Quick Harman cleaning ?

Get a pair of welding gloves. I use them when removing components for cleaning during the season.

Welding gloves are a great idea when the stove is hot. They also protect from cuts. You may have noticed, there are some sharp edges in there....at least in P series. I actually knocked mine down slightly with a file. Getting burned THEN cutting your hand on the reflex jerk is not too fun. Obviously, run yer stove on low for a bit before performing the exchanger scraping.

I use a set of grilling gloves when scraping my stove. It seems to be the go-to-gift from extended family for me during the holidays.... Probably have a half dozen pairs floating around.

Yes. Feel free to scrape when cold.

feel free to scrape when cold, I do mine while it blazes away without gloves, glorying in the heat, and the fact that the slight discomfort reminds you that you are still ALIVE!

Tdamico said:

Thanks! I figured it was just a rookie mistake! The door to the controls has sharp edges, and I have the cuts to prove it....will need to file.

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I typically do it when cold since it's more difficult to do a good job when burning away, IMO. I do it once a week with a moderate cleaning and that seems to work well. Get yourself a mechanics prybar (16-18" or so with a handle) from Sears to do the cleaning. The Harman tool is ok, but I seem to get more leverage with the pry bar.

For those that do it while blazing, do you get smoke spilling into the house? I have a basement install and the smoke spillage is more than I prefer...

Don't seem to be a problem here, but we have over 8 foot of vertical to aid in venting.

lbcynya said:

I typically do it when cold since it's more difficult to do a good job when burning away, IMO. I do it once a week with a moderate cleaning and that seems to work well. Get yourself a mechanics prybar (16-18" or so with a handle) from Sears to do the cleaning. The Harman tool is ok, but I seem to get more leverage with the pry bar.

For those that do it while blazing, do you get smoke spilling into the house? I have a basement install and the smoke spillage is more than I prefer...

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Ive not had any leakage doing while blazing either, But I too have a 6ft vertical rise.

new owner here: what scraping tool are you speaking? and do you mean scraping the entire chamber?

A scraping tool is provided with Harmans...I don't know about whats provided by other manufacturers...
But its a small Bent piece of 1/4 steel that I scrap the Burn pot with...sometimes 'clinkers' form..Very hard piece of carbon that has to be scrapped off every so often.
Sometimes the burn pot fills up with ashes that do not blow out of the burnpot and forms a wall around the edge of the burn pot...I scrap that out.

oh... thanks you just reminded me to pick up a painters heavy duty scraper and some gloves!!

Tdamico said:

Hi all,
I'm sure this is a stupid question, but I have to ask. Is it OK to do my daily scrape when the stove is still cold? I am assuming it should be done when it is hot, to get more effective scraping. Of course I burned my hand pretty nice last night....so, gloves? scrape when not blazing? or just be more careful dummy?! Thanks in advance!

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We are into our third season with our Accentra and could not be more pleased. Just one question . . . why are you scraping every day? Surely a clean stove is a happy stove but daily seems a bit much to me. If you read the manual it suggests cleaning after every ton of pellets burned. I clean way more often than that but not daily. With decent pellets the stove doesn't seem to require it. We clean once a week, doing a more complete cleaning every other week, by which I mean removing the plates, etc. Once a month in the season we clean the vent and do even more. Only had one problem caused by my son doing a 1/2 a**ed job for a couple of weeks, but we straightened that right out.

P.S.: Try a Sears gasket scraper - works like a charm and comes in a set of three sizes for about $25, or individually for about $12.

RKS130 I can't speak for others..but the only time I have to do a daily scraping is when I have crappy pellets that leave a wall of ash around the burn pot.
I do a complete cleaning of the stove about once a month...
A quick 2 to 5 seconds scrapping off the ash wall is about it daily.. This time of year Im shutting it off during the day and when I start it at night again.. I occasionally get a hard carbon clinker stuck to one side or the other of the burn pot ...so I scrap that out...
But with the Harman..I have to say the maintenance is very minimal.

ldexter said:

oh... thanks you just reminded me to pick up a painters heavy duty scraper and some gloves!!

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heres what you should have gotten from the dealer.
One end for the burn pot one end for the heat exchanger inside up top..scrap the ashes off of the exchanger

What exactly are we scraping?? The burn pot or heat exchanger? I scrape the burn pot several times a days (OCD) with the Harman tool with the stove running. I use a paintbrush on the heat exchanger when the stove is cold.

lbcynya said:

I typically do it when cold since it's more difficult to do a good job when burning away, IMO. I do it once a week with a moderate cleaning and that seems to work well. Get yourself a mechanics prybar (16-18" or so with a handle) from Sears to do the cleaning. The Harman tool is ok, but I seem to get more leverage with the pry bar.

For those that do it while blazing, do you get smoke spilling into the house? I have a basement install and the smoke spillage is more than I prefer...

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Great idea with the handle prybar! Alot cheaper than the Harman tool!
http://www.sears.com/tekton-18inch-mechanic-s-pry-bar/p-SPM2092168203?prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=G2

I just did it on the garage stove with the fire on and no smoke spillage. It has the Selkirk Up & Out DT install with OAK. Do you have OAK?

Also the higher the heat level the less you have to scrape.

It is just like that old game called Operation, touch the sides of the stove and you may get burned!

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