First cleaning today of the new p61a

alternativeheat said:

Ya see the bottom of that T? That should unscrew and come off. Then you have vertical access.

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Yep.

Do you have a set of cleaning rods and the appropriate size brush? If not, time to invest in those. You can manually feed it past the T and towards your stove but BE CAREFUL. You DON'T wanna hit your ESP. Best way to not do that is to have a person inside looking down the flue to tell you when the brush is getting close to it.

Hoot23 said:

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

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I'm not familiar with the p series, but on mine, I replaced the screw that holds the esp in place with a nail that I cut down to 3/4" or so.
It makes removing/re-installing so much simpler.
Jerry.

alternativeheat said:

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 ?

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Yupper. Remove and wipe with a damp paper towel. I've got a 12" nut driver with a flex shaft. Really helps.

Hoot23 said:

Yupper. Remove and wipe with a damp paper towel. I've got a 12" nut driver with a flex shaft. Really helps.

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how do u know when it's dirty..? mine looks silver or chrome like.

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.

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^^^^^agree don't worry about the esp/exhaust /feeder till after a ton.

Tonyray said:

how do u know when it's dirty..? mine looks silver or chrome like.

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It looks clean after you dust it off. But there is still some build up of ash on there. You'll see the difference once you take it out and clean it. I only pull mine twice a year when I clean the venting.

Hoot23 said:

It looks clean after you dust it off. But there is still some build up of ash on there. You'll see the difference once you take it out and clean it. I only pull mine twice a year when I clean the venting.

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we have the same stoves... I assume to get to it you take off the back cover but not the same one that u remove to clean out the "fines box".....
basically, meaning the cover on the lower left side [if facing the front of the stove]

Nope, same side as fines box. You also have to take off the lower back cover.

Hoot23 said:

Nope, same side as fines box. You also have to take off the lower back cover.

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ok.. would have thought the other side... I should have laid on the floor longer and checked out the [inards] when I cleaned out the fines box .
but just wanted to vacuum it out and get the cover back on right... found lot of busted up pieces of pellets in the fines box..

There's always a few in there.

Hoot23 said:

There's always a few in there.

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I did see the Auger shaft though and was wondering if it ever needs some lube like WD-40 or some lithium grease or should u just leave it alone..

Leave it alone. There's a sealed bearing in the auger motor but you can't lube it.

Hoot23 said:

Leave it alone. There's a sealed bearing in the auger motor but you can't lube it.

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just like wheels bearings are now.. gotcha ..
hey..thanks 4 all your info... really appreciate it...

alternativeheat said:

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 ?

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Yes. You just take the lower rear panel on the right side off and use a nut driver to remove the one nut that holds it. A flashlight really helps.

I highly recommend removing it and cleaning it when you clean the exhaust. I really wouldn't fiddle with it until you've burned a ton, though.

Had my P61A for almost two weeks now. Noticed a lot of postings about "weekly cleaning". Owner's manual and online maintenance videos just talk about doing a cleaning after every ton, and scraping the burn pot when you add fuel to the hopper. Am I missing something?

^ that's all you really need to do but it depends on how Purdy you want to keep the interior. Also depends on the pellets. I was burning AWF softies this winter and was getting terrible carbon buildup in the burnpot that required some heavy duty elbow grease to get out.

Sniz said:

^ that's all you really need to do but it depends on how Purdy you want to keep the interior.

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A lot of ash can build up in a week and affect the stove's performance if you are running it 24x7. This is especially true in our situation where we are using an Accentra Insert to heat our 3200 sq ft. home.

I clean once a month or when I notice a difference in heat output. Scrape the pot every few days.

when my flame is in Maint burn,[room temp/manual] I grab my paint brush and give a quick,and I mean Quick brushing of the heat exchanger..
lot of ash dust drops down from the exchanger..
also do the burnpot scraping when in low maint burn.
lot of us are OCD about our stoves but that;s a good thing I think..

pfmaloney said:

A lot of ash can build up in a week and affect the stove's performance if you are running it 24x7. This is especially true in our situation where we are using an Accentra Insert to heat our 3200 sq ft. home.

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I'm not advocating a lazy maintenance schedule at all.

Is the Accentra any worse or better than a P series at clearing the burn pot?

I feel like I could let this p68 run for weeks without touching it if I wanted to.

cleaning the burn pot is really the easiest part of mainting a stove..
only takes a minute or so to break up any hard carbon deposits regardless if using the harman tool or your own scraper.
not sure why lot of people make it seem like a real chore to do..
Unless you are burning pure damp crappy dog food[looks like] for pellets, don't see how it can be a problem unless you go months at a time between scrapings in which case you may be in there for a while...

Tonyray said:

cleaning the burn pot is really the easiest part of mainting a stove..
only takes a minute or so to....

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Gotta agree, on my XXV-7 I scrape the burnpot usually twice a day. Don't even need to shut the stove off, I just turn it all the way down for awhile then open it up, do a quick scraping and turn it back up - takes under half a minute if you stay on top of it

HEMI said:

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

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Great tip!

Not sure if the 61 is the same as my XXV but when cleaning/brushing the inside with stove off and cooled down I turn the feed adjuster from #4 to TEST - all the fans start running THEN I turn the knob from TEST back to #4 which keeps the combustion fan running(sucking out the dust) while disabling the distribution fan(the one blowing in your face) untill you start the stove back up when cleaning is done. Just another great tip I learned here

Lot of little tips here for cleaning stoves....all good..

my little fav is when I shut down for the full 2 week cleaning,[fines box, blower compartment etc] my P61A will run sometimes for 40 minutes or more till complete shut down.
I take advantage of this and start with my 2 inch paint brush and brush all the walls, heat exchanger and all the nook and cranies of ash into the ash pan while the exhaust blower is still running before complete shut down. by the time the stove is 100% off, I'm pretty much over half way done instead of waiting for full shut down.

btw; picture of my homemade ash dust catcher..
Cheapie Home depot 2 gal shop vac.[sock is extra].. like it because it's light and hauling a 5 gallon shop vac in/out is silly for me due to the small amount of ash I will suck up. Besides, most of the ash get's Brushed into the Ash pan which get's hand emptied anyways...