Stupid is as Stupid Does

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Murphy118

Murphy118

Member
Sep 20, 2010
155
NE Pennsylvania
OK, I gotta come clean.
Last week during my ritual of cleaning out the stove with the shop vac/HEPA filter, I got all set up, rubber gloves and all. Opened the door, removed the ash from the burn pot, put the nozzle of the shop vac in contact with the ash outside the pot, and turned on the vac.
I had the hose connected to the EXHAUST port!!!!!! not the vacuum port.
I really shoulda took some pictures as the gray cloud of ash just "hung" there in the living room working it's way into the dining room and kitchen,,, all the while having the light rays from the windows shine through it like the lazer show of a 1980 Genesis concert.

It gets better:
Yester day after getting back from hunting, the stove was off so I decided to give it the weekly cleaning,,,,,on the back porch I hook up the hose,,,,,lets see,, vacuum port,,,,check,,,,,, I even plug it in on the porch to confirm the proper hook up.
I bring the vacuum into the house, place it infront of and a little to the right of the stove, open the door,,, and this time i don't put the wand in the stove yet, I hold it up in the air to confirm vacuum as I turn it on.....
..........exhaust port of the shop vac was pointed directly into the open door of the stove as I turned it on!!!!! it could not have been better placed to throw more ash into the room if I had my son the engineer do the math for maximum ash blowage!!!!

I will not give up,,,,,, I will continue to clean my stove every week,,,, and if it means that my wife, son and daughter need to watch me like an old senile coot,,,,,, then so be it.

John
 
Haha. Thanks for sharing!
 
This post will some day help someone avoid it happening to them. Thanks!! :lol:
 
I did something similar last Saturday, went to clean the stove and filled the living room with ash as i had forgotten to screw the cover back on the shop vac exhaust

"Check Thrice, Operate Once"
 
That is just awful, but I have had similar issues with a shop-vac when converting it from wet to dry and not remembering to put the filter back on. That has the same effect. Blows all the debris everywhere and coats everything in the room, so you spend hours dusting and cleaning up. ugh!
 
May we suggest a nice long hose for the vac to keep it far away from the stove?

Thanks for sharing, Needed a good laugh this morning. Reminds me of a good fella named geek and his episode of using a shop vac to suck out the vent pipe. Except he had it set up to blow. Posted some pictures for us to see his mess. Wife nearly killed him as I recall! I bet a few of us have had a mess or two over the years. Many just won't share! Mine was when the fine dust bag decided to let loose. And the other was when the Hepa filter decided to fall off. One reason I use the hepa filter along with the bag these days. JIC! ;-) Long before my forum days and digital camera's. Or I'd share the mess I made. Luckily the stove is in the basement and not much mess made its way up stairs.
 
The only better laugh I have had is hearing about a local fellow who, after hearing me refer to using a leaf blower to SUCK out the pellet stove and pipe, tried it and hooked it up wrong.

yeah buddy, all over the carpet, the entire houses interior is coated with a layer of fine ash.

I am sure, all the while the fellow is puzzled as to why nothing is happening, until his Missus comes to the door Shreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeking SHUT I OFF.

These "close encounters of the Worst Kind" have been recorded before and will not, I am sure be the last.

Thanks for sharing.

Snowy
 
Nice Story!!! These things happen to all of us. Even the most dedicated experienced burners out there!!!! Many of us are too embarrassed to admit the MANY mistakes we have made with pellet stoves and other mechanical and non mechanical things.

Stay Warm and Keep the Pellets Dry!!!


AR
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
I'll bet geek doesn't feel so bad now ;-).
Click to expand...

Geek would be proud.....

That was bad.... Ash everywhere. I have cream colored carpet in front of the Quad. So I must be very careful in my doings...
 
Been there, done that.

When I first got my stove, years ago, I used my old Sears canister vacuum to get that nasty ash out of my stove. I got everything all spiffy inside, stood up and turned around and thought I was going blind, everything looked blurry. I have since learned that ash is very fine and goes right through a vacuum bag like a fart through underwear. I’m just glad I was single at the time.
 
Murphy118 said:
OK, I gotta come clean.
Last week during my ritual of cleaning out the stove with the shop vac/HEPA filter, I got all set up, rubber gloves and all. Opened the door, removed the ash from the burn pot, put the nozzle of the shop vac in contact with the ash outside the pot, and turned on the vac.
I had the hose connected to the EXHAUST port!!!!!! not the vacuum port.
I really shoulda took some pictures as the gray cloud of ash just "hung" there in the living room working it's way into the dining room and kitchen,,, all the while having the light rays from the windows shine through it like the lazer show of a 1980 Genesis concert.

It gets better:
Yester day after getting back from hunting, the stove was off so I decided to give it the weekly cleaning,,,,,on the back porch I hook up the hose,,,,,lets see,, vacuum port,,,,check,,,,,, I even plug it in on the porch to confirm the proper hook up.
I bring the vacuum into the house, place it infront of and a little to the right of the stove, open the door,,, and this time i don't put the wand in the stove yet, I hold it up in the air to confirm vacuum as I turn it on.....
..........exhaust port of the shop vac was pointed directly into the open door of the stove as I turned it on!!!!! it could not have been better placed to throw more ash into the room if I had my son the engineer do the math for maximum ash blowage!!!!

I will not give up,,,,,, I will continue to clean my stove every week,,,, and if it means that my wife, son and daughter need to watch me like an old senile coot,,,,,, then so be it.

John
Click to expand...

Your a big man John.
 
dont feel like the lone ranger Murphy!

i had (back when i was using a shop vac) just replaced the filter in mine and was set to give my old girl a big time cleaning with plenty of suction from a clean filter.

was in there rooting around blissfully ad all of a sudden i hear my wife screaming to shut off the vacuum!!!!!!

i turn around and the whole house was literally filled with flying ash!

i had installed the filter and didnt get the blasted base which twists on done quite right and the damned filter slid off, i was dumping everything i pulled out of the stove into the house. bad part is with my back to the room and my face glued into the stove i didnt even know i was doing it.

was quite a mess
 
stoveguy2esw said:
i had installed the filter and didnt get the blasted base which twists on done quite right and the damned filter slid off, i was dumping everything i pulled out of the stove into the house. bad part is with my back to the room and my face glued into the stove i didnt even know i was doing it.

was quite a mess
Click to expand...

Almost the exact same thing happened to someone I knew about 5 yrs ago. In that case, the filter had become so clogged with ash, it "imploded" from the vacuum, and the ash was just pouring into their living room for a good 4-5 minutes.....what a mess!!!
 
stoveguy2esw said:
dont feel like the lone ranger Murphy!

i had (back when i was using a shop vac) just replaced the filter in mine and was set to give my old girl a big time cleaning with plenty of suction from a clean filter.

was in there rooting around blissfully ad all of a sudden i hear my wife screaming to shut off the vacuum!!!!!!

i turn around and the whole house was literally filled with flying ash!

i had installed the filter and didnt get the blasted base which twists on done quite right and the damned filter slid off, i was dumping everything i pulled out of the stove into the house. bad part is with my back to the room and my face glued into the stove i didnt even know i was doing it.

was quite a mess
Click to expand...

You lived to tell about it, how did that happen?

Did you buy her a nice large diamond, a yacht, and a shiny red Ferrari all at the same time?

I'd have been led out back and into the woods during bear hunting season with a big glowing target saying aim here on my hind end.
 
imacman said:
stoveguy2esw said:
i had installed the filter and didnt get the blasted base which twists on done quite right and the damned filter slid off, i was dumping everything i pulled out of the stove into the house. bad part is with my back to the room and my face glued into the stove i didnt even know i was doing it.

was quite a mess
Click to expand...

Almost the exact same thing happened to someone I knew about 5 yrs ago. In that case, the filter had become so clogged with ash, it "imploded" from the vacuum, and the ash was just pouring into their living room for a good 4-5 minutes.....what a mess!!!
Click to expand...

While your heads in the stove everything seems normal. When you turn around, Oh boy! The cloud was hard to see through even. My first though was "wifes gonna kill me!"
 
Haven't done it with the pellet puppy but did it with the 30-NC wood burner three years ago. Shot that blast right into it and it took two weeks to clean this place out. Just like it did the other time, when I had the vac on the end of a long hose sitting on the deck ten years ago. Hose in the right port. Head in the stove going at it. I back out and the joint is full of ash in the air. Seems a cold coal blasted through the filter opening a hole in it and my pulling on the hose has aimed the exhaust port squarely into the doorway from the deck. :red:

I have not vac'ed out a wood stove since. Scoop it out good, close the door and done.

With the pellet stove being used for the first time this year not such a problem. It is in the basement four feet from the door. So the vac goes way out in the yard.
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
stoveguy2esw said:
dont feel like the lone ranger Murphy!

i had (back when i was using a shop vac) just replaced the filter in mine and was set to give my old girl a big time cleaning with plenty of suction from a clean filter.

was in there rooting around blissfully ad all of a sudden i hear my wife screaming to shut off the vacuum!!!!!!

i turn around and the whole house was literally filled with flying ash!

i had installed the filter and didnt get the blasted base which twists on done quite right and the damned filter slid off, i was dumping everything i pulled out of the stove into the house. bad part is with my back to the room and my face glued into the stove i didnt even know i was doing it.

was quite a mess
Click to expand...

You lived to tell about it, how did that happen?

me being too wond up to get a deep clening done, then "play" when i was finished.Did you buy her a nice large diamond, a yacht, and a shiny red Ferrari all at the same time?

no, no and no
I'd have been led out back and into the woods during bear hunting season with a big glowing target saying aim here on my hind end.
Click to expand...

i did help with the cleanup! my spouse is actually quite forgiving. she puts up with my "homework" to the wee hours sometimes, allows me to swap out stoes and tinker with the new stuff, all she wants is me to keep the house warm, and clean up when i $*^@% UP
 
BrotherBart said:
Haven't done it with the pellet puppy but did it with the 30-NC wood burner three years ago. Shot that blast right into it and it took two weeks to clean this place out. Just like it did the other time, when I had the vac on the end of a long hose sitting on the deck ten years ago. Hose in the right port. Head in the stove going at it. I back out and the joint is full of ash in the air. Seems a cold coal blasted through the filter opening a hole in it and my pulling on the hose has aimed the exhaust port squarely into the doorway from the deck. :red:

I have not vac'ed out a wood stove since. Scoop it out good, close the door and done.

With the pellet stove being used for the first time this year not such a problem. It is in the basement four feet from the door. So the vac goes way out in the yard.
Click to expand...

So how goes the pellet puppy? How many bags have you ran through it? And the ultimate question..... Does it get the job done??

Thanks for everything you do here BB. Reading your past posts has truly helped me get acquainted with my 30-NC.
 
I hooked the hose up to the exhaut twice already by accident. The first time I caught it because I realized the switch was in the opposite location, the second time I turned it on, but noticed it was exhaling instead of inhaling before I stuck it in the stove...Lucky me, Cause I can't afford a new Diamond or a Ferrari!!

Will be more careful from here on out...Probably!!! :cheese:
 
I've had similar experiences myself, but not with such extreme results ..... yet. I have IN and OUT written in permanent marker on my shop vac ports. Don't know why that is! And I've still hooked it backwards when in a hurry. I've also been outsmarted by the vac exhaust when the canister swings around and I'm not paying attention. Keeps life interesting.
 
OMG that's funny......I think I peed a little!

Chances are this won't happen to me since I have mine set up like this all the time, except for; when we have guests over.
 

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Great idea! I assume that piece on the floor is how you block it off when not in use?
 
These are the reasons why I am glad to have a window nearby the stove. Vac stays outside, long hose to the stove, towel in window to keep me from freezing.

One day I was missing a filter when the stove needed a clean, then I noticed the wind was blowing strongly away from that side of the house, so I ran the vac with no filter and left a black streak across the white snowy lawn for about 200 yards, it was great, I told my neighbors it was art... and one of them believed me!
 
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