St. Croix auger is not a dipstick but...

[Don2222]

Hello

It is covered with what looks like oil! See 1st pic below. Black burnt pellets with oily goo!
The hopper, and auger and fire box is covered with it! It was even dripping down to the floor in the front! Eeewww!

To do the stove cleaning I sent out for a can of Acetone!
Like the comercial says. This gives stove cleaning a new meaning! Jeezzz!

This is a 2009 St. Croix Ashby-P insert purchase 2 months ago and only used 2 months!
Here are the oily details!
The stove ran great using cubex wood pellets for most of the 2 months. The other day a bag and a half or these new pellets called HearthSide Premium Wood Pellets made made by Bay State Wood Pellets in Fitchburg MA. Now there is no cleanout T on the back of the insert and the ash piles up and chokes the exhaust. So since these pellets do produce more ash quickly that is what happened. The stove and room got real smokey when the stove shut down. The only noticeable difference in looking at the pellets was that one bag used here had ALOT of fines in the bag!

Has anyone seen such oily goo in the hopper and around the auger? ? ? See pics below!
Has anyone tried these HearthSide wood pellets made in Fitchburg MA? Any luck with them?
Click pic to enlarge - Finally after 10 hours of cleaning it is up and running!

 

[heat seeker]

Wow! Those pictures make the unbelievable - believable. What a mess. Gotta wonder what the flame looked like. How much acetone did you use? I think I can smell it from here!

 

[Brokenwing]

That looks like a poor burning wood stove holy smokes!

 

[krooser]

You need to use the "C-4 leaf blower trick"...

 

[Don2222]

Wow! Those pictures make the unbelievable - believable. What a mess. Gotta wonder what the flame looked like. How much acetone did you use? I think I can smell it from here!

I used a quarter of the can of acetone which worked really good. So it looks better. The hopper lid switch went up in smoke! LOL

 

[CT Pellet]

You sure BP wasn't drilling near your stove?

 

[Don2222]

I wish they were. Atleast that would explain it!

The only thing I can think of is a young worker in the pellet mill asking... Where can I put this bucket of liquid creasote?

Still looking to see if anyone else has seen something like this? ? ?

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

10 hours, I assume being a seasonal niche contractor, hourly $85 to $95 per man hour, 1 man job.. Brutal on all..

 

[heat seeker]

I bet they were burning those new oil-infused Inferno pellets, that are now rated at 1,000,000 BTU's per bag.

 

[Don2222]

I bet they were burning those new oil-infused Inferno pellets, that are now rated at 1,000,000 BTU's per bag.

Yes, they are the only ones that have pellets made out of Recycle Wood products infused with Used Oil !! It is the Dirty Bomb! ! ! LOL

 

[woodsman23]

my goodness never seen anything like that, seems to be burning to cool.

 

[chamas]

I recently cleaned up a EF3 that had the goo all over the heat exchanger tubes. The stove's internal baffles were completely clogged with ash, impeding good combustion/exhaust air flow.

 

[Don2222]

I recently cleaned up a EF3 that had the goo all over the heat exchanger tubes. The stove's internal baffles were completely clogged with ash, impeding good combustion/exhaust air flow.

Wow, what kind of wood pellets were you burning?

 

[DexterDay]

That stove was only burned in for 2 months? What was the total pellet usage?

Thats almost hard to believe?

 

[Don2222]

That stove was only burned in for 2 months? What was the total pellet usage?

Thats almost hard to believe?

Hi Dexter
They were using Cubex for most of the 2 months and had no problems. Then they put in one and a half bags of the Fitchburg MA Bay State Wood pellets purchased at Home Depot and wham, they almost burned their house down and almost ruined their 2 month old stove!

They said those pellets burned up real quick at first and then POW!

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I think I found the answer!

If some oily grains or olive pits that are not processed correctly can cause this! ! !

 

[Bioburner]

I know that a improperly set corn stove will plug up the works if burning cold, trying to just keep the garage tempered as example. Need to run up to a good hot fire regularly.