use the same induction principle to melt metal without a crucible ? Kinda cool to see a blob of molten aluminum hanging in the air .

Yes I've watched several of them. Here's a induction heater board for $34.

You do need a power supply though. 48V at 20 amps.

Put it in your ptopane bar-b-que to preheat it, then weld it (preferably TIG) with either nickel rod made for cast iron, or stainless steel mig wire. I've had good luck on grey castings with stainless wire with a real good pre-heat.

My entire box was firebrick. The top was a steel plate for reflow and reheating of the gas as it flowed above it. It was a double burn system.

Mine was over 500 pounds and served us well. It heated a 1500 square foot house with high ceilings. A large A-Frame.

Sounds like you have a coal burner. Those have grates. But maybe a coal burner company made wood burners and kept their concept working.

But from where I used one, I never saw a grate machine and was told flat out not to use any.

Mart> Mart>> Is this a wood Stove ?

This is a common stove in this area. It can burn wood or coal. There are a LOT of outfits that make them, but they look very similar. Used to use one to heat the old shop.

Hey Terry, if you haven't yet welded the grate I may have some info to help. I found an unopened package of the rod I used in the past for stick welding cast iron and it is a Stoody product called CASTWELD 55. It was pretty easy rod to run so even though you said you are better at TIG than Stick you should be able to weld with the stuff. Or, you can just remove the flux and use it as TIG rod. I have done this and it worked OK. But it really works better for stick welding. Eric

Looks almost exactly like mine .

Thanks for the info . I have a package of Invar 42 TIG rod coming , looks like that's also a very good choice . There are a lot of products out there that have 55% nickel , this Invar is 42% , balance is iron from what information I've found online . They call it invar because is doesn't shrink much as it cools . Sounds perfect for a grate that will see a lot of heat cycling .

I saw Dan's post above where he said he sent you the invar. Good for him. Please let us know how the job turns out. That Stoody rod I mentioned is pretty damn good stuff for welding cast to steel. I bought it originally to repair a Bush Hog. The one my neighbor and I have came with the 9N we bought together and it was pretty beat when we got it. After mowing 5+ acres of Scotch Broom the gearbox casting broke where it bolted to the Bush Hog framework. On top of that the framework itself was also breaking up. So I welded the gearbox casting, welded steel braces to it, and then welded the gearbox and more bracing to the Bush Hog framework. This was well over ten years ago and we have beat the crap out of the Bush Hog but all my welds are holding, no cracking at all. Eric

Thanks for the offer John , but I think I have it handled . I have the top , bottom , and a bunch of brick from a dead electric pottery kiln and a Reil-type burner that puts out around 100k BTU's . And if that doesn't work out I have a neighbor with a blown gas-fired forge big enough to take the