patch for brasslite stove?

[sean sangree]

I got a Turbo F stove for christmas, but it has a pinhole in the bottom seam. Aaron at brasslite has generously agreed to send me a new Turbo I, while letting me keep the Turbo F. He said they’re difficult to fix. I’m wondering, has anyone had any luck trying to patch these stoves with something like JB weld, high temp epoxy, or solder? It would be awesome if I can get it up and running.

[Mike Barney]

I wouldn’t use epoxy without knowing how that bonding agent responds to exposure to alcohol (you’d hate for the stove to start leaking once it gets going and then find out that alcohol disolves that particular epoxy brand….). If the package says OK to alcohol, a drop of that on both sides of the hole may be the easiest.
Otherwise, if it’s made out of brass or copper, you should be able to solder it. This should be the most reliable fix.
To do so, you need to abrade the area around the pinhole with fine sandpaper to clean it and prep it for solder. Then use a hot torch (MAPP is always nice…) to melt the solder and presto!, a <virtually> free Turbo F!

[david fausnight]

maybe jb weld?

[Vick Hines]

You may find that JB weld won’t handle the temperature – depending on the temperature at the site. Of course, that is no reason not to try it. Without serious instruments, you can’t tell what the actual temp will be in a particular site. The JB will tell you real quick. Exposure to alcohol is not a problem.

Consider looking at the Brasslite construction instructions to see how to solder the patch. It isn’t totally simple, but you can probably pull it off in a few minutes. Silver solder is widely available these days.

[sean sangree]

I used silver solder. I heated the bottom of the stove over our gas kitchen range (since the soldering gun wasnt working), and applied the solder from the inside of the stove so it would be drawn through the hole in the direction of the heat source. It only needed about a drop. I’ve been playing with the stove since yesterday and so far, no leaks. I was looking at jb weld yesterday at lowes, and it says it’s good to 600 degrees F, so that might have worked as well, but the solder was qicker, cleaner, and cheaper. thanks for the tips all. It will be nice having the versatility of two different stoves now.

[Bill Fornshell]

Sean, Be glad you did not use JB Weld. JB Weld will take the heat but not an open flame. It will burn if it comes in contact with an open flame.

Read the very fine print on the package, I didn’t and guess what.

I was outside. It was almost funny watching what I had made smoke, flame and fall apart.

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