Great pellet stove vac...early Christmas present to me..LOL

Clean your stove? When I bought my stove at _____________ (insert name Rural King, TSC, Home Depot, Lowes, or Mr. Big Box) they never said I had to clean anything. They also helped me pick out some very nice PVC pipe for the "chimlee". How could I go wrong. The salesman used to rake my leaves until he was old enough to get the out of school work permit. That PVC smells funny as the stove is running but what the heck. My family is home most of the time.

Eric

CLEAN???? CLEAN WHAT???

Hey, I don't have clinkers anymore.

Do I still need to clean??? :ahhh:

Elle

becareful said:

All this talk about vacuums
Wait until you suck up a hot ember and stowe your vac away. GOOD BYE HOUSE.
Get a pellet stove vac. Why risk your health, house, or life for a few $$$?

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Can never be too careful, I agree there.

Dunno about the rest of these folks, but I let the stove
sit overnight so I'm 100% positive there are no hot
embers in there. Most of the crap is in the ash pan
anyway, which I dump outside in an aluminum bucket full of water.

I shut down once a month for the full cleaning and use the
oil furnace for that one overnight stint. No biggie.

Hi macman I have the same vac from HD. I'm using the small Ridgid dry wall bags for WD4050,SG4000,WD4550 which are a center port bags for there vacs. I was not sure they where going to work, but found that you can make two bags out of one, just cut the filter the same length as stock filter worked great ! plus you get 4 bags out of two. They where just under $10.00. Also got the mirco cleaning attachments for the Husky/Stinger vacs they work well in tight spots

macman said:

sydney1963 said:

All you have to do is let your stove cool off.

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Thanks Syd for stating the obvious for me.....I NEVER clean the stove until I'm SURE it's cold, and I brush 95% of the ash into the ashpan anyway. The amount I actually vacuum up could fit into a coffee cup. That's why I liked the little vac.

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My reply was for becareful, should have quoted him/her. It is obvious that you would make sure your stove was completely cooled down first. Thanks

Like the rest of you (I hope) I let the stove cool completely and scoop as much as possible from the burn pot into the ash pan. When I dump the ash pan, I always dump it on the old brush pile out back. If there were a hot ember in the ash pan, then I could get rid of that damn brush pile once and for all. So far, no luck...

I got the $39 Lowes 6 gal Shop Vac with sheetrock filters. After I'm done cleaning the stove thoroughly, it sits out on the cement patio overnight just to be sure I didn't find a stray hot ember.

Home Depot also sells it's Rigid line of vacs,,we have used a larger model in construction for a few years and it still runs and workd great. I bought the smaller 4 gallon version for my Bixby stove and it comes with a filter that is reccomended for cold wood ash. The color of the filter is blue, it is more heavy duty than just a plain use filter, the replacement filters are about 15 dollars. This set up works fantastic and the vac cost me $79.99 here in New York. Have a Nice Holiday!!

Thanks people for all of your advice. This is my 2nd stove and 8 th year, doing ALL of my own maintainance. I too let my stove cool 24 hrs before a full vacuuming. If you do not disassemble you exhaust pipe/"T" and you have an UNEXPECTED buildup of ash (that you can't see) from an unknown problem, you could be vacuuming a larger than usual pile of ash that could potentially hold that one last ember (hiden). Paper filter/ spark? You get the picture now? I was in construction all of my life. I have seen (and been involved in) accidents/mishaps that only took seconds that cost people their lives or their health. I didn't invent the word "accident", but now the politically correct word at the scene of an auto accident is "you were involved in a moving or (motor vehicle) violation". Which allows authorities to place "blame" on someone. If your house burns to the ground because the source is found to have started at your vacuum, (in today's world", do you think you are covered by your insurance??? Just my own thoughts, nothing meant to be taken personally.

actually, yes, I DO expect them to cover it. This idea that keeps getting repeated, that "insurance doesn't pay off if you make a mistake" is ludicrous. That is what insurance is for. If everybody always did everything "right", there'd be no such thing as insurance. well...almost. Some mishaps really aren't anyone's fault. In an automobile, or otherwise. I wouldn't want to guess the number of houses that have been replaced over the years, paid by insurance, that were caused by an improperly extinguished cigarette.

yeah, its a good idea to be afraid of the insurance man; he will try to screw you out of whatever he can get away with. Thats what lawyers (which everyone also hates, until they need one) are for.

Home depot had the 9 gal rigid shop vac on sale last night for $24.99 - a great deal

I only speak for myself, and my life experiences. Unless you are rich, what lawyer? Times have changed and insurance companies aren't "dishing out "claims as they used to without an investigation. In my area the stove must be inspected by the local fire department, installation permit, copies of both sent to insurance etc. Ponying up for a lawyer is much more than a pellet vac.

you don't have to be "rich" to hire a lawyer. They'll take out their cut on contingency, which ain't gonna cost you nuthin when you consider that they"ll get triple damages. They'll more than pay for themselves, which is the way it is in most cases.
UNLESS, of course, the insurance company has 27 eight by ten color glossy photographs with a paragraph written on the back of each one describing the evidence, of you pouring gasoline all over the house and putting a match to it. Then...you need a different kind of lawyer.

I only let my stove cool after shut down process for a couple of hours before vacuuming. Nothing but dust then.

Anyone have a pic of a shop vac melt down?

I scoop out everything possible first and put it in a metal pail with a cover. What's left is nothing basically more than dust. There can't possibly be any hot embers. I am careful.

becareful said:

Thanks people for all of your advice. This is my 2nd stove and 8 th year, doing ALL of my own maintainance. I too let my stove cool 24 hrs before a full vacuuming. If you do not disassemble you exhaust pipe/"T" and you have an UNEXPECTED buildup of ash (that you can't see) from an unknown problem, you could be vacuuming a larger than usual pile of ash that could potentially hold that one last ember (hiden). Paper filter/ spark? You get the picture now? I was in construction all of my life. I have seen (and been involved in) accidents/mishaps that only took seconds that cost people their lives or their health. I didn't invent the word "accident", but now the politically correct word at the scene of an auto accident is "you were involved in a moving or (motor vehicle) violation". Which allows authorities to place "blame" on someone. If your house burns to the ground because the source is found to have started at your vacuum, (in today's world", do you think you are covered by your insurance??? Just my own thoughts, nothing meant to be taken personally.

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Most homeowners insurance companies require that the stove be inspected in order for it to be covered. Because most towns require a new fireplace/woodstove/pelletstove install to be inspected by the fire department, this probably isn't a problem for most. There are some insurance companies that charge a "small surcharge" for pellet stoves, but mine does not. Most of the companies that I know of (I'm in the insurance business) do not have an extra charge for a stove if is inspected.

As far as the claims go, most of what you here with regards to people not getting paid following a fire claim is urban legend. If you vacum out your stove with a plastic shop vac (I do) and it cathes fire because you didn't wait long enough for the eashes to cool, that is know reason fo a company to deny a claim. In fact, most homeowner fires are the result negligence like leaving a lit cigarette out, improper storage of flamable material, kitchen fires due to un-tended pots and pans, etc., and these claims get paid...because a "brain cramp" is not listed under the exclusion section in a policy. There was a 3 million plus homeowners claim in Massachusetts lats year because the owner left hot ashes from the fireplaces on a deck because it was "too cold to walk them to the back yard". The insurance paid the claim.

I still wait for my stove to cool before I vacum it.

By the way, arson is excluded. If you intentionally burn down your house...they will deny the claim.

If you still need an adapter for the 1.5" hose check out wally world, the despot, or lowes, where they sell shop vac stuff, there is usualy a kit or just an adapter piece that they sell that adapts a bunch of different sizes for just that problem. if not just wrap 2" electrical tape around a 1.25" brush until you get a tight fit.