RB73 Tips & Tricks

Want to learn how to burn your new RB73 heater properly? Or just looking for some tips on how to keep the glass clean? See below for more info.

Maintain your RB73 Fireplace well

All our fireplaces are made of 3mm CorTen steel and the mounting materials of stainless steel. This ensures that our products have a very long lifespan. In addition, they do not require any post-treatment. CorTen steel is specially made for outdoor use.

We recommend the following for maintenance:

If the fireplace is not used for a while, remove the ash from the fireplace, otherwise it can get wet, which does not promote the lighting of the stove.

Keep the glasses clean, otherwise the dirt can burn in, in the long run and that is difficult to get rid of.
We supply a tube of copper grease with every fireplace. The hinges are already lubricated at the factory. We recommend greasing the hinges with copper grease once a year.

Method:

Open the door
Lift the door so that it comes out of the hinge pin.
Put some copper grease in the hole of the top of the hinge that is welded to the door.
Replace the door

Keep the glass clean

We use special heat-resistant glass. We have also made an “air spoiler” above each glass. The air flows naturally into the stove and part of it flows into the fireplace through the air gap above the glass. This creates a layer of air in front of the window, which ensures that the glass remains clean.

We recommend using dry untreated wood (max 20% moisture) and no paper during lighting. All this ensures clean windows.

If the glass do turn black, special window cleaners are available in most DIY stores. The disadvantage is that the windows often get greasy.

But we also have another tip!

Take a piece of kitchen paper, wet it a bit and dab it in the stove ashes. Use this to clean the windows. Afterwards, dry the glass with a dry piece of kitchen paper. Works perfectly!

This is how you burn wood

We’ve made a video to show you how to get a wood fire burning properly. So that you get a clean combustion and much less smoke development. This prevents nuisance for neighbors and the environment. We use the top-down method for this. At the request of the Swiss government, research has been carried out into a production process that produces as little smoke as possible. This top-down method is characterized by the cross stacking of split dry wood, on top of that enough kindling and a few firelighters. In this way the fire gets enough air in the start-up phase and the flue is heated quickly, which ensures a good draft and a clean combustion. Good luck!

Burning tips

Use dry (15 to 20% moisture) and untreated wood!
Use the top down method
Use firelighters but no newspaper or paper!
Leave the door ajar when starting the fire, this provides extra air.
At the end let the fire burn out quietly

This is how you burn wood

Rust Rules!

What does CorTen steel mean?

COR-rosion resistance : corrosion resistance
TEN-sile strength : tensile strength

It was developed by US Steel with the aim of creating weather-resistant (also called weather-resistant) steel. It is a metal alloy consisting of iron to which copper, silicon, nickel and chromium have been added.

Properties CorTen steel

Characteristic of CorTen steel is the brown-orange rust color and the long life.

By adding the other metals to the iron, a solid rust layer develops at CorTen steel, the oxide skin, which shields the deeper material from oxygen. In contrast to normal steel, the rust formation is therefore not wear and tear, but rather a protection of the steel.

The solid rust layer that has to develop will take 2 to 6 months, depending on the weather. After this, the CorTen steel no longer gives off rust (water).

Faster start-up of the rust process

Speeding up and rusting more evenly is possible with a salt or acid solution. For salt, table salt will suffice and for acid you can think of vinegar. Mix this with water in a plant sprayer and inject the product.

Advantages of CorTen Steel

nice appearance and gets a warm rust color
very durable (lasts about 10x longer than regular steel)
very strong material (similar to stainless steel)
does not require treatment
it is 100% recyclable

Disadvantages of CorTen steel

rust water that is released in the beginning can cause rust spots on eg tiles
relatively expensive material