How long can your stove burn without attention?

I'm with F4jock - no issue with flame getting closer to the glass.

I can easily go a week with just filling the hopper daily if running 24x7. We burn about 1 bag per day; a little more if it's really cold for an extended period. Though I usually scrape the the build up in the burn pot every couple of days. I'll check/scrape daily if I'm using a brand of pellets I haven't burned before.

The Harman: Using Currans, every 12-14 hours to scrape pot and remove ashes so I can even see flame (a slight exaggeration, but not by much). Maine's Choice, 24-36 hours. Heat'rs - wish I knew, have only obtained two bags but seem to have a lot less ash than the other two.

Hastings: Using FSU's, pull ash cleanout rod a couple times a day and the baffle clean out rod once every day or two. Catch it every day or two while shut off to remove clinkers.

bogieb said:

The Harman: Using Currans, every 12-14 hours to scrape pot and remove ashes so I can even see flame (a slight exaggeration, but not by much). Maine's Choice, 24-36 hours. Heat'rs - wish I knew, have only obtained two bags but seem to have a lot less ash than the other two.

Hastings: Using FSU's, pull ash cleanout rod a couple times a day and the baffle clean out rod once every day or two. Catch it every day or two while shut off to remove clinkers.

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Try and find some Big Heat. Impressive.

F4jock said:

Try and find some Big Heat. Impressive.

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Yeah, well the only other thing I can find is Green Supremes - at more than what the other stuff costs. With the reviews, I'll stay away from it. would love to get my hands on something that others rave about, but unless I want to shell out 100-150 in delivery (and then I can only hold just over 2 tons in basement), I'm stuck with local stuff (Currans) or HD/Walmart stuff that I can pick up 10 bags at a time.

Other than adding pellets, I usually open the door to clean it every 7-10 days. I imagine with high-end low ash pellets I would be able to go about a month.

BTW, only 12 out of 20 posters list their stove in their signature.

bogieb said:

Yeah, well the only other thing I can find is Green Supremes - at more than what the other stuff costs. With the reviews, I'll stay away from it. would love to get my hands on something that others rave about, but unless I want to shell out 100-150 in delivery (and then I can only hold just over 2 tons in basement), I'm stuck with local stuff (Currans) or HD/Walmart stuff that I can pick up 10 bags at a time.

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Found them at a supermarket. Never can tell. . . .

I can get 2-3 days out of the PAH, but I usually do a daily shutdown to get a quick scrape on the burn pot to keep the burn at optimum clean. I'd like to get hold of a real quality pellet and run a 10 bag test to see how much of a difference there is from the Heatr's I'm burning now.

F4jock said:

Found them at a supermarket. Never can tell. . . .

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Really? Never seen pellets at a supermarket around here. Farm and feed stores only carry GS it seems (okay, Agway sells something else, but I ain't paying per bag what they want just to try them).

bogieb said:

Really? Never seen pellets at a supermarket around here. Farm and feed stores only carry GS it seems (okay, Agway sells something else, but I ain't paying per bag what they want just to try them).

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$4.95 a bag by the bag. . . . . . .

F4jock said:

$4.95 a bag by the bag. . . . . . .

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That is what I pay at HD (okay less, I get a 5% discount) and Wworld is 3.87.

Since I'm still relatively new to pellet stoves (only my 3rd season) and I'm not really sure at what point the burn chamber has "too much ash" I do a quick vacuum every day to every other day if possible. Back in 2012 when I had Somerset pellets I could go almost an entire week though. Then I bought Somersets again in 2013 and they were the worst, most ashy pile of crap I used. It was very disappointing considering their reputation

Chris223 said:

Since I'm still relatively new to pellet stoves (only my 3rd season) and I'm not really sure at what point the burn chamber has "too much ash" I do a quick vacuum every day to every other day if possible. Back in 2012 when I had Somerset pellets I could go almost an entire week though. Then I bought Somersets again in 2013 and they were the worst, most ashy pile of crap I used. It was very disappointing considering their reputation

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Ah Grasshopper. One soon learns that reputation, once gained, must be maintained.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ill-run-the-longest-without-a-cleaning.52464/


hmmm. the final outcome must be in a different thread.
maybe someone else can find that.

though the pic in there of a service call on a stove that had not been cleaned at all in two seasons is...impressive?...frightening?

I bought a Countryside that had not been cleaned in two seasons. They wanted to go to gas. I wonder why? Never broke the seal on the manual packet. Half day with compressor and vac etc.

How long on a hopper of pellets? Depends on outdoor temp. ive had over 40 hours on my extended hopper. Filled it up friday night and then refilled it on sunday night.

How long before it starts to effect performance? Depends on temp again..but as does sidecarflip, i suck and brush mine on sundays. Keeps ya in touch with how to get all the nooks and crannys. Leave the Leaf blower idle and dig out the air compressor and blow out all the crevices. no mess inside! Its Sweeeeet!

St_Earl said:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ill-run-the-longest-without-a-cleaning.52464/


hmmm. the final outcome must be in a different thread.
maybe someone else can find that.

though the pic in there of a service call on a stove that had not been cleaned at all in two seasons is...impressive?...frightening?

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Continues here https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/still-havent-opened-the-stove-door.56790/

It ends here https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/and-so-the-cleaning-begins.59426/

bogieb said:

The Harman: Using Currans, every 12-14 hours to scrape pot and remove ashes so I can even see flame (a slight exaggeration, but not by much). Maine's Choice, 24-36 hours. Heat'rs - wish I knew, have only obtained two bags but seem to have a lot less ash than the other two.

Hastings: Using FSU's, pull ash cleanout rod a couple times a day and the baffle clean out rod once every day or two. Catch it every day or two while shut off to remove clinkers.

Click to expand...

I don't know the difference in pellets. The easiest one for me to get are the Curran's. In the past 3 winters to date I have burned only Curran's and go a week or a week and a day before cleaning. One ton of the pellets will fill my ash bin. I have gone two weeks without cleaning and have burned a ton in that time. I think I've burned about 25 tons to date. The PB105 doesn't see any difference in the Curran's over the 3 winters, so that makes two that don't know the different.

SmokeyTheBear said:

Continues here https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/still-havent-opened-the-stove-door.56790/

It ends here https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/and-so-the-cleaning-begins.59426/

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Wow! I had heard about that record setting run but could never find the threads about it. 59 bags, 67 days without opening the door or emptying the ash pan. Not bad at all. Thanks for posting this.

The manual says every 2-3 days for a quick cleaning, and that's what I do. Unless I want to see nice clean glass, then it's every day. Takes 5 minutes.

I've gone 10 days without opening the door. Just putting pellets in. In the really cold weather I'll scrape the burnpot daily and clean once a week. When it's warmer I'll go longer. Really cold weather I'll burn 10 bags in a week normally it's 4 to 6.
Ron

SmokeEater said:

I don't know the difference in pellets. The easiest one for me to get are the Curran's. In the past 3 winters to date I have burned only Curran's and go a week or a week and a day before cleaning. One ton of the pellets will fill my ash bin. I have gone two weeks without cleaning and have burned a ton in that time. I think I've burned about 25 tons to date. The PB105 doesn't see any difference in the Curran's over the 3 winters, so that makes two that don't know the different.

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Last year's Currans ran fine and I could easily go 24 hours between pot scrapings. The leftover bags that I burned this season were fine, it is the batch I got this fall that seem to be very ashy. Still only empty the ash pan every couple of weeks (and could go 3 weeks if I wanted), but they are much dirtier than last year. The St. Croix definitely hated the Currans when I set the stove up shortly before Thanksgiving. It really likes the FSU's tho. IDK, maybe I got a bad couple of tons, maybe they got wet where they I bought them from, IDK, I just know this batch does not burn the same as last year's for me. Glad that they are fine for you.