Out with the old, in with the new. The middle one got pretty bad, sagging and now it's cracked, it gets red hot a lot. Rear One was sagging pretty bad too. I thought Lopi put stainless steel tubes in their stoves, they don't look like stainless steel to me. The new ones I got are stainless steel, I bought them from a guy on eBay, l highly recommended him he does nice work, they fit perfect,, inside and outside diameter exactly the same as is the wall thickness of the tube. Holes are the same size and the front tube has the bigger ones like it's supposed to. Stainless Secondary Air Tube Parts for Lopi Endeavor, 1750 stove, Revere insert | eBay He makes them for other stores too, I don't know how many others.
The originals probably were stainless. The tubes on my Drolet, and the Vermont up north both look like your old ones now, but were stainless when new. What's happening is that the high temperature and frequent heating and cooling inside the stove cause the carbon in the steel to bond with the chromium, forming carbide. The chromium in the steel normally forms a chtomium oxide layer which kinda insulates the iron in the steel from the air...so when this becomes carbide, it looses the ability to form chromium oxide... And you get rust. I give mine a scrape with sandpaper once or twice a year. It may be inevitable, as we all need high heat from our stoves.
Since I run an Endeavor, I think this is a great thread - especially since the tubes in the Endeavor are starting to look like yours. And thanks for the "new" source for parts.
7 years total , they were a little rusty when I got it 2013, it was 3yrs old , sat in the guys pole barn for a year . I have never put any damp rid in it in summer , I will start doing that now. It was an easy job to replace them though
I was going to post this last night but the forum was down New tubes doing what they are supposed to do
Thanks , learn something new every day . I called and talked to the parts guy at Rocky Mountain Stove & Fireplace and he said this kit is steel, not stainless steel Avalon /Lopi 98900233 Air Tube Kit
