What stoves can run for several days w/o shutdown to scrape and poke holes in the fire pot

Pascal_Maertens said:

hey look what caugth my attention '' CyberPower 1000 UPS '' is this good to run your stove ? and how much Hr. and $$.

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I don't know yet, since my power hasn't gone out since I bought it! It was $114, I think from NewEgg. It seems nice, because it has lots of info, like how much wattage your stove is drawing, 54 watts on P1, and estimates of how long the stove will run on battery, 30+ minutes.

Pascal_Maertens said:

hey look what caugth my attention '' CyberPower 1000 UPS '' is this good to run your stove ? and how much Hr. and $$.

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If you plan to recharge (and to keep it plugged in) using a generator, check to make sure the unit will function while still within the return period (i.e., cut the power, turn on the generator, and see if it will recharge / function). We had two Cyberpower UPS's in our office, and neither would function when we turned on the generator. Ended up getting rid of both because we lose power several days each year. Have generally had better luck with APC, but a little bit more (and OK, sometimes a lot more) expensive.

Wilbur Feral said:

If you plan to recharge (and to keep it plugged in) using a generator, check to make sure the unit will function while still within the return period (i.e., cut the power, turn on the generator, and see if it will recharge / function). We had two Cyberpower UPS's in our office, and neither would function when we turned on the generator. Ended up getting rid of both because we lose power several days each year. Have generally had better luck with APC, but a little bit more (and OK, sometimes a lot more) expensive.

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Good point. I have several UPSes that are connected to computer in offices, home theater and my networking hub, and as you say, not all will recharge on generator power. They'll just start beeping. I need to pay better attention, as I generally just buy whatever's on supersale on Black Friday!

My Kedel pellet boiler will run months on end without touching it running the least expensive pellets I can find. All I have to do is empty the ash pan after about 1000 lbs of pellets put through. The burn pot cleans itself with compressed air every time it shuts down using it's own small, quiet air compressor.

The newer RTB's coming soon have air that cleans the heat exchanger too (current one self scrapes) and has an auger to get rid of the ash which can store 3-4 tons of pellets worth of ash.

Also, my neighbors pellet boiler was just INSTALLED for $300 more than the Harman XXV I helped my brother in law install (after rebates).

My Lopi/Avalon Newport will run through several bags of pellets before it needs attention. I usually don't mess with it until the flame begins to look funny I.E. clinker has built up in the sides of the burn pot or heat output is really down.

And I used to be so loyal and so loving to my stove.

Usually by the time I get around to opening the door and cleaning it, ash is falling out of the door...probably 4-6 bags of pellets depending on burn setting and pellet wood type and quality.

My Harman has no trouble doing so although I usually remove any ash off the burn pot lip once a day (just because I dislike looking at it - but I don't have to shut down the stove). I've only had the St. Croix for 2 weeks and it took me a while to get the flame close to where it should be. However, it has been going since Monday or Tuesday without being shut down or having to stir it up. Between the versa-grate and my using the clean out plate once a day (I'm not even sure that is needed as I can't see any ash - just the manual says to do so). I will need to shut it down to clean the glass this weekend, but that is no big deal.

Im just now shutting the stove down for a cleaning not because it really needs it but because its a convenient time. Last cleaning was 2 weeks ago.

woodmakesheat said:

I'm new to this as well - first year burning pellets - such a relief after cutting/splitting wood for 2 years (which in turn was a massive cost savings compared to 800 gallons of oil per year - heat only.) So far my Englander 10-CPM gets the ash drawer emptied and pot removed and dumped (easier to remove it than scrape in stove) once a week (~11 bags burned.) There is very little to scrape and have yet to see an air hole get clogged. After a month and a half of burning, I reached up and swept the ash off the top of the firebox. Tools used: long hot gloves (hate to wait for stove to cool much after it shuts off), plastic 1.5" wide putty knife and a flat head screwdriver (for anything stuck to the burn pot.) Process takes about 20 minutes total - nothing compared to slaving over a wood stove. Not burning anything special - HD Fireside Ultra or Stove Chows. The stirrer grinds up any clinkers that might form and pushes them through the burn-pot holes so the amount of ash produced seems to be irrelevant - it just piles up on lip around the burn put and then falls into the traps on either side.

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Your particular stove was sort of put through its paces by a former member who let it eat through over a ton of pellets without opening the door.

Similar to DZL Damon's Kedel pellet boiler is a a Biowin Windhager. The difference is that Biowin not only makes a boiler similar to the Kedel they also make a stove, Firewin, that functions very similar to the boiler, with autofill, auto clean, auto ash compaction, etc., and it can heat your water for your baseboard radiant.

I'm thinking about it for the future when I move my current pellet stove to the boat storage/workshop I'm planning to build. Then a Biowin Firewin would take its place. I'll build a pellet bin for bulk storage, but hopefully the automation will eliminate loading and transport of pellets, and reduce the amount of ash dumps to a few times a year, and minimal cleaning, and by connecting it to my hydronic, I can get even heat throughout the house as well as a purdy fire to look at. Anyway, it fits the OPs question.

SmokeyTheBear said:

Your particular stove was sort of put through its paces by a former member who let it eat through over a ton of pellets without opening the door.

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Yes, I've read of this 57 days without a clean was it? Someday I'll find that thread and read it. I will say that after 2 weeks without a cleaning the flame did get a little yellower and taller. It brightened right back up after a quick clean as I described above.

woodmakesheat said:

Yes, I've read of this 57 days without a clean was it? Someday I'll find that thread and read it. I will say that after 2 weeks without a cleaning the flame did get a little yellower and taller. It brightened right back up after a quick clean as I described above.

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I stopped after 26 bags through mine on the grudge setting because I just couldn't stand the mess in the firebox.

I clean my stove alot more often than is really needed for aesthetic reasons.

My Accentra can go at least 2 weeks without a scrape or any cleaning if need be. I rarely go that long, and I have never gone longer, but I have on occasion. By the way, I have never had to poke into the holes in the burn pot.

Considering that ash is a very good insulator, a brush or two of the exchangers help get all the heat that one can out of the stove and not out the venting. I think the OP was wondering about not tending the stove for extended times and not having to putts with the pot and fire go out. Nice to have a long weekend away from home an not have to worry about how much dino juice is going into the fossil burner.

A clean stove is a happy stove. I used to clean daily when I first started now I just clean once a week. Still have to dump the pot once a day and If I'm using the Harman I have to scrape the speed bump off once a day. I have no idea how other Harman owners are avoiding this.

I'm jealous of you guys and your few thousand dollar pellet stoves.

Have over 2300 sq ft ranch style house and my thousand dollar pellet stove had been heating my whole house awesome. I have to shut It down 1-2 times a day cuz my house turns into a inferno with temps above 80+, I Also live in western North Dakota where the wind chill right now is -35.
I have only been running my stove at 50% also, and have only been able to find average pellets

Yes my simple but cheap pellet stove requires attention once a day but hey, not a lazy person I'm a diesel mechanic so im use to getting dirty and keeping up the maintence.

Yes I'm jealous of you guys and your pellet stoves that can run for days or weeks without a simple clean out but a pellet stove is nothing like a wood stove..

When you buy a pellet stove your basically signing a form to keeping up the maintence on your stove.

To me a simple 10 min vacuum out daily insures I run into less issues down the road and its been working thus far.

I used to work on a Harman pellet furnace at my previous job and I don't care who you are and what you own... They all require maintenance, it all boils down to how much maintenance you have time for and how much money you care to spend to make those daily cleanings maybe weekly cleanings....

But then again I've always worked hard for my dollar so I'm use to giving some to gain some...

Good luck to you all... Drink up and stay warm my friends

Ahhhh a diesel mechanic......I shall be drawing upon your knowledge know that I know this.....heh! I have just over $1150 in both my stoves so no multi thousand dollar stove here. I bought my Cumberland remanufactured for $650 and I picked up my Harman from Craigslist for $500. I've been lucky with both of them. I havent had to do much work to the Harman but I only use it as a back up or when we get in single digits to take some of the load of the Cumberland. I have had to replace the cumbustion blower on the Cumberland. I had to do the same on my sisters Cumberland. Once I got a new blower I just put new bearings in the old one and we pass it around if a blower goes out. Your house must be super insulated. I'm glad your system is working out so well for you.

There are a lot of folks on here that are burning formerly used stoves that were not maintained by the original owner and obtained for little or nothing.

Even those who bought new didn't always pay an arm and a leg.

Then we can move on to those who are burning orphan stoves that supposedly are POS stoves.

My bucket of parts heats my house down to at least -22, don't know about lower as it hasn't gotten lower than that here yet. The stove was running at firing rate 3 of 5.

As a diesel mechanic you should understand air/fuel mixtures and the importance of air flow in keeping the burn pot clean of ash so you might be able to get your bucket of parts to at least skip a day and still heat the abode.

SmokeyTheBear said:

There are a lot of folks on here that are burning formerly utsed stoves that were not maintained by the original owner and obtained for little or nothing.

Even those who bought new didn't always pay an arm and a leg.

Then we can move on to those who are burning orphan stoves that supposedly are POS stoves.

My bucket of parts heats my house down to at least -22, don't know about lower as it hasn't gotten lower than that here yet. The stove was running at firing rate 3 of 5.

As a diesel mechanic you should understand air/fuel mixtures and the importance of air flow in keeping the burn pot clean of ash so you might be able to get your bucket of parts to at least skip a day and still heat the abode.

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I do greatly understand air/fuel ratios in our stoves, to me it doesn't take me very long to do a quick clean out wipe down of my combustion area/burn pot, I just don't see how some people want to run their stove as long as possible slowly choking it off, basically what the early egr systems did on semis bringing back exhaust and making the motor breath dirty oxygen, yes its still around but surprisingly its cleaner... Did I ever tell you I hate egr??

joed2323 said:

I do greatly understand air/fuel ratios in our stoves, to me it doesn't take me very long to do a quick clean out wipe down of my combustion area/burn pot, I just don't see how some people want to run their stove as long as possible slowly choking it off, basically what the early egr systems did on semis bringing back exhaust and making the motor breath dirty oxygen, yes its still around but surprisingly its cleaner... Did I ever tell you I hate egr??

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Would you like to go back to changing oil every couple thousand miles? Love the cars DIC. I've owned probably own over 25 diesels so far. Looking at a newer used Jeep. I am a firm believer in used stoves. Fighting old man winter here with 25 mph winds and 3F. with two stoves idling along and eating the corn the neighbor dropped on the ground. One more day of free fuel and back to $130 ton corn. Glad your stove works for you. I still have the first pellet stove I inherited a Whitfield WP1 and that requires tending every eight hours. Do I want to go back to that? Only if its for a hobby

Most folks getting into the pellet burning world do not understand what happens when you burn solid fuel and do not pay attention to things such as airflow, as a result their stoves are always "feeding too fast" , burning lazy. etc ... in a few months they get discouraged and that stove ends up on craigslist. Bioburner and a lot of others pick up some good deals that way.

Some stoves have auto clean systems these days and usually the burn pot doesn't fill up as fast, well not until the exhaust passages plug up from lack of proper cleaning.

Since the same airflow that provides oxygen for the burn also functions as ash ejector in nearly all pellet stoves it pays to have all of the air to go through the pellet pile and not around it or the burn pot. A lot of stoves do not get all of that air through the pellet pile and thus allow ash build up. There is at least one line of stoves that doesn't use the airflow for keeping the burn pot clean, in fact it runs a very low air/fuel mixture and uses an ash extractor and produces very low ash emissions as a result.

SmokeyTheBear said:

Most folks getting into the pellet burning world do not understand what happens when you burn solid fuel and do not pay attention to things such as airflow, as a result their stoves are always "feeding too fast" , burning lazy. etc ... in a few months they get discouraged and that stove ends up on craigslist. Bioburner and a lot of others pick up some good deals that way.

Some stoves have auto clean systems these days and usually the burn pot doesn't fill up as fast, well not until the exhaust passages plug up from lack of proper cleaning.

Since the same airflow that provides oxygen for the burn also functions as ash ejector in nearly all pellet stoves it pays to have all of the air to go through the pellet pile and not around it or the burn pot. A lot of stoves do not get all of that air through the pellet pile and thus allow ash build up. There is at least one line of stoves that doesn't use the airflow for keeping the burn pot clean, in fact it runs a very low air/fuel mixture and uses an ash extractor and produces very low ash emissions as a result.

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Great info thus far. Thanks

Yes its brutal out right now. Woke up this morning to -7 temp and -35 with wind chill advisory until tmrw

Quadrafire AE has a self dumping multi fuel burn pot, Fahrenheit has a self cleaning burn pot, Paramax has a low air/fuel multifuel system with an ash extraction system, Quadrafire also has a pull rod burn pot dump systems.

Eventually they all need cleaning, Enviro has some units with large ash bins and stirrers that can burn tons between cleanings. The average pellet stove not so much but even they can frequently go longer if paid attention too when setup..

got another problem--our fire in our smoke box is producing a lot of smoke---so much so that it starts to turn the window black within an hour or so of start-up. We have cleaned it twice, nothing seems to have changed. Both times after running it has shut off --beeping first and displaying "safety smoke". We have NOT changed our pellets and have never had a problem before like this (keep in mind we've only had it 3 months). Any ideas what could be going on?