Stove vent/exhaust cleaning question....After how many tons should I clean the vent/exhaust pipe?

Just curious.........

How long do folks go before cleaning the ash buildup from the vent pipe (that is, opening up the cleanout tee)?

1 ton? 2 tons? Once a season?

I have a Profile 20 Free Standing Pellet Stove...

Over the past 6 years, I have opened up the cleanout tee inside the house about once a month to clean out the exhaust/vent pipe.....
But I posted the question to see if I was overdoing it or underdoing it......
Plus, for some reason, I had to silicone around the cleanout tee this year. In years past, leaks from this area were minimal/unoticeable. So, I was hoping to avoid having to remove and reapply the silicone.
It can be a pain the butt to remove it and re-apply it.

Just so I am not misinterpreted of not taking care of my stove......
I regularly cleanout the firebox of the stove with my ash vac, and empty the ash pan a couple times a week. Plus, I get it professionally cleaned inside and out once a year.

Thanks....
mm

investor7952 said:

mrmichaeljmoore said:

Just curious.........

How long do folks go before cleaning the ash buildup from the vent pipe (that is, opening up the cleanout tee)?

1 ton? 2 tons? Once a season?

Click to expand...

I have a Harman insert with the vent pipe stright through back of the house. I cleane entire stove once a week. I use the leafblower trick on the exhaust pipe 2 times a month. Look up leaf blower trick on forum search.

Click to expand...

Well, unfortunately, I havent been able to get the leafblower trick to work on my stove.
For whatever reason (operator error, I'm sure....) I cant get a good seal so the blower pulls the ash.
Plus, I have a double clean out tee outside, so I think that impacts me getting a good seal as well.

Thanks....
mm

macman said:

mrmichaeljmoore said:

Well, unfortunately, I havent been able to get the leafblower trick to work on my stove.
For whatever reason (operator error, I'm sure....) I cant get a good seal so the blower pulls the ash.
Plus, I have a double clean out tee outside, so I think that impacts me getting a good seal as well.....

Click to expand...

Are you trying to leaf blower both the stove & pipe from the double T clean out at the same time? Not going to work well, if at all.

Remove the double T from the pipe that leads directly to the stove, so the blower is vacuuming JUST the stove. Then switch, and do JUST the pipe.

BTW, you ARE doing the leafblower AFTER cleaning the stove completely and brushing the pipe, right?

Click to expand...

macman --

I am bit confused on your instructions....
here are a couple of pics of my setup.

macman said:

mrmichaeljmoore said:

macman --I am bit confused on your instructions.... here are a couple of pics of my setup.

Click to expand...

Yes I remember your set-up now. Are you hooking the leafblower to the T, or to the end of the pipe?

If you're just hooking the blower to the T the way it is in the pics, then you're losing too much vacuum.

Remove the T from the pipe coming from the stove, then connect blower to that pipe.

Like the 1st pic in this thread:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/45940/

Click to expand...

Ahhhh....I see what you are saying now.
I'll have to take a look at my tee to see how easy it would be to disconnect it as shown in that picture......

but that will have to wait until the temp around here gets above freezing.....too cold to be outside fiddiling with it.
Hopefully the Northeast gets a break from this super cold spell here in the next week or so....

thanks for the help.
mm

maglite67 said:

at a min once every 3 ton or once a year with 4" vent. Best to do the blower trick once a ton and brush it once a year.

Click to expand...

If I could get away with once every 3 tons, that would be awesome....that would mean I wouldn't have to clean the vent myself at all.
I would just wait for when my stove guy comes for the annual cleaning, and leave the vent to him.....
I average about 2 - 2.5 tons used per year.

hmmmm.........very tempting.