10 bags in this season, burn pot issues

You sure it is flaking metal.......
It almost sounds like you are getting "Clinkers"
They fuse to the Burn pot and can look a lot like steel.
They are hard kinda flakey and black.

I chip mine off with a Painters 5-in-1 tool, about once a week.

Good Luck,
---Nailer---

Still sounds like clinkers to me, but pics will help

LordmetalZ28 said:

It getting warmer today here In ny if I shut the stove down and theres flaking ill try and get some pictures

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I have same issue, I also think its hard ash"clinkers" as the fellas call it. I just chip away and fire stove back up... No worries

Same thing happening to me. I was trying to figure out if its metal or deposits. I was leaning towards metal, especially since on the outside of the burn pot where there was no ash or clinkers it also chipped off a few flakes. This happened to me a day or two after running my stove on 9. Since then I decided to not push it past 7, just seemed the thing got way to hot. Is it some kind of coating? Really hard to capture that on a pic but maybe I'll try.

I've also heard people say they soak there burn pot. I assume that helps getting it perfectly clean easier? What does one soak in?

LordmetalZ28 said:

Its on the inside off the pot

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It's clinkers.

Mine is the 5660 last years with side controls. My pot is stainless as I assume yours is and is the same pot as it looks like it in the stores when I checked them out. I run on high a lot !! wife can get enough now that we have this thing, I have no sign of flaking ?? Scrape the crap out of it so you can get down to the bare metal and analyze the surface and see if it is giving up any metal, surly not. These things don't get hot enough to melt stainless so it has to be plated on the pot and flaking back off ??

On the other hand my mom called my cell last evening and mine and my wifes both rang, she picked up and talked to her and when i tried to hang up it cut the wife off. Never say never, there is some crappy quality metals out there and these are china made.

Sounds like carbon buildup. Common. See also "Harman speed bump."

I was headed to TSC so I looked again and the new stoves burn pot is painted black as if it is maybe steel and not stainless !! Not sure but mine was bare stainless when I started it up a few weeks ago

LordmetalZ28 said:

Yeah mines def not stainless

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They don't have to be (stainless). The reason they are is it don't rust (I guess). Low carbon sheet is just as good. You'll never get your burn pot anywhere near the temperature required to melt steel.

It's carbon, it isn't flaking. Take it out and soak it in a pail of water for a couple hours and scrape it off.

LordmetalZ28 said:

You guys where right it was just a layer of thin carbon. Please excuse me, first year with a pellet stove. Thanks for lending an ear

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I think you need to buy the beer! cuz lending ears don't come cheap

Here is mine...


I'm not to worried about it, but the circled area had me concerned a bit initially. And not really visible in that shot but on the side I am getting a pretty widespread solid buildup that I can't chip with the screwdriver. How do you clean it?



And here is the outside. Its pretty apparent the metal (or some kind of coating) is flaking off. This looked like raw steel to me prior, not painted or anything I could tell. It looked fine until after I cranked it up to 9 overnight the first time, then the next day when I cleaned a few large chunks came off the outside. Paper thin blackish wafer, that later crumbled sitting on the bricks.

Do burn pots wear out? And is there a better way of cleaning them? I have heard people say they soak them, but in what I have no idea.

OhioBurner© said:

Here is mine...

View attachment 146339
I'm not to worried about it, but the circled area had me concerned a bit initially. And not really visible in that shot but on the side I am getting a pretty widespread solid buildup that I can't chip with the screwdriver. How do you clean it?

View attachment 146338

And here is the outside. Its pretty apparent the metal (or some kind of coating) is flaking off. This looked like raw steel to me prior, not painted or anything I could tell. It looked fine until after I cranked it up to 9 overnight the first time, then the next day when I cleaned a few large chunks came off the outside. Paper thin blackish wafer, that later crumbled sitting on the bricks.

Do burn pots wear out? And is there a better way of cleaning them? I have heard people say they soak them, but in what I have no idea.

Click to expand...

The outside pictures certainly look like some sort of paint or coating coming off. Hard to say on the inside until it gets clean. So far I just use a gasket scraper but more experienced people than me suggest soaking in water to loosen it so i am sure that is great advice. I burn mine hot and high at least 1/2 the time so far for starting on 3 weeks and my pot scraper cleans to like new each time. Not literally but no wearing away of any of the burn pots metal structure. My air holes are all sharp and defined.

ON my EF 2 I used to burn it hot. Over the years the pot liner developed cracks.
It still worked fine (as long as the burn pot sealing edge was straight).

Clinkers are a part of pellet stoves. Seems there are no definitive answers why they form.
Some say it is chlorides in the fuel.
Some say you are not burning the proper Air/Fuel mixture.
Some say it is phase of the moon.

Whatever the reason....If you get clinkers a good stiff scraper gets rid of them.
I will post pictures next time I clean my Burn pot.

There were several threads years ago about "Treatments" for burn pots to eliminate/lessen clinkers.
High Temp Paints/Chroming/Anodizing/Etc.
Don't believe anyone came up with a good solution.

For me a Painters 5-in-1 tool seems to work the best.
It is stiffer than a putty knife and the pointy end gets into the hard to reach areas.



Available in painters section of any hardware store.

Good Luck,
---Nailer---

Yeah I use some kind of small putty knife, but for the hard stuff the smaller end of a flat screwdriver usually busts through. But the stuff on the sides I can't even get with a screwdriver. Maybe I'll try putting it in a bench vise and get out a hammer and chisel. I'd try soaking but I can't see water making much difference. Unless the soak is for a long time but I don't want to be without a stove for very long.