I TRIED to cheat on my stove cleaning....

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krooser

krooser

Minister of Fire
Jan 2, 2008
2,423
Waupaca, WI
www.rumblefest.net
Now that it's a TAD warmer I've been running my St Croix on #1... it does a good job if the stove is clean.

But I've burned another ton in the stove and my mantra has been to drag out the leafblower after each ton and give it a good cleaning. Well, after burning several bags of Marth hardwoods (lots of ash) after I ran out of Eureka pellets, my stove was pretty plugged up. Last fall I had the same problem after starting the year with Marth then switching to my dealer's house brand softwoods after having the stove tech come out and clean my stove.

So last nite I "cleaned" the stove... pulled out the fake brick, and the ash pan damper doors, and vacuumed everything I could. Used the hammer on the firebox to dislodge quite a bit of ash. Cleaned up everything, put my tools away and fired it up.... The burnpot still overflowed with pellets, I still had the lazy flame and some very poor heat output.

This morning I brought out the Weed Eater leafblower, plugged it in the vent, fired it up and watched the cloud of black ash/soot blow out into never-never land. Five minutes of that... shut it down put the vent cap back on and fired up the stove.

Now I have my lively flame back, great heat even on #1 and my house is warm again. Amazing how great those $30.00 blowers work.
 
I must agree really the best 30 dollars Ive spent to clean my stove. I use the leafblower weekly,maybe a bit over kill but I never have a lazy flame.Thanks again krooser for the tip.
 
Did the same thing with my st.Croix, been buring on #1 for a few nights and Just brushed out the stove . thaught it wasnt dirty could get by another day or so. Wrong!!! Sat night the wife wake my up at 2 am and said somthing is wrong with the stove. It had a vac. leek and shut down and the stink of smoldering pellets. took 2 hrs to give a good claening with leaf blower and buring it on 5 to get rid of all the build up. thats why they say to run it hot once a day if buring on low for extended times. dume mistake. house still stinks.
 
Jim how do you like your prescott?This is my first year with mine and I must say keep it clean and it will pump out the heat.The only issue I have with mine is the versa grate motor being kind of loud other than that great stove. Todd
 
I did the leaf blower thing this weekend and had spectacular results, a cloud of dark gray ash was the norm. I allowed it to run for about 5 minutes then shut it off.
It is a troybuilt blower on sale at lowes for 31 bucks. 200 mph. i used a 4" to a 3" pvc reducer shoved inside the vac pickup and simply attached it to the exhaust pipe and let her rip. It really does a great job!!! I am impressed...
 
After reading all the pro's about this. I went and picked up a Toro electric blower and will try this in a few weeks.

I haven't quit burned a ton with my Omega yet. Hope my nabor doesn't have there laundry hanging out the day I try it. I will probably still brush my pipes after and try it again. I guess it can't hurt!!

Is it really cheating???

jay
 
Ok you guys have really got me curious on this stuff now.

So you just get any old leaf blower with a 3" or 4" intake pipe and you ram it onto the vent on the outside of the house? Use tape if needed?

What do you do to the stove, close everything up like it was going to be burned?

Then you just run it for 5 minutes?

I might have to invest in one if we are going to be cleaning more pellet stoves. Too damned annoying to clean even inch of the inside by hand.
 
jtp I actually have the wife on the inside of the house opening and closing the door to the stove you dont want to keep it shut as it could mess with your vac switch,I also have her pull the heat exchanger scaper to free up any soot, I normaly run a brush through the pipe first just to free all the crap up it really does work great.
 
jtp10181 said:
Ok you guys have really got me curious on this stuff now.

So you just get any old leaf blower with a 3" or 4" intake pipe and you ram it onto the vent on the outside of the house? Use tape if needed?

What do you do to the stove, close everything up like it was going to be burned?

Then you just run it for 5 minutes?

I might have to invest in one if we are going to be cleaning more pellet stoves. Too damned annoying to clean even inch of the inside by hand.
Click to expand...

I have a horizontal vent... I use a 4" PVC pipe (6-8" long) that goes into the blower intake and I use a 4" galvinized stove pipe coupler to get into the vent exhaust. I used a little tape to snug up the fit on the 4" PVC where it fits into the blower.

Fire up the blower, work the "scraper" and open/close the door.... takes 3 to 5 minutes max.

leafblowerone.jpg

pelletadaptor.gif
 
Mnkywrnch, I love the stove, yes the versa grate noise was a problem the frist year i had mine but after time you dont even notice it. this year i applied tons of high tep grease to the cam and rod and it doesnt sound bad. I got a 1400sq dt house and keep it on the 3 setting most of the winter. will turn it on #4 when tep is around 10 outside . house is at 73 all winter and burn 3.5ton.
 
JTP. I do the cleaning with the vac frist then leave the door open and use the leaf blower. since my vent pipe is right out of the house i will brush it once during the heating season. be for i found out about the blower i was brushing once a month wheather it needed it or not. I was glade it was raining yeasterday so not to tick off the people next door with the cloud.
 
This sounds like a great way to clean, but those of us who have inserts vented all the way up the chimney............well, not sure how this works for us? I am definitely not climbing to the top of my chimney with a leaf blower, and I doubt it would have enough power to suck ash up 30'. What's the best way to get all the ash out then? I use a long flat flexible piece of metal to slide behind the metal fake brick of my York, bang it a little to get more to drop, brush off everything I can reach. Unless I move out the stove and disconnect the vent there is no way to get at the outlet.

JB
 
works fine with vertical vents also, just run the brush down first to loosen everything up.
 

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A guy posted a video of the leaf blower on his roof the other day, vertical stack. Looked like it worked awesome. Huge black cloud or debris settled in his back yard.

Good thought about the VAC switch. I think if I did it, I would disconnect the hose for that so it would not get damaged. Leave the door open and run inside to shut the door briefly for some good suction.
 
no pro said:
works fine with vertical vents also, just run the brush down first to loosen everything up.
Click to expand...
If that pic doesn't get folks wondering how much crap is in their system nothing will...
 
I use a old bath towel around the pipe to make a seal, then just fire it up and let the leaf blower do its job. sour you are halodind it but have a beer and injoy the soot and think that your not giving the oil co. and of your money and your house is warmer that the next. Also it gets the wife or kids involved in scraping the stove when your out side.
 
That is sure some beautiful pic of the rooftop volcano. I did mine like that last week and didn't do the brush. It looked neat but not that industrial. Next time I have to make up a converter to get a better seal. I just stuck mine up against the pipes and it worked pretty well. It doesn't make much difference where I live but if it is in the city I would do that when the wind is positively howling so the neighbors don't notice.
 
I decided to get in on this action also. I just purchased and received a Black & Decker #LH4500 blower/vac/mulcher.

The specs are 240 mph, 385 CFM in vac mode.

Is anybody using this model with 3" venting? I won't be using it for a week or two, but I was just wondering what I might need to pickup to connect to the vent pipe.
 
krooser said:
I have a horizontal vent... I use a 4" PVC pipe (6-8" long) that goes into the blower intake and I use a 4" galvinized stove pipe coupler to get into the vent exhaust. I used a little tape to snug up the fit on the 4" PVC where it fits into the blower.

Fire up the blower, work the "scraper" and open/close the door.... takes 3 to 5 minutes max.

leafblowerone.jpg

pelletadaptor.gif
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting pic's of your adapter. I have to make one for 3" vent. I quess a 4 to 3" PVC reducer and a 3" piece of pipe would work.

jay
 
novah said:
Do the electric leaf blowers do the job?
Click to expand...


I can't see any reason they wouldn't. At worst they may be a tad less powerful but it should be plenty powerful if you get a good seal. Mine worked with it just stuffed against the pipe losing much of its seal. Give it a try.
 
I use the leafblower and it works great,but remember to pull your motors out and give them the once over. :)
 
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