St. Croix Pellet stove building up creosote

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sharon26

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Dec 28, 2011
28
upstate new york
Have a St. Croix Pellet stove that all of a sudden is building up with creosote. My husband totally cleaned the stove (for the second time in 2 weeks) a week ago and decided to shut the stove down today to take a look at it. When he pulled the pipe off and the blower out it was packed with creosote. We had to get another blower for the stove at the end of last year and the only difference from the old blower to the blower we are using now is that the impeller pitched is different and larger. The sales person said it would work. We did not have any trouble with it until now. I should also mention that it caused 2 chimney fires from this - which we caught just in time.

Any help would be welcome.

Thanks.
 
Welcome to the forum ... scary issue you've got going. A little more info might be helpful. How old is the stove? What level have you been running it at? Different pellets? Usually a fuel/air issue but hopefully someone with experience with your stove will chime in...
 
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sharon26 said:
Have a St. Croix Pellet stove that all of a sudden is building up with creosote. My husband totally cleaned the stove (for the second time in 2 weeks) a week ago and decided to shut the stove down today to take a look at it. When he pulled the pipe off and the blower out it was packed with creosote. We had to get another blower for the stove at the end of last year and the only difference from the old blower to the blower we are using now is that the impeller pitched is different and larger. The sales person said it would work. We did not have any trouble with it until now. I should also mention that it caused 2 chimney fires from this - which we caught just in time.

Any help would be welcome.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I don't know a whole lot about St Croix stoves but can tell you that people who do probably will want to know the model of the stove, what condition you are burning it in ( Hot, Low etc) and probably what pellets you are burning in it. Also if you have changed anything in the venting setup or stove since last year, assuming it ran fine last year.

That said, creosote is usually the result of too cold a burn or when in the stack/vent pipes, that the exhaust temp is too cold.
 
Scary. I also agree with burning at too low a temp. Our annual reccomends burning ata high level for half hour a day

Also the st croix stoves have those hard to clean air holes behind the firebox
 
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Thanks for all your replies.

The stove is a St. Croix Afton Bay.

It is probably about 10 years old or more

It has been completely cleaned 2 times over the last 2 weeks.

the temp we are burning it at is on one - which is low speed. but have burned it on one for years and never had this issue. that is why we think it could be the blower.

thanks.
 
I had a Prescot model and ran it for 5 years before dumping it. It is a very difficult stove to clean properly. Along with all the other cleaning mentioned in the manual, the combustion fan should be pulled and clean after each ton and the conical flu chamber below it vacuumed out . This is a pain because you have to remove 8 or 10 nuts, disconnect all the wires, and carefully remove the brittle gasket which always breaks apart leading you to buy or make another one which is not cheap.

Scrape the the carbon build up off the grate weldment and shaker plate often. Take them out of the stove and scape them clean with a knife. Excess carbon build between these 2 surfaces can interfere with the Versa grate action and lead to burn problems.

Do a general cleaning at least twice a week during heavy use. Use a ruler or something that will fit between the rows of heat exchange tubes to remove the ash that the built in tube scraper didn't get. Remove the decorative steel brick back panel and bang the back the back of the stove with a dead blow hammer to dislodge any ash build up behind it.

****** if you want a clean burn with this stove do not run lower than the 4 setting. it's a very greasy, dirty stove at the lower settings. The 1-3 settings can really junk up the stove when burned at these settings for the majority of the time. let the auto-temp(smartstat) toggle you down and up. The heat from the higher 4 setting will burn off any crap from when it's in idle setting after the thermostat calls for heat.

Also, Make sure the combustion air damper inlet in the back of the stove is not blocked and the damper flap is in the right position against the set screw.
 
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I have never seen/heard of that much buildup.Also I believe that is one of those stoves you have to hammer on the back and run wire through?Believe people are right,your burning practices need to be reconsidered.Says in manual to turn up to high 2 times a day,which I always reccomend on stoves that are ran on low a lot.
 
Is it possible that your pellets are damp? Maybe stored in a humid basement? I assume that you have the two little trap doors like my hastings does as well, if this is the case then spend some time with a piece of wire or coat hanger in hand with a vacuum near by and really clean everything out from up in the air passages. That is the only thing that has ever plugged up at all on my stove, it can be difficult to get it all out but it is necessary to clear these out. Other than that I would suspect the new blower motor as not being the correct one.
 
This is the blower we originally had

After Market Exhaust Blower Motor for St Croix Stoves (80P20001-R & 80P30521-R) PP7606


this is the one that they sold me and has what we think cause dthe build up

Combustion Fan Motor, 80P31093

 
I just put a new combustion blower on my Greenfield, and had to readjust my draft as a result...opened it up quite a bit compared to the old one.
 
My Afton Bay is very easy to clean. I pull the combustion blower in the spring, and there is very little ash in there, probably because I do the Leaf Blower Trick every ton. It takes me about 15 minutes total to do the LBT.

If the blower was that far off spec, I would think your fire would look poor. I never run my stove below heat level 3, except when it's idling, which I keep to a minimum.

Creosote indicates low combustion temperatures, and perhaps bad pellets. Don't blame the stove for conditions outside its control. The manual does state to run the stove on high for about a half hour every day. I don't do that, since the stove runs pretty hot all the time, and have no creosote build up, nor any signs of creosote.
 
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sharon26 said:
Thanks for all your replies.

The stove is a St. Croix Afton Bay.

It is probably about 10 years old or more

It has been completely cleaned 2 times over the last 2 weeks.

the temp we are burning it at is on one - which is low speed. but have burned it on one for years and never had this issue. that is why we think it could be the blower.

thanks.
Click to expand...
How much did you run the stove last year after changing the blower out ? Was that successful ? Are you burning the same pellets this year ? If the only change in the setup is the blower then it rather does point to that. Venting air speed and vacuum level in the stove is a huge factor and that blower controls both. Does this stove have a moveable damper ? Dampers can effect burn too.

I was hoping one of the tech guys in the forum would have picked up on this thread but not so far.
 
Both those Exhaust fans will work fine I have had them both,. Anyone with an Afton Bay will agree they do not like running on 1 for extended periods of time. I avoid it as much as possible, just too much junk buildup. I solved every problem with mine by just using the leaf blower more often.
 
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I also never had a problem with creosote and I usually run it on 3 and do the leaf blower every ton.
 
I just replaced my combustion blower on my Lancaster this year, the blades were bigger than the one I replaced. I also did the LBT on the stove and have found that I had to cut my air down from previous years. I also run the stove on high every morning for almost an hour and I don't get creosote build up. I might get some ash in the venting but not very much at all. I would say to sharon26 to read the manual, and do some online research about the cleaning and operation of the stove. When I do a good cleaning I use a choke cable on a drill to get behind those two little openings on the back wall. I also use a lint brush and vacuum on the two trap doors.
 
sharon26 said:
This is the blower we originally had

After Market Exhaust Blower Motor for St Croix Stoves (80P20001-R & 80P30521-R) PP7606

this is the one that they sold me and has what we think cause dthe build up

Combustion Fan Motor, 80P31093
Click to expand...
So, you had the digital control board model blower and they sold you the non-digital control board model blower.

It could very well be the combustion blower. The reason being that you've had the stove for 10 years, and it worked fine for 9 of those years. You're not exactly newbies. The only major change is the blower. As others mentioned, the exhaust temps are too low causing the creosote. Can you run the stove hotter? Have you adjusted the draft? Do those two things first, and then order yourself a new blower, like the one you're supposed to have and complain to the dealer who sold you the wrong one.
 
They do not make the 3 wire motor anymore.Many people run the replacement with no problems.Ibleive they have been running stove 6 yrs,and have had other problems.
 
Ours is the afton bay also. We run ours on level 3 too. Level 1 is too low for this stove.

Once a season i totally take apart the stove, wheel it out on the porch and blast every nook and cranny with the air compressor. That gets at those little holes behind the firebox. We also do the leaf blower cleaning every ton.
 
bbfarm said:
Ours is the afton bay also. We run ours on level 3 too. Level 1 is too low for this stove.

Once a season i totally take apart the stove, wheel it out on the porch and blast every nook and cranny with the air compressor. That gets at those little holes behind the firebox. We also do the leaf blower cleaning every ton.
Click to expand...



"Too low for this stove", please explain.
Unless you have some sort of exceptional circumstances a stove should run on all settings. IMHO
 
Tonyray said:
geez.. just saw a youtube video on cleaning the St Croix.
looks like working on a car!!
Click to expand...

I don't know what video you're watching, but cleaning my stove couldn't be any easier. Which vid are you referring to?
 
My weekly cleanings take 20 minutes. My end of season cleaning takes about 2 hours.
 
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