First cleaning today of the new p61a

I had the stove shut down for the final touches to the chimney topper on the stack today so thought, well gonna clean it tomorrow anyway. It went well I thought. I opened the little hatch under the burn pot, there were a few ashes in there that I just swept out with a small brush. I opened the large hatch behind the ash bin, the blower was clean and the passage out to the piping was just a little tan, no deposits, no restrictions obvious. I doubt that even needed a look after just a week but hey, it's right there. The ESP probe was also a little tan. I swept down the heat exchanger and sides of the stove, cleaned off ash on the shelves and ledges inside there etc.

Now about the burn pot itself. Back where the pellets stack up and the most pellets fill and burn, there was a dime sized carbon deposit on each side directly across from one another ( on the side walls). Tough deposit, took some hefty chipping. I'm curious about those deposits, the only carbon in the stove that was stuck. At first I thought it was part of the casting but then I also thought, wait that wasn't there last week ! What I'm most curious about is do others have them exactly there in the Harman burn pots and why there and no place else ? Not complaining mind you but curious. The end face of the auger had a bit of resin or creosote , very very thin coating that I left there for the next cleaning..

I pulled the back cover to see the intake port and to see the blower fan back there, both spotless, air flapper free. We have four cats in the house, i wanted to be sure it wasn't fuzzing up inside those. Fired it back up and it's burning like the first firing last week.

Ctcarl said:

Sounds like it's going well yes the deposits are normal. On my 7 day cleans I use a flat head to scrap the sides and the pointy part of the scraper.to get the lower bottom. I always get that crud. Comes right off then In the ash vac.

Click to expand...

That's what I did with mine as well, scraped and kind of chipped at it with the provided scraper, looked in with a flashlight and vacuumed it up. The holes were all clear, so I didn't rod them out. Under the burn pot behind that small access hatch was some powder and crumbs that I swept out with a small brush that came with my ash vac being careful not to whack the heat element.

Funny, went to bed last night slept like a log. I woke up about 3 am for the morning squirt, and could smell heat, the house was toasty. I told the wife guess between finishing the topper on the chimney and the cleaning we could turn the stove down a little. Well got downstairs this morning, the flame was perfectly normal just humming along not blazing high. Looked at the dining room thermostat thermometer it read 78 deg. Now I'm thinking wait a minute here, went to the stove, I had set it to just under 80 deg room temp manual when I switched from the auto start to manual. Don't ask, I have to start wearing my glasses more !

Anyway, headed on to week two now.

mikesj said:

A clean stove is a happy stove. That being said, I clean mine about every three weeks. I use a 1 inch wide masonry chisel to scrape my burn pot. I don't hit it with a hammer- I just like something with a little heft.

Click to expand...

I couldn't stand it any more, been wanting to clean this thing since the second day just because I have never done it on a pellet stove. Now it's done, took about 20 minutes I guess but that's with out an exhaust swabbing with the ESP removed. Obviously that will take a bit longer. I have a clean out T in my fireplace though. I should be able to open that, swab out from the stove out to that T and from the T up the chimney when that day comes.

This pot was starting to burn just a tad funky, I doubt I could make three weeks unless my daily scraping is a little more robust. Especially if to burn Fireside Ultras or a mix with them in it. Those are some ashy pellets but cheap.

HEMI said:

I usually get those deposits when the stove is in a low burn for an extended period, not much of any with a good quality pellet but if I burn crap pellets those deposits are never ending.


Little cleaning tip for you, when you clean the stove turn the feed rate dial to test mode, all the blowers will go on but the auger won't feed pellets (as long as the door is open) this helps keep ash/dust from entering the room

Click to expand...

Right now I'm working through some Fireside Ultra pellets which contain more ash than any pellet I have tried thus far, even though they say premium on the label ( ash content 1). I just switched to stove temp , about level 5.25 thinking this will keep the stove from idling while I burn these off.

Yes, towards the end of my little cleaning journey I thought to flip that switch to test actually. And really I didn't need it up till that point as a lot of the cleaning was more granular. when I hit the powder over the door and on the side walls it got rather billowy inside there !!

Tonyray said:

Have the P61a also..
what u described, deposits on side of burn pot is normal.
I get that most times when I clean the stove..
make sure u run your fingers all over the burn pot because sometimes the carbon looks like it's part of the burn pot but it's not..
can be real flat and blend in... I always use a 2" paint brush and use that to clean the burn pot then with a flashlight, I look and run my fingers over the surface and Bingo!!
always find a little smidgeon of carbon somewhere.....
BTW: don't think there is a spot in the stove that ash doesn't find and camp out..

Click to expand...

Got to get one of those disposable brushes before the next cleaning. I have this tiny little brush which is a great brush for some things, it came with my ash vac. I need a bigger one though as well.

Tonyray said:

exhaust swabbing with the ESP removed
please explain this.
not sure what you mean about ESP Removed...

Click to expand...

You can't run a cleaning brush through the main exhaust port and out the back of the stove with the ESP in place you will destroy the ESP probe. So I will remove that. I have not needed to do it as yet though.

Tonyray said:

I
[the probe is the long horizonal needle thing there right?

Click to expand...

Yes it is, I suppose if your brush is fairly soft, you could carefully work it through. I'm not into buying a new one if I screw up though !

Tonyray said:

ok.. so I assume you do vacuum that area if u can?

Click to expand...

Correct. With my P61 and a flashlight I can see just about back to my clean out T. On this first cleaning it wasn't dirty in There, just tan looking, no chunks or dust , so I put the cover back on. Next week will be two week, I will start looking in a bit closer then.

mikesj said:

When I do a full cleaning on mine I remove the esp when I clean the exhaust. It can get crud built up on it, so it's a good idea to clean it off. It is also pretty easy to damage it with the exhaust brush.

I wouldn't worry too much about the exhaust/esp right now. You might want to clean them after your first ton or so.

Click to expand...

I was going to clean the whole stack/vent system at about the one ton mark. I have to admit I am curios if anything is building up at the clean out T though.

Tonyray said:

I'm kinda leary about taking any of the piping apart on my P61A..
It's in a corner and appears to be all connected pretty tight.. meaning, I would possibly have to pull the stove out somewhat[maybe] in order to remove the bends etc..??.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure about your install, I would think you would have a clean out someplace in it though. The brushes are on very flexible cables, almost like a plumbings snake.. It should do bends . No need to disconnect any pipes with a P series stove generally.

In mine it's a straight shot from the ash door of the stove into the fireplace to a T ( 1 ft connector off the back of the stove to that T). The T has a cap on the bottom that comes off and I've yet to experience how much dust and soot may drop out of that. However, the straight shot goes from the stove to that T. Then from the bottom of the T I can brush straight up 26 ft to the top of my Chimney liner. The only bend is a very gentle S turn at the old smoke shelf above the fireplace where the official exterior brick chimney then begins. I went with 4" all the way from the back of the stove, FWIW.

Hoot23 said:

A lot easier to clean the vent if you take the probe out.

Click to expand...

I also have not yet removed the probe or in fact cleaned the vent leading to the T other than a short vacuum. It was all evenly tan inside there, so really no need yet. To remove the probe I assume a rear panel must be removed. It looks like a single screw attaches the probe to the stove. Is that correct ?