WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO WHEN...

If I empty the ash can I do a deep cleaning as well.

Welder's gloves. I found they resist heat far better than woodstove gloves, which many times are cheap gloves masquerading as insulated gloves.

Use a good pair of insulated gloves and cover the pan with a tin baking tray to keep ash from flying out and walk it out the door?
If you turn the stove down to low for a while before before the act the stove will cool down some.
You could slide it out onto a baking sheet and the sheet edges should stay pretty cool. Yes I do a fair amount of cooking.

I'd weigh the pro & con. Love the heat enuff to time your cleaning of the stove. That's what I do with mine. Usually, it's the warmest part of the day , which when it's 20 out, it's mid-day . I shut it down for an hour max to minimize the heat loss. Works great for me.

I turn the stove down a bit and then use my Powersmith ash vac and suck out some of the ash in the pan. Don't scrape beforehand.

How much is a spare ash pan? You could swap them out pretty quickly.

Clueless Amy said:

How much is a spare ash pan? You could swap them out pretty quickly.

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With the Harman PC45 during the off season I took the ash bucket or tray to a plumbing and heating outfit. They have fabricators who make ductwork and they made a extra ash bucket for 50.00 that is identical to the original. So I simply swap buckets. But you can simply take it out and empty it then bring it back in and reinstall it. Seems Harman stoves will stop feeding when they detect a vacuum leak. The Bixbys will run for 20 minutes normally to give you time to remove, dump, and replace while running.

HOGG0494 said:

Hi Tony
I did have a smith powervac.lol.shut down stove for 30 min and sifted through the ash.saw nothing glowing.vacumed half the tray when i turned around and my powersmith was litterly on fire.the fire resistant filter was burning and melted the plastic top.

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You have take make sure that no scraping was done in a while and no embers. If any embers whatsoever the speed of the vac is just like a super pellet stove with all that suction and air going through it will reignite the embers. My can gets hot but no burning. I leave it on just maintenance burn for 30 minutes to cool down the stove and ash. I did lose a filter once as I did it too soon like you. I have too much light colored carpet to try pulling the pan. Even on cleaning days and it is cold I use the vac even when the pan is pulled. An empty vac will hold a full pan and all the adjoining ash on the ledges along with pot, lower level, exhaust and exchanger scraping on my p68.

What about holding the ash pan handle with pliers or vice grips?

By the way those embers can hibernate for a long time if you scraped the pot within 12 hours. Then boom they will reignite with the smallest of vac suction. I use an IR thermometer to make sure they are below 120 before sucking. I leave the pan on the hearth for a few while I check the temp. Maintenance burn is around 150 temp in the ash pan once I pull it. Very little ash gets dumped from above in maintenance burn and I use the vac to suck up any below before putting the pan back in. Then I scrape and done. I might every 3 days give the exchanger a quick scrape with a scraper as well since the fire is low. I use welding gloves if too hot.

I checked out the Xxv at my dealer a few weeks ago. Very pretty stove.

What about a large metal toolbox? Sit the ashpan inside, close the lid, carry outside. The ash would be pretty contained and easy to transport.

That's a great idea and much easier. Keep the wife happy if any ash falls from the side of the pan. Easier than my vac. Quicker. I might even have an old one. Thanks.

I do a full clean every 10-14 days....
not enough time to halfway fill a Harman P61A Ash pan even with Stove chow pellets..
Note:
did my homework when checking out Pellet stoves couple yrs ago and the LARGEST ASH PAN Was the Harman Free standing stoves..So Never any Urgency to have to empty it more than once a month If I wanted.

with some of the pellets I burned this season I had the same issue, had to take the ash out every 48 hours or more sometimes! Here is what worked for me on the 52i:
Open up the hopper to fill up on pellets as part of the morning or evening routines. the stove will lose pressure and will slow down. Mine goes to a type of maint mode. Once done with the pellets keep the hopper door open!

Open the stove door, scrape the burn pot, close the door. Regular maint stuff.

Open up the garage door, unlock the house door and prepare for a quick but controlled exit via the shortest route. Have someone ready to open the door. You will be carrying a hot load!

Put on a good pair of grill or welding gloves and steal one of your wife's nice silicon pot holders! This will handle the direct contact with the pan while your gloves are extra protection.

Open the stove door, grab the ash trey handle with the pot holder and carefully pull it out. Make sure you have a good grip! Keep it low to avoid the distribution blower. Close the door and go out to dump the ash.

This is HOT ash, could also have partially burned pellets and embers. do not dump on ground. Get a stainless steal trash can or metal ash container and keep it away from combustibles outside.

Put the ash trey back and close the hopper. End to end, about 10 minutes. No need to touch the stove controls and it will pick right up as soon as you close that hopper. Stove is on during the entire procedure, got to love these Harman's! I only shutdown for weekly cleans to mainly clean the glass and for the large ones. 24/7 outside of that when cold.

I do a full clean after a ton and minor cleaning every week. Cold weeks more ash with my crappy pellets so have to do it weekly. Buying good pellets next year. On a ton of better pellets now and easily 50% less ash.

Wow, I burn Barefoots and have to empty once every two weeks. I burned some nasty stuff last year and went a week.

Put the stove on manual mode and turn temp way down. In 5 minutes the stove will throttle way back. Throw some gloves on pull the ash pan and place it into an empty ash pan with lid - trash can like.

Go out side, empty harman pan into small ash can. Brush heat exchanger real quick, vacuum corners with ash vacuum the reinstall, turn temp back up.

I take a cookie sheet over to the stove, put on my gloves, pull out the ash pan, set it on the cookie sheet, which also catches any ash they may tumble from the pan/door/wherever, grab the cookie sheet with the pan on it and walk it out to the big metal Oscar the Grouch style trash can I have on my back patio. I don't turn the stove down at all, just open the darn door and pull out the pan.

I suck the ash right out with my ash vac while the stove is running.