Cleaning a Breckwell. Please do not forget to do this Part 1 with pictures

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kinsmanstoves

kinsmanstoves

Minister of Fire
Aug 29, 2007
3,480
Ravenna, Ohio 44266
kinsmanstoves.com
So much for family time. I was told I had to clean the stoves in the house on my day off. I have two pellet stoves both are Breckwell, a P-24 in the front room and a Big E (Kinsman Stoves Signature series) in the office. I also have a Pacific Energy Super-27 in the dinning room. That is a wood stove for you all not familiar with the name.

Attached are two pics of the back doors of the Big E and you can see what happens after 20 or so bags of pellets. Remove the ashpan and burn pot. Use a screw driver to loosen the screws and remove the cover plates. Shop vac out the ash behind the doors. You can also use a piece of Romex or coat hanger to get the hard to reach ash. This is an air chamber and needs the ash removed.

About to start the cold beverages.
Cheers
Eric
 

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Thanks for the info Eric. How come the manual doesn't tell us all these things? The dealer never mentions any of it either. Of course, I suppose that burning the lousy Athens pellets doesn't help the cleaning situation any either. I have to clean the stove, empty burnpot, vacuum and clean window thoroughly every other day at the longest. Sometimes it has to be done almost daily. Manual says that it should be cleaned weekly. That's a laugh. Not a big job but just a little irritating. Anyway, I appreciate all the info that you have put on this site. I haven't done behind the doors yet, but I will. What will happen if you ignore it? Will it restrict the airflow or what? Thanks.
 
ajwoodman said:
Thanks for the info Eric. How come the manual doesn't tell us all these things? The dealer never mentions any of it either. Of course, I suppose that burning the lousy Athens pellets doesn't help the cleaning situation any either. I have to clean the stove, empty burnpot, vacuum and clean window thoroughly every other day at the longest. Sometimes it has to be done almost daily. Manual says that it should be cleaned weekly. That's a laugh. Not a big job but just a little irritating. Anyway, I appreciate all the info that you have put on this site. I haven't done behind the doors yet, but I will. What will happen if you ignore it? Will it restrict the airflow or what? Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you look closly at the open door that is almost all the way full of ash.

Behind the fire wall all is an air chamber and when it gets blocked it harms the flow of air so I would bet the efficiency of the stove will be harmed. Sorry, I am fat and running slow with turkey, Coors Light, and WII bowling with the family.

As for the owner's manual, it has to be the worst tech manual I have ever read. If you have trouble sleeping, read a few pages and you will be out like a light.

Eric
 
wow , i would have never of done that . thanks for the info . i have a breckwell p23 i bought on ebay . i got it from the breckwell co refurbished . so no dealer info .i burned about 15 bags so far . when i removed the doors no ash behind door #1and two . i wonder if thats because i clean my stove every day ?? any other secrets you got for us breckwell users. thanks again...
 
HOLY CRAP!!

This may necessitate another phone call, Eric.

Geesh, this stove is appearing to maybe be more work than I thought?????

I hope I can handle it................wow............

Elle
 
smilejamaica said:
wow , i would have never of done that . thanks for the info . i have a breckwell p23 i bought on ebay . i got it from the breckwell co refurbished . so no dealer info .i burned about 15 bags so far . when i removed the doors no ash behind door #1and two . i wonder if thats because i clean my stove every day ?? any other secrets you got for us breckwell users. thanks again...
Click to expand...

I have a lot of info that is not in the manual. On the upper left corner of the rear firewall is a small hole maybe an 1/8" diameter. This is the negative pressure sensor inlet. DO NOT put your shop vac anywhere near it or you will pop the sensor which is a very sensitive diaphragm. If you do a real good cleaning remove a back or side panel and pull the red or blue hose running to the little round thing. Then shop vac away. this hole also needs to remain unclogged. I will start another post with pics.

Eric
 
I clean behind my doors once per ton. It seems to be often enough. First ton this year and there was about 4 inches of ash behind the wall. I rigged a 3/4 inch hose with duct tape on one of my shop vac attachments and I can fish it up into the wall. It works pretty well.

I pull my combustion blower to clean it about every 2 tons and it doesn't seem too bad. Think this is often enough?
 
StoveMiser said:
I clean behind my doors once per ton. It seems to be often enough. First ton this year and there was about 4 inches of ash behind the wall. I rigged a 3/4 inch hose with duct tape on one of my shop vac attachments and I can fish it up into the wall. It works pretty well.

I pull my combustion blower to clean it about every 2 tons and it doesn't seem too bad. Think this is often enough?
Click to expand...

Get a paint brush and when you clean the blower go over the fan fins.

Eric
 
I usually gently scrape under the fins and on the fins with a small screwdriver. The ash doesn't seem fluffy enough to tackle with a brush. Its a little harder and needs to be scraped. Its not on there very hard, but seems to need more than a brush.

question... Is it ok to push a cleaning brush through the blower? The plastic ball on the end of my brush looks a little too big to fit through the blower, but I'm thinking that if I can grind that ball a little that it might fit, so I can push out the run going to the t. What do you think? My layout forces me to vent: adapter, 45, 12", 90, 12"(through thimble), cleanout 3" to 4" converter, vertical 10' rise to rain cap. Vents well and during an outage, not an ounce of smoke made it in the house. I'm trying to clean it without taking the vent apart
 
StoveMiser said:
I usually gently scrape under the fins and on the fins with a small screwdriver. The ash doesn't seem fluffy enough to tackle with a brush. Its a little harder and needs to be scraped. Its not on there very hard, but seems to need more than a brush.

question... Is it ok to push a cleaning brush through the blower? The plastic ball on the end of my brush looks a little too big to fit through the blower, but I'm thinking that if I can grind that ball a little that it might fit, so I can push out the run going to the t. What do you think? My layout forces me to vent: adapter, 45, 12", 90, 12"(through thimble), cleanout 3" to 4" converter, vertical 10' rise to rain cap. Vents well and during an outage, not an ounce of smoke made it in the house. I'm trying to clean it without taking the vent apart
Click to expand...


Sounds like you should have went to a 4" diameter. But, if it is working stay with it and keep it clean. Watch your EVL next time.

Eric
 
Hi Eric,

These are great "classes". My stove is new (P23 FS) and I have only run about 1/2 through it but decided to check behind the doors after reading your posts. To my surprise the left and right side doors had an appreciable amount of soot build up. Not excessive but more than I thought I would have at this point. This is great information you are posting and really should be a sticky as I'm sure most of it is applicable for other stoves as well, just not as detailed.

You should post you paypal for beer donations :)

Thanks,

Dan
 
And one more bump

Eric
 
I found ash in the same area (not quite that much though) on my Big E. I found removing both of the metal plates you can get a good air flow by putting the shopvac hose over one or the other openings. I also needed to clean my combustion fan and while it didn't need a stiff wire brush a plastic brush was need to get it good and clean. I just need to get my pipes done and I'll be through for the summer. I just have a problem getting the brush to go around the corners but I'm working on that one.
 
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