Winston Pellet Stoves

More tips for the WP24 and WP18

Door lifts straight up off the hinges to remove it. Don't unbolt the hinges.

The four bolts on the drop chute cover allows the hopper to slide out the rear.

Get those electrician's wire marker stickers before unpluging a bunch of stuff.

Grind one link out of the auger drive chain if the chain adjustment is maxed out.

The insulated firewall/bulkhead thing is held in by two bolts from inside the burn chamber.

When re-assembling the heat exchanger with the metal hoses use drier vent hose clamps and tighten the heck out of them.

I recommend re-tapping the 1/4"-20 threaded holes and wire wheeling all of the bolts.

A complete, thorough cleaning means a disassembling of the combustion fan assembly, room fan assembly and the draft conrol butterfly valve. All of this gets hand scrubbed in the sink until it looks like new. The heat exchanger would also be completely removed and blown out with compressed air and shot inside and out with a hose or pressure washer.

Brace yourself for some real time consuming work. This is easily a 12 hour job, certainly no less, probably way more.

Ok, I got an e-mail from a person saying they had a Winston and read this topic. And yes, I do have the owner's manual for the WP24 scanned which I can send to people requesting it, no problem.

Also, if you have a Winston and you're having the problem of the door glass trim not being tight and the screws stripping out of the slots in the trim I can fix that permenently, since new pieces will strip out the same way the originals did. Simply match-mark them to the door with a Sharpie pen and send them to me. I can accurately drill and tap them for new 10-32 flathead screws that will not strip out. I wouldn't try to do this on anything but a good, accurate milling machine. Flathead screws are notorious for the threaded hole placement being accurate, they are very unforgiving when it comes to hole locations being correct. If the trim doesn't fit right the glass won't seal properly.

When involved in the major service put the stove up on two milk crates or something of simular height.
Having torn my own stove completely apart no less than six times make it easy on yourself. Crouching down that low is rediculous and having it up that high allows you to work from a chair. Some of the most handy tools are:

ShopVac

7/16" Nutdriver

1/4" drive screwdriver handle with various extensions, universal joint, and 7/16" socket

5/16" socket on a ratchet (to tighten duct hose clamps extremely tight)

RTV High Temp Silicone

And another quick note:
My stove won't go from High Burn to Shutdown, it keeps running.
Turn the control knob so it switches back into Low Burn, then switch to Shutdown.