How many Fines have you Found in your Fines Box?

I clean mine out twice a year and after burning 4 tons of rather dusty Lignetics I removed about 1/2 cup each time so my Harman must be pushing most of the fines thru the auger.

smoke show said:

me too!

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I would have been really disapointed if SS did not chime in. Almost like they set SS up.

Well I cleaned my fines box. I know I've only burned just short of a ton of pellets but I had to have a look in there. It was up to the shaft bottom in pellets and fines. I scooped out the pellets and vacced the fines. Did a half hearted job of it and fit the cover back on, figuring it wasn't all that full.. Is there more to that thing than that ? It looked like I could see over to the other side of the stove someplace through some channel inside there ( i know it wasn't really that far but it looked it). From what I've read what I did is about all that needs to be done. Retrospect is kicking in !! The stove is up and running now .

alternativeheat said:

Well I cleaned my fines box. I know I've only burned just short of a ton of pellets but I had to have a look in there. It was up to the shaft bottom in pellets and fines. I scooped out the pellets and vacced the fines. Did a half hearted job of it and fit the cover back on, figuring it wasn't all that full.. Is there more to that thing than that ? It looked like I could see over to the other side of the stove someplace through some channel inside there ( i know it wasn't really that far but it looked it). From what I've read what I did is about all that needs to be done. Retrospect is kicking in !! The stove is up and running now .

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I have a P61A and I clean out the fines box every 2nd or 3rd cleaning...I do full clean every 7-10 days need it or not.. with a nut driver, loosen 2 screws and rear panel is off.
the fines box for me has more broken pellets than fines....
prob cause I burn stove chows which are hot as haitii but some of the pellets can be a bit long..
[crunch]

Tonyray said:

I have a P61A and I clean out the fines box every 2nd or 3rd cleaning...I do full clean every 7-10 days need it or not.. with a nut driver, loosen 2 screws and rear panel is off.
the fines box for me has more broken pellets than fines....
prob cause I burn stove chows which are hot as haitii but some of the pellets can be a bit long..
[crunch]

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Mine is the same stove, P61a. There were quite a few pellets in there, some broken a few were not ( short ones). But more to the point , is that the only access that we have to be going through ? I'm glad I did it, any longer would start to get messy.
On another note, this was the third cleaning and the dirtiest I've seen the stove ( been burning a bunch of 1% ash pellets lately, plus I went 11 days this time. This time too it was time to dump the ash pan, it was 3/4 full. I had not dumped it previously. The stack pipe and ESP still look clean.

Clean once a month, usually just a handful of fines and some broken pellets. Never like any of the above pics.

Don2222 said:

Hello

I Found a Fines Box Full of Fines! Say that 5 times fast! LOL

First I found a P61-2 in Mint Condition! Is that a cream puff?

I was wondering if this was normal? Maybe it has not been cleaned in a few years?

Click pic to enlarge:

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I have seen fins so packed in the box that the auger will not turn and I have had to use an ice pick to break it up.

I clean mine once a month when I do a major cleaning, fines are never more than covering the bottom..

alternativeheat said:

Mine is the same stove, P61a. There were quite a few pellets in there, some broken a few were not ( short ones). But more to the point , is that the only access that we have to be going through ? I'm glad I did it, any longer would start to get messy.
On another note, this was the third cleaning and the dirtiest I've seen the stove ( been burning a bunch of 1% ash pellets lately, plus I went 11 days this time. This time too it was time to dump the ash pan, it was 3/4 full. I had not dumped it previously. The stack pipe and ESP still look clean.

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as far as other fines? yes..
. I also only clean out the ESP area occasionally since that and the stack pipe are normally clean enough.

Excessive Ash]: I burn Energex premiums and Stove chows.. after burning the Chows I have usually double the ash content so it's normal depending on what u are burning...
also, there is not any spot in my stove that ash does not find and camp out....
btw: since I run on Room temp and the stove goes off periodically, I usually will take advantage and Brush all the ash sitting on all the the ledges and shelves inside the stove..Takes like 10 seconds.... that will increase the amount of ash in my pan..

Tonyray said:

as far as other access, behind the Big ash pan is the exhaust fan which after you remove the cover there is a square opening[exhaust] which I usually use a bristle brush and clean out
the grey ash in there.. it's also where the EXP probe is so have to be carefull.. [u may already know about this]...
Excessive Ash]: I burn Energex premiums and Stove chows.. after burning the Chows I have usually double the ash content so it's normal depending on what u are burning...
also, there is not any spot in my stove that ash does not find and camp out....

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Ok thank's. Ya I pull that cover each time I clean, still haven't found a whole lot in there but this time the fan needed a brush job and vac.

alternativeheat said:

Ok thank's. Ya I pull that cover each time I clean, still haven't found a whole lot in there but this time the fan needed a brush job and vac.

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I did pull the bottom cap off of my stack outside recently and had about half" of damp caked ash in the bottom of the cap but the rest of the pipe was clean. [pic left]
as u know, when the stove shuts down, the exhaust fan will run sometimes for 40 minutes or so.
I take advantage of this and do the Ash brushing as this keeps the dust from entering our living room.

Tonyray said:

I did pull the bottom cap off of my stack outside recently and had about half" of damp caked ash in the bottom of the cap but the rest of the pipe was clean. [pic left]
as u know, when the stove shuts down, the exhaust fan will run sometimes for 40 minutes or so.
I take advantage of this and do the Ash brushing as this keeps the dust from entering our living room.

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Me too, brushed it all down then. I pulled my cap ( Mine is inside the fireplace), found it empty.

alternativeheat said:

Me too, brushed it all down then. I pulled my cap ( Mine is inside the fireplace), found it empty.

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I think I learned a valuable lesson when cleaning and maybe why I had damp ash in the cap...
I was outside and noticed at the top of my stack[90 degree bend] there is a wire screen to keep debris out...
it was caked with chunks of damp ash also.Have only burned 2 tons so far.. I took a long stick and tapped it and the smutz tz all fell out.[Italain here but like that jewish word lol]
then I remembered that the last time I brushed ash WHILE THE FAN WAS ON, it was raining pretty hard.
I am assuming that I sent all this ash dust out while the grille was soaking wet and it all stuck to it and tapping on days later after it dried it sent some to the ground and some back down to the cleanout cap.
Now I won't use the stove exhaust when brushing if it is raining or snowing...
may be wrong but it sure does sound plausible......
as far as the grey ash in the ESP tunnel, I take a back scratcher, turn it upside down, and pull the ash back towards me and the opening and then vacuum it right at the edge since my shop vac exstention won't get past the ESP probe.

Mid season cleaning at about 2 plus tons I got a tablespoon at most of fines. Things are tight enough even though pellets are a bit dusty to not worry about the fines box but at the end of season cleaning. Let the stove run out of pellets for the mid season cleaning to see if anything in hopper to worry about.

Bioburner said:

Mid season cleaning at about 2 plus tons I got a tablespoon at most of fines. Things are tight enough even though pellets are a bit dusty to not worry about the fines box but at the end of season cleaning. Let the stove run out of pellets for the mid season cleaning to see if anything in hopper to worry about.

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When i wanted to try all hardwood pellets I let the hopper runway down low and then scooped out a good part of what was left in there and couldn't get over all the fines/dust/sawdust that was collected with the low hopper pellets. I thought oh well and dumped in the hardwoods which teh stove burns great. But because of seeing all the fines I thought on the next cleaning I better pull the lid on the fines box. I found mostly pellets in there and some fines kind of stuck to things. As I said in an earlier post, this whole collection was up to the bottom of the shaft that resides in there, so maybe 1/2" deep or so ? Have burned just about a ton now. But some of of these pellets I've had have been super dusty, especially the Okanagan Premiums.

alternativeheat said:

When i wanted to try all hardwood pellets I let the hopper runway down low and then scooped out a good part of what was left in there and couldn't get over all the fines/dust/sawdust that was collected with the low hopper pellets. I thought oh well and dumped in the hardwoods which teh stove burns great. But because of seeing all the fines I thought on the next cleaning I better pull the lid on the fines box. I found mostly pellets in there and some fines kind of stuck to things. As I said in an earlier post, this whole collection was up to the bottom of the shaft that resides in there, so maybe 1/2" deep or so ? Have burned just about a ton now. But some of of these pellets I've had have been super dusty, especially the Okanagan Premiums.

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My Home Depot Stove Chows always show a bunch of fines at the top after I dump a bag in.. I get a thin flat cheapo paper plate and skim as much as I can from the top layer of pellets, holding the pellets, I tap the fines into a trash can and put the pellets back in the hopper. Usually the fines are all together in a small pile on top of the pellets.
that said, any other fines must burn up because I don' t find much in the box cept mostly broken up pellets. Probably don't have to skim but it takes a minute and I feel better doing it..[ the little tricks and tips ya come with out of expirimenting..]

Tonyray said:

..[ the little tricks and tips ya come with out of expirimenting..]

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Having a bottom feed burn pot I have introduced 4 large cans of saw dust into my hopper this season. Only once I had a problem because I put too much in (bridging problem..sawdust doesn't flow) . One handful sprinkled on top every time I serviced the stove (I was also burning 5+ bags a day ). I'm certainly not recommending this,.... but am offering it more to point out your bottom feed rig may be more accommodating then you think. I wouldn't try this with a drop type feeder system...

Oh, My fines box cleaning (4 or 5 times a season) goes like this...I hold a can under as I push most into the auger...the rest I catch in the can and dump can into hopper.