Mt. Vernon AE

When I emptied my ashpan a couple of days ago, I noticed something different. My ashes usually are clumped and very gritty. This time I noticed that my ashes had a lot of fine powered ash mixed in. I thought no more of it, and then last night was I was hauling in pellets, I noticed that the flame was really lazy, tall, and the burn pot was about 2/3's full of a mass of burning pellets. None of which are usually the case

I shut it down and did a quick clean and noticed that the vent holes on the bottom of the burn pot were partially occluded by ash. I bored them out with a screw driver and hoped for the best. Same lazy flame and overfilled burn pot. It's heating but blackening the the glass in an arch shape.

I havent't cleaned the exhaust motor in a long time and think that and a good pipe sweep may help, but was wondering if the thermocoupling might be a problem too as the flame is more of a solid fuel flame (one big flame) as opposed to individual pellets burning as usual.

I almost always burn Hamer's Hot Ones and haven't changed anything else. The only environmental changes are 1) It's very cold for our usual temps and 2) at the beginning of the season, I extended my vent pipe 5 feet further from the house so I didn't have to scrub my siding again this spring. I've been burning since October and t's worked fine thus far.

Any thoughts?

BigJohnfromCT said:

Also, do you have an OAK? Is so, make sure it's not obstructed by snow or leaves.

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Not sure what OAK is? But leaves and snow are not an issue.

bags said:

Outside Air Kit. Brings in fresh air from outside into the combustion area. All kinds of info around here about them.

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No OAK. Seems to work fine without it. It's been in place for about 6 years, maybe more. It was one of the first versions (of course major board upgrades and such have been done). Its just a sudden change in characteristics. I'm pretty sure a full break down and clean will clear it up.

john193 said:

90% of the time it's a cleaning issue. I use a wire brush attached to my cordless drill to clean the burn pot weekly. It sounds like time for a full tear down.

As stated earlier you should be cleaning the combustion fan and vent every ton. Remove the baffle once a month (I person do it bi weekly), and clean behind the baffle, especially the two rectangular openings on both corners.

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Thanks, I'm not the most dependable when doing a completed tear down cleaning. I'm going to do one tomorrow and I'll report back.

TaDa! I gave it a full blown cleaning including the combustion fan housing (which I only usually do once a season). It was really dirty. Fired if back up, and ran like it was brand new. The house is warm and oil furnace is once again dormant. Life is good in Maryland. I think I'll take the advice and do a full cleaning after every ton. Thanks for all the help.