Drolet Eco-45 "Soot Build Up"

I have had my Eco-45 for 1.5 years and I had no problems with it for the first year. This year I have had one problem after another. Most recently, my viewing glass seemed to turn black within one full day of burning, where usually I can burn for at least 3-5 days without ash build up. This morning I woke up and found an "L" error code. I cleaned my stove and ran it this morning. By the time I got home, everything was black again.
Tonight, I cleaned everything, burn pot, vacuumed under burn pot, brushed out and vacuumed the entire stove. I even went as far as opening up my LEFT HAND door and took off the access plate for the blower and vacuumed. I deep cleaned everything including walking outside and brush cleaning all of my chimney pieces. I put it back together and turned it on. Within 10 minutes, smoke was pouring out of the glass and from around the door. It seemed like the smoke was not being processed out the chimney. Any thoughts? Whats going on with my stove?

Secondly, I bought this stove from a dealer in Massena, New York.....He has since gone out of business and my zip code is 12983 (Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, New York)....I searched the site and it said my closest dealer was 1 hour 10 minutes. Are there any directories that I could find a person (who is closer) to repair my stove?

I appreciate any advice. If I know what part I'm looking at, I think I can replace it. I have taken this machine apart and put it back together enough times. Thanks!

I havent removed the combustion blower. How would I access combustion blower?

Okay. So I removed the plate from the combustion blower. It gave me small opening where I could see fan blades. Inside the combustion blower fan assembly, there was some gray and black soot. I did my best to clean it ( following the directions) but I didnt have much luck getting anything out of the blower fan assembly. My owners manual stated that this opening was "my cleaning access". If it was my only access, then it sure wasnt much of a clearance to let me do anything. I also noted that the gasket for the cleaning access appeared to be little more than cardboard paper...it was thin and fell apart when I opened the cleaning access for the combustion blower. When I replaced the plate, I put the gasket back in place but it was torn in two places. Now I understand that this could be an issue, however I felt like it was back in place and was so paper thin, it wouldn't have much change. Please advise. Thank you much...

From the Drolet Owner's Manual

BLOWERS
DANGER: RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK. DISCONNECT
POWER BEFORE SERVICING UNIT.
• Cleaning – Over a period of time, ashes or dust
may collect on the blades of both the
combustion/exhaust blower and convection blower.
Periodically, the blowers should be cleaned as the
ash and dust can impede performance. The
combustion/exhaust blower can be accessed by
opening the left, right, and back panels located on
the pedestal. To clean the blades in the combustion
housing, insert the vacuum tip through the air inlet
damper opening located on the side of the
combustion housing. Clean thoroughly. To clean
the blades in the exhaust housing, use a screw
driver to remove the cleaning access panel located
on the side of the metal box covering the housing.
Insert the vacuum tip through the cleaning outlet
and clean the blades thoroughly.
NOTE: When cleaning, be careful not to bend fan blades.
Some stove owners lightly spray an anti-creosote chemical
on the fire to help reduce creosote formation within the
stove.

Yes. There were a couple of gaskets. The top one fell apart and the bottom one stayed intact. Could this really be why I'm getting smoke in the house? Any suggestions on how I can bet in that combustion/exhaust blower to really clean it out?

I have owned the eco-45 for a couple years now. I have read your description carefully,and lets see if we can dissect some of the things going on. I will say though for me,this is the first year that this stove seems to be paying for itself,and I have been able to extract more heat with less going up the exhaust.
Lets tackle the "L" code first. my owners manual suggests this is an ignition problem, either with the ignitor or too much draft. You mention the smoke. Maybe you haven't noticed but when the pellet stove begins a lighting cycle,there can be some smoking before ignition. However,if the electric ignitor is not up to par (dirt etc) or the draft settings cause it to smolder excessively before catching fire,you would almost think the stove might blow up with the excessive smoke produced. I had this happen when I let someone unfamiliar with the stove quickly unplug the stove thinking something was wrong. You did not mention anything about draft settings,so you should adjust it according to what is happening. One more thing about the smoke though is that you can tell how well the door gasket is sealing. A good test is to close the door on a peice of paper or paper money and see how well it resists. There should be even resisitance all around hopefully. There should not be gaps in the gasket either.

As for the blackness. I stopped caring as much about the glass some time ago. I am now more focused on heat output. I have a magnetic flue temperature guage that is stuck on the front by the heat exchanger.This gives me some kind of reference what draft settings and pellet quality and even burnpot cleanliness has on heat output. The guage is probably about 10 bucks and would be a good investment,especially when it comes to comparing pellets. This is only personal experience but I have found that the eco-45 has way too much draft,with the intake and exhaust combined into one blower (combex technology). For me,closing the draft fully does not slow the flame down anyways near close to a sooty flame. Also,the draft control has a lot of "sloppiness" in it,and I have found that you have to push up on the draft knob when fully closed to get more sealing,so I use a piece of cardboard for this. I have also found that my constant religious cleaning of the burnpot makes this problem worse,and I get more heat output letting it fill up with ash and running a "bed of coals". When I do clean the burnpot,after a fire is established,I throw some ash on it to slow things down. Radical,but effective. The heat guage doesn't lie. But the point of all this is that now,the blackness that used to be very hard to clean off of the glass,now wipes easily. Whether it is increased temps or change in air flow,or probably both,but I am really impressed with the extra heat.
From your explanantion,this is all I will mention for now.It would be an easy fix if the draft setting,that you failed to mention,was being overlooked" -Fire Honor Society



To Fire Honor Society,
I have spoken to Drolet and I replaced my gaskets. I'm not sure how I missed your posting but I will now try to work with my draft to adjust my flame. I have had my draft fully open for months now...Never really checking it. Although I clean my stove religiously, and replacing my gaskets (exhaust fan access) helped, I have been a nut about letting ash collect because I have felt that it was going to damage my Eco-45. Your comments are certainly radical but they are def. worth a try. Thanks for your help. So your saying dont worry as much about the glass being clean, as I should be about the output.....Absolutely, I agree. My glass used to be hard to clean but now it's pretty easy. I also did the "paper money" test and I have strong resistance all the way around.....I have been foolish to think that I didnt need to mess with my damper. When you talk about a bed of coals, do you mean a full bed of coals? Right now as my stove has been running for 12 hours since the gasket change, I started with an empty burnpot and I now have a full one. This was doing of my own. As I go through these rituals that have been suggested by the group, my stove continues to get better, just want it back to normal... Thanks for all of your help!

I bought a new hot ash vacuum and took my machine apart down to the nuts and bolts. I serviced it and it is good as new. I just wanted to thank everyone who gave me advice. Take it easy!! This forum is incredible.