Pellet stove cleaning

I give my pellet furnace a quick vacuuming with my Shop Vac after each run (I don't run my unit 24/7, just during the day on weekends and evenings on weekdays, I shut it down at night), just to pick up the residual ash which keeps the airflow unrestricted inside the burn chamber. As for the PL vent, I plan on cleaning that out using a brush and leaf blower at the end of the season, unless I notice any significant build-up before that point. So far, the PL vent seems to be fairly clean after burning about 15 bags or so since the unit was installed about a month ago at the end of December 2010.

Best advice is to follow the suggestions in your pellet burner manual, depending on how your vent was installed (if you have a lot of horizontal piping), it may need to be cleaned a couple of times during the burn season, my Fahrenheit manual says once per season if you are burning premium grade wood pellets. Corn and other biomass fuels require more frequent cleaning. Since you're only running your pellet burner 5 days per month, a once-per-season PL vent cleaning is probably more than enough. I know several people who run their pellet stoves nearly 24x7 and rarely clean the vent unless they notice problems, so some only clean it every few years, others clean their vents multiple times per burn season. The size of the pipe plays a role as well, 4" vent pipes (what I use) aren't as prone to ash build-up problems as 3" pipes.

On a low setting the flame is usually a little lazier and you might have slightly more ash than if you burned on a higher level, but it shouldn't make too much of a difference. If you keep the inside of your stove clean and your flame seems to burn sharply (bright orange/yellow with some slight blue at the bottom of the flame), your stove is getting good airflow and your vent is doing its job. A dirty or clogged PL vent will affect your flame - it'll make it look lazy/dark orange and you may get some exhaust or smoke in the house, which can be dangerous (CO issues), so there are usually warning signs if your PL vent is clogged.

Breckwell P-24 at the house has been vacuumed once this season (has been running since October)
Heatilator at the store, three times this season

All the other stove (4-5) usually run for a few weeks to a month and someone will buy them.

You have a pretty stove, but if it won't run longer than 4-16 "before shutting down" then you a good conversation piece. You need to get in there and Clean It.. Get all passageways for exhaust, behind all baffles, PL vent, scrape your pot, clean holes out, etc. Do you have an OAK?? What brand of pellets are you burning? The cleaning should take you a few hrs if your not used to the "routine". But your Pellet stove should burn for Days if not Months. And Yes you will get more ash on Low than High.(Low airflow thru the pot). I use mine as my only heat source, 24/7. (Except for cleaning). I wouldn't have a stove that would only run so long.

An OAK is an outside air combustion kit, that means you have a vent that draws in outdoor air that your stove uses for combustion, this improves the efficiency of the pellet burner. Cleaning out the vent pipe will surely help if it's clogged with ash and soot. If you've been cutting corners on cleaning, open up your pellet stove manual and read through the cleaning guide. As Dexter mentioned, take the baffles out, clean around the heat exchanger tubes, brush the burn pot holes with a stiff bristle brush so that they are clear and open, and clean out your intake and exhaust air vents so that they are free of soot/ash.

I have the Thelin Parlour 3000 also..... I run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week..... I clean mine every Sunday before football starts..... I'm good for the whole week easily..... You need to pop out your burn pot then pot out the gizmo that the burn pot sits in.... It has the ignitor running through it..... It just pulls strait up and the ignitor slides out sideways..... If you do not do this you will have ash build up in areas you cannot see.... I do the "leaf blower trick" about every ton to ton and a half..... Mine is heating the whole 2000+ sq ft with 10 foot ceilings house to 75 on the 1st floor to 62 on the second floor on the medium setting..... I am burning Hamers Hot Ones and Barefoot pellets..... I suspect you need to clean your stove real good and the leaf blower thing wouldn't hurt either.....

I clean my Thelin every sunday also and I am running it all week as primary heat source. I would definitely open the clean out tee and empty whats there. The red light that you have coming on isto show a blockage in the vent or a high wind condition backing into your exhaust, so if you are getting it regularly that pipe needs to emptied. The leafblower trick works great for me 2 or 3 times a season to keep it clean. Also, I agreee completely with Baddad320, removing the bottom of the burnpot and vacuuming there regularly makes a big difference in how it burns.

Outside air combustion (OAK) is a must if your house is tight (i.e. a house built in the past 10-12 years), but it's not always necessary and/or a good idea. My Fahrenheit pellet furnace required an OAK, it was a mandatory part of the installation. For some other pellet stoves, OAK is also mandatory. Hearth.com actually has a nice article explaining OAK in more detail...

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Outside_Air_Kit_-_Why/

I am running my stove 24/7, and every day I scrape my burn put and heat exchanger tubes twice a day and use a paint brush to sweep the ash into the ash pan. Once a week I will shut her down and do a real good cleaning, VAC the inside, ash traps etc. every ton I will do the leaf blower trick, and also once a month I will sweep the vent pipe out.

The metal gizmo that the burn pot sits in pops strait up.... Wiggle it a little and it should come loose..... As you pull it up you need to slide the ignitor rod out...... See all the ash you missed down there ??????? The whole ash retention area should now be exposed.... Nowhere for ash to hide ! The leaf blower trick is explained in here in a few places..... Just do a search..... You can also youtube search "pellet stove cleaning with a leaf blower" for some video...... The leaf blower trick is basically using a suction leaf blower on the end of your pellet pipe outside sucking out all the crud in the exhaust pipe..... Quite the sight........

Yours is different than mine....My stove is 3 years old.....Wow.... oops..... Sorry....... A picture is worth 1000 words......

BadDad320 said:

I have the Thelin Parlour 3000 also..... I run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week..... I clean mine every Sunday before football starts..... I'm good for the whole week easily..... You need to pop out your burn pot then pot out the gizmo that the burn pot sits in.... It has the ignitor running through it..... It just pulls strait up and the ignitor slides out sideways..... If you do not do this you will have ash build up in areas you cannot see.... I do the "leaf blower trick" about every ton to ton and a half..... Mine is heating the whole 2000+ sq ft with 10 foot ceilings house to 75 on the 1st floor to 62 on the second floor on the medium setting..... I am burning Hamers Hot Ones and Barefoot pellets..... I suspect you need to clean your stove real good and the leaf blower thing wouldn't hurt either.....

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The newer Parlours 3000 have a different firepot setup...I just bought one and called Thelin...my issue was that I had a new stove with an older manual...so the manual did not match my stove's setup...the firepot design has changed...seems like it easier to clean...