gerryger said:A little background history.
Stove is only 6 months old. Used during late Feb and all of March last year.
Did not take stove apart and give thorough cleaning because my dealer
says that needs to done after burning 2 tons of fuel which I haven't approached yet.
Xena said:Most of us here do a complete cleaning after 1 ton not 2.
imacman said:Xena said:Most of us here do a complete cleaning after 1 ton not 2.
Yep...what she said!
2 tons before a FULL cleaning is too long.
DexterDay said:The black sticky stuff on the firebrick, where the pellet chute is, also indicates an improper burn. Grey ash should be about the only thing in the firebox. Maybe some brown color on the brick. But definitely not black. The burn is very rich. Even an improper flame height (to big) shouldnt cause that.
Seems there may be another problem. It could be a number of things, but my most likely suggestion would be an air leak, robbing the pot of air.
With your stove, its more important to keep the path clear behind the right firebrick (exhaust). Cleaning that path, along with the combustion blower. Blowing the air to clean behind the tubes will only help with the efficiency of the unit. My stoves exhaust follows the tubes down into the back of the stove (vitally important I keep that area clean).
Have you checked your door gasket yet? Are the 8 little holes (4 front/4 back) in the bottom of the pot clear? How about the gap on the burnpot clean-out? Can you fit a dime in the gap between the pot and the plate? How long is your OAK intake pipe?
Last year I remember some say the OAK was letting high moisture air into the firebox for the burn. Was causing problems with the burn of the stove. Just a thought, seeing how you jist added the OAK. Something has changed.
Checkthisout said:I will compliment you on how obsessive you are about stove cleanlinless and say I think your expectations are a little bit too high. Comparing your stove to mine makes me LOL.
You're not using a wire brush on the tubes are you??
Anyway, to me it just looks nomal but if something has changed compared to what you're used to the it looks like creosote forming due to a not so good batch of pellets.
I suggest buying a few bags of a different species and testing them out to see how much build-up you get.
DexterDay said:Dont make the gap bigger between pot and plate. I was worried it may be too much space (too much air).
Rich burn is to much fuel or not enough air.
Are you burning the same pellets as last year? Any chance that got some moisture in them?
Like stated above. I would try a different brand of pellet. Everything else seems to be in order. The 1st pic in your 2nd post looks "normal" as far as color. But the black underneath.
gerryger said:DexterDay said:Dont make the gap bigger between pot and plate. I was worried it may be too much space (too much air).
Rich burn is to much fuel or not enough air.
Are you burning the same pellets as last year? Any chance that got some moisture in them?
Like stated above. I would try a different brand of pellet. Everything else seems to be in order. The 1st pic in your 2nd post looks "normal" as far as color. But the black underneath.
Thanks for clarifying the burn pot / plate gap. I didn't think I needed to open that up. I am burning Hamers for the first time this year. Last year, since I got my stove so late in the season I burned what ever I could find. This year, I bought 2 tons of Hamers the last week of September and stored them in my basement. I will admit my basement does get very humid during the middle of summer but not late September. The pellets are dry and I haven't seen any clumping of pellets in any of the bags.
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