Detail Pot Scraping when STOVE IS RUNNING

The way I do it:

First I put on my Flamex Fireplace gloves. (don't wanna get burned)
Drop the stove down to low. Open the grate that allows ash to fall
down into the ash pan. Slowly open door so ash doesn't blow all
over living room. Dig right in and scrape the spent ash from the sides
of the burnpot and the grates to the side of the burnpot. Push the
the burning embers in the pot to one side and scrape down any residue or
existing ash. Shake the grate so the ash falls down into the pan.
Spread the burning embers evenly across the pot.
Close door. Close grate. Takes me less than a minute to do the above.


I didn't come up with this on my own. It's written in my Stove Operations manual.

I knock the ash off the outer lip of my Harman then dig right into the burning pellets with my pry tool scraping the sides, bottom and neck of the auger tube. It takes less then a minute. The stove is running at its regular rate during this but the auger will not turn with the front door open.

open the door slowly...
then just scrape the spent ash from the front of the burnpot,
dig under the burning pellets and scrape the rest of the pot
to make sure there are no clinkers clogging the holes.

I normally only do this once a day-
Once a week I shut the stove down to do the additional cleaning.

If the flame is any more than half the total distance it covers on high or is throwing embers, I turn the stove to off. Wait about 2 or 3 minutes for the flame to die down and first scrape all the ash off of the front of the burn pot and then reach down into the embers with my sears 16 inch pry bar and scrape to surface of the burn pot to remove the carbon.

Some times when I do this, it puts the fire out and starts to smoke and smolder so I close the door and crack the hopper lid until the flame restarts and then go back and finish the job.

Then I turn the stove back on, and after a few minutes it starts to feed pellets and build the flame.

Mark

Don't forget to get the sides of the burnpot too. In the Accentra insert my clinkers seem to form on the side plates.

tinkabranc said:

open the door slowly...
then just scrape the spent ash from the front of the burnpot,
dig under the burning pellets and scrape the rest of the pot
to make sure there are no clinkers clogging the holes.

Click to expand...

This is the method I use. I actually flattened the end of a steel spatula so that I could get under the burning pellets without singing my hands. I've done it a couple of times when the stove is running on high, and i have a bit of an issue opening the door, between the metal expansion and the increased vacuum due to the draft.

Works well for me. I normally shut the stove down for a full cleaning once a week.

Good Luck!

I use a long, wooden handled cooking spatula from a grill set- it is sharp, gets under the burning pellets easily, takes about 30 seconds to pop the door open and scrape 2X daily, full shutdown and vac out 1X week, when the sun comes around on Sat/ Sun. (Usually when I am cooking a roast, to help w/ the chill). Don't want to make the oil guy rich.

I realize that most, if not all current stoves run negative pressure, but in case the OP has a positive pressure stove...don't open the door while the stove is burning

you are kidding, right? i can't imagine that- but, wait a minute- think about it- what is the worst that happens when a positive presure stove fails? you may blow cold air into the house? for some reason, you think when a negative system fails you still have draft, at least for the duration of the fire. Can I have an example of a positive pressure pellet stove, anybody? I can visulaize some real advantages controlling incoming combustion air, VERSUS the 4-600 degree stack temperature. hmm....

breklaw said:

you are kidding, right? i can't imagine that- but, wait a minute- think about it- what is the worst that happens when a positive presure stove fails? you may blow cold air into the house? for some reason, you think when a negative system fails you still have draft, at least for the duration of the fire. Can I have an example of a positive pressure pellet stove, anybody? I can visulaize some real advantages controlling incoming combustion air, VERSUS the 4-600 degree stack temperature. hmm....

Click to expand...

The stove in my sig - Trail Blazer 1600 - is a positive pressure stove. It has a single fan that provides both combustion and convection air.

It is a very simple design, and will run directly on 12VDC during a power outage.

Opening the door while it is running will cause flame, sparks and ash to be blown out into the room. Don't ask me how I know this. :bug:

Kazowie about those positive pressure stoves, and flames, etc coming out into the room !! I am surprised.

So much seems to depend on what kind of stove you have. I have a Harman XXV, and my procedure is similar to Tinkabranc's. A couple of times a day, I open the stove door, with it running. I prefer to scrape with the flame high, as it is less likely to be put out that way. When I open the door, the fire kind of goes lame anyway. As I have said before on this forum, I wear gloves (ordinary driving gloves), and long sleeves. This makes a big difference in being able to approach the fire. (I used to do it with bare hands and arms, but sometimes it would be too hot and it was harder to grip the tool firmly because of its corners). With two gloved hands, I am able to firmly grasp the Harman tool comfortably, and after I knock the ash lip into the pan, I can forcefully reach the tool under the burning pellets and feel/knock away any build-up. I may or may not wipe the glass off, then close the door.

Although lately I have had a few instances when the stove has "popped" (made a small burst) while I removed the ash lip or scraped. A couple of times it even threw a few red embers out onto the floor, and even on to my sleeve (I wasn't hurt - I brushed them off). So maybe I should cut the fire back ? Has anyone else had this happen ?