Let's hear about time it takes to clean your stove.
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Northwoodneil
Feeling the Heat
rich2500
Minister of Fire
15 min. Quick clean daily.every 2 weeks I do a more thorough clean and every fall I take the stove out of the house and do a deep cleaning
About 30 - 45 min once a week. I remov the baffle, brush & vacuum the heat exchanger tubes, remove the burn pot, the sise ash trays, the ash traps, clen those things , vacuum everything out, empty the ash pan and clean the glass. Put it all back together and fire it up.
subsailor
Minister of Fire
I thought only Wisconson folks measured time in beers
Nope. Up here, travel time is calculated in beers.
thedude110
Feeling the Heat
About 30 minutes each weekend to scrape the burnpot/heat exchangers, clean out by the igniter, and do a thorough vacuuming. Clean the venting, fine box, and the combustion blower once a ton, which is more of a PITA, obviously.
Melissa220
Feeling the Heat
once a week. An hour for the stove to cool and shut off and about an hour to clean: vacuum and scrape the burn pot clean, brush the firebox walls, brush and scrape the exchangers, clean out the igniter area, remove the ash pan, brush the walls, remove the exhaust fan plate and brush the fan, vacuum the exhaust tube as far as I can go, lightly brush the ESP and put it all back together, The ash pan is emptied every couple of weeks.
P38X2
Minister of Fire
mikesj
Member
I scrape the burnpot and wipe down the glass daily. Takes a minute or two.
About once a week I do a quick cleaning of the interior. Less than five minutes.
Every three to four weeks I do a complete cleaning where I vacuum the fines out, remove and wipe off the esp, clean the inside, dump the ash and brush put the pipe. Takes about 45 minutes if I'm taking my time or about two beers
About once a week I do a quick cleaning of the interior. Less than five minutes.
Every three to four weeks I do a complete cleaning where I vacuum the fines out, remove and wipe off the esp, clean the inside, dump the ash and brush put the pipe. Takes about 45 minutes if I'm taking my time or about two beers
Harman Lover 007
Minister of Fire
CT Pellet
Minister of Fire
Harman XXV.....
Every night, when I pour in the pellets, I open the door (stove is running on high) and scrape off any ash build up that may have accumulated in the burn pot and that's it. It takes all of about four seconds. Then, once a month, I let her shut down, and I will vac out the front of the stove and dump the ash pan. Wipe the glass down and if it is handy (meaning if it is under the sink where it should be) I will take the windex and clean the glass. (Please, please, spare me the ...ooohhh you shouldnt use glass cleaner buiishit) If it is not there, I will say screw it and be done with the whole thing. This all entails about thirteen minutes of my precious time, unless the vac is full, then I need to take it out to the storm drain out by the street and dump it there...all the while listening to my neighbor yelling at me that I am not supposed to dump in there
(This folks, has been going on since 2008)That's it. Then once a year, (usually about a week after I turn her on in the fall) I will have my stove guy come out and pull her apart, give it a deep clean, and listen to him tell me that I need to remember to call him in the spring rather than wait until when it gets cold.
Every night, when I pour in the pellets, I open the door (stove is running on high) and scrape off any ash build up that may have accumulated in the burn pot and that's it. It takes all of about four seconds. Then, once a month, I let her shut down, and I will vac out the front of the stove and dump the ash pan. Wipe the glass down and if it is handy (meaning if it is under the sink where it should be) I will take the windex and clean the glass. (Please, please, spare me the ...ooohhh you shouldnt use glass cleaner buiishit) If it is not there, I will say screw it and be done with the whole thing. This all entails about thirteen minutes of my precious time, unless the vac is full, then I need to take it out to the storm drain out by the street and dump it there...all the while listening to my neighbor yelling at me that I am not supposed to dump in there
(This folks, has been going on since 2008)That's it. Then once a year, (usually about a week after I turn her on in the fall) I will have my stove guy come out and pull her apart, give it a deep clean, and listen to him tell me that I need to remember to call him in the spring rather than wait until when it gets cold.
I have had my stove for a little over a month now. I do a daily scrape of the burn pot and the window wipe. My weekly is a full cool down and a scrape brush vacuum empty ash 40 minutes. Last night I did my first monthly clean including running the brush in the flue and it was about an hour and a half. from reading here I guess i was slow
Aquion
Burning Hunk
I usually shut my stove down on Sunday mornings and give it at least 2 hours to cool down while I run errands. I spend about 30 minutes cleaning the glass, scraping any carbon buildup off the burn pot, and vacuuming out the stove. Every other week I'll spend an extra 10 minutes or so to pull out the baffle plate and the plate below that in order to vacuum out that back area. I've just about burned a ton so far this heating season, so I have to figure out if I need to do any extra cleaning sometime soon. I've been burning pellets since mid-November.
small_e_900
Member
Every morning I clean the glass, scrape the carbon out of the bottom auger tube and clean out the ash.
Once a week, after a cool down, I remove the baffle plate and vacuum out the whole stove.
Once a month, I take a brush to the flue.
I don't use a leaf blower.
I had one of those hanging around in the garage, unused for the last 15 years. Last spring I gave it away.
My guess is that I'm suffering from first-year cleanie-bug-itis and that next year, I won't be so thorough.
Once a week, after a cool down, I remove the baffle plate and vacuum out the whole stove.
Once a month, I take a brush to the flue.
I don't use a leaf blower.
I had one of those hanging around in the garage, unused for the last 15 years. Last spring I gave it away.
My guess is that I'm suffering from first-year cleanie-bug-itis and that next year, I won't be so thorough.
Melissa220
Feeling the Heat
Melissa220
Feeling the Heat
Don't count on it. This is my first year too, but keeping the stove as clean as possible is what is helping me stave off too many visits from the oil man. If all it takes is a few seconds to scrape the burn pot everyday, twice a day, and an hour every weekend to keep the heat coming, you better believe I will do it every year.
steamguy
Member
Every morning before startup, clean/knock out the burn pot liner, chip out any carbon as necessary; brush inside of chamber, including heat exchanger. Refill hopper. About 4 minutes.
Roughly every 3-4 days (depending on quality of pellets), add: dump ashpan (it's only 1-1/2" deep). Add another couple minutes.
About every ton-and-a-half (depending on quality of pellets in any given year), add: pull insides of fire chamber, clean firebrick and all with nylon brush and vacuum. Pull stove from opening and remove surround. Vacuum the guts with duster head and oil all motors. Pull T-trap from bottom of chimney liner and dump, then vacuum insides. About 2 hours overall if I'm taking my time (arthritis) and have the normal amount of interruption.
Add this every 4-5 years: have chimney professionally swept. About 3-1/2 hours total.
Thanks to heating with pellets, our power bill is just over a hundred bucks a month, instead of triple that.
Roughly every 3-4 days (depending on quality of pellets), add: dump ashpan (it's only 1-1/2" deep). Add another couple minutes.
About every ton-and-a-half (depending on quality of pellets in any given year), add: pull insides of fire chamber, clean firebrick and all with nylon brush and vacuum. Pull stove from opening and remove surround. Vacuum the guts with duster head and oil all motors. Pull T-trap from bottom of chimney liner and dump, then vacuum insides. About 2 hours overall if I'm taking my time (arthritis) and have the normal amount of interruption.
Add this every 4-5 years: have chimney professionally swept. About 3-1/2 hours total.
Thanks to heating with pellets, our power bill is just over a hundred bucks a month, instead of triple that.
small_e_900
Member
This is the first time in my life that I'm looking forward to the oil man.
I'm expecting to have used 200-250 less gallons of oil so far this year and zero gallons of kerosene.
SteveB
Member
I thought only Wisconson folks measured time in beers
Lol, we do that here in Central PA too! My bro-in-law is retired and measures all of his chores in "how many beers" it takes
I clean both of mine every weekend. The Harman doesn't really need it that often but I'm burning pretty ashy pellets and since I have to clean the 5510 I do the Harman while I'm at it. Fines box and a really good vacuuming about once a month. Dump the ash pan at almost two months. The 5510 needs the glass cleaned about every day, I guess I'm kinda OCD about clean glass, but I can do that without shutting it down. Leaf blower trick and clean blowers about twice a season.
Melissa220
Feeling the Heat
Nice. I had an oil delivery October 24 for 73 gallons before heating season really started. 6 weeks later - Dec 5 - I got another delivery and only took 77 gallons. THey delivered two weeks later, which I can't understand as it wasn't that cold yet, and took 30 gallons. that was 3 weeks ago and I have only used a quarter tank. Still need it as it heats one room basement I can't set any lower than 55, and it heats the water.
Keep us posted on how you do!
Darryl
Member
Once a day I scrape the burn pot and clean the glass, takes all of 1- 2minutes.
Once a week I shut her down and do my thorough cleaning; scrape the burn pot, knock off any creosote that accumulated on the end of the lower auger tube, paint brush off all of the ash from the ceiling and walls of the stove, remove the impingement plate, and vacuum everything, everywhere, every nook and cranny! Give the glass a spit shine, put everything back where it belongs, fill the hopper, give the outside of the stove a wipe-down with a damp towel and vacuum all around the stove, and then fire her back up. I think I covered it all, at least I hope so
Sounds like a lot, but all of that takes only about 30 minutes tops. The cleaner they are, the better they run fo sho
Once a week I shut her down and do my thorough cleaning; scrape the burn pot, knock off any creosote that accumulated on the end of the lower auger tube, paint brush off all of the ash from the ceiling and walls of the stove, remove the impingement plate, and vacuum everything, everywhere, every nook and cranny! Give the glass a spit shine, put everything back where it belongs, fill the hopper, give the outside of the stove a wipe-down with a damp towel and vacuum all around the stove, and then fire her back up. I think I covered it all, at least I hope so
Defiant
Vermont Castings Geek
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