3 XXV Questions (with pics)

[zeebox]

Hi Forum Friends, I'll keep this short and to the point - I have three questions that I would really appreciate any advice on:


1. I've notice a white residue on the outside of the stove. Its mostly located on the front of the stove and the side, and some on the tile under the front of the stove. Excuse my french, but WTF could this be? It looks like my 2 year old spilled milk, but I tried cleaning it once last week and this week its even worse....

2. Just curious if this small amount of creosote is normal. I have not been running the stove hard yet and I have been using NEWPs so I'm thinking it might be a combination of the two.

(PS - you can see some white residue inside the door from question #1....strange stuff) ****I just noticed its inside the door seal, so its must be coming from inside the stove somehow.


3. Obviously, I'm a new stove owner and I'm wondering how clean is clean with these things? Is this sufficient for a weekly cleaning?

Thanks for any help guys.

For those that might ask - The stove is 2 months old with about 15 bags through it. Its vented into an interior masonry chimney (not lined).

- Zee

 

[gbreda]

Dang, dont know what those marks are, maybe a Harman tech (such as summit, lousyweather or smwilliamson) can chime in on that.

The stove running low can possibly create some gunk that will clean up on high burn. You may want to crank it up to high for about 20 minutes a night to burn off .

As far as cleaning, I can only go by what I do. The burn pot looks fine, make sure that the holes are not caked over or filled in with carbon and that you clean all the carbon that sticks. It sometimes looks like part of the burnpot and needs to be "chisled" with an old screwdriver or something. Happen more when burning low and with lower grade pellets. I cant tell if you clean the exhanger, a weekly vac is not really required, but might as well if the stove is cold. Also the 2 wing nuts under the burn pot look ashy, that leads to believe that you did not clean out the ash trap under the b urn pot. That is a definate cleaning if cold and only takes a minute.

My g/f has an XXV and does not clean as much as I do (cant blame her with 4 kids around) and she has had no issues. She probably does a good firebox cleaning and vac about every other week-maybe a bit longer when high burn season is upon us. I do a good cleaning weekly, but I am putting alot more fuel thru mine by heating from the basement.

 

[jtakeman]

The white marks look like salt stains to me. Moisture and salt leave these marks. The salt may be from the pellets dust. Moisture?

Do you own a pet?

 

[zeebox]

Thanks Gbreda for the cleaning tips. I havnt done the ash trap yet.. But will now.

J-takeman, i dont have any pets. and youre right it does look like salt. I keep my pellets in my basement. I used a dehumidifier in the summer. Is there a way to confirm its moisture in the pellets? This is so strange...

My home uses a salt based water softening system...could the humidity in the air from sinks/showers/dryer put enough salt in the air to do this? That seems like a long shot. I dont use a humidifier or anything.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

....

My home uses a salt based water softening system...could the humidity in the air from sinks/showers/dryer put enough salt in the air to do this? That seems like a long shot. I dont use a humidifier or anything.

It might. The moisture produced in your house from the above is going to have salt in it. You forgot cooking in the above list. It is also possible that there are other compounds in your water that will leave a white residue. Your stove is going to wring the moisture out of the air leaving behind a deposit of what ever was in the moisture.

 

[Ladderlieu]

While I can't speak about the white spots, I can speak a little about cleaning. Without trying to sound too critical of your cleaning, there is still a lot of ash on the corrugated baffle and in the burn pot. Every week I use a 4" paint brush and a vacuum and clean every bit of ash I can off there in hopes that I'll get better heat (me thinks the ash is like insulation). If you use a brush, make SURE the stove is cold first! I use a flashlight and the tool that came with the stove to scrape the living daylights out of the burn pot. Can't tell too well from your photo if there is any crud caked to it. I learned over time what works best, and so shall you. Good choice on stoves!

 

[zeebox]

While I can't speak about the white spots, I can speak a little about cleaning. Without trying to sound too critical of your cleaning, there is still a lot of ash on the corrugated baffle and in the burn pot. Every week I use a 4" paint brush and a vacuum and clean every bit of ash I can off there in hopes that I'll get better heat (me thinks the ash is like insulation). If you use a brush, make SURE the stove is cold first! I use a flashlight and the tool that came with the stove to scrape the living daylights out of the burn pot. Can't tell too well from your photo if there is any crud caked to it. I learned over time what works best, and so shall you. Good choice on stoves!

Thanks Ladderlieu, I'll need to get an old paintbrush and make sure to get those areas better.

 

[zeebox]

Anybody else have any other ideas what the WHITE residue could be?!

We have two theories so far:

1. Salt from moisture in the pellets.
2. Salt from moisture in the house air (due to softening system).
3. ???


While I'm asking, any tips on cleaning these spots? They are a PITA to get off. It takes serious scrubbing with a magic eraser to get off the tile under the stove. The magic eraser works wonders on the stove, but that's just because its TAKING THE PAINT OFF Too!!

 

[lordgrinz]

I don't see how it can be salt in the pellets causing that, it looks more like moisture in the air causing it. Are you running a humidifier? Or this located in a moist basement?

 

[apporter]

Zeebox,

Just wanted to let you know that I have a salt based water filter in my home and I have no problems with the white spots on my XXV's. Water filter is 24' behind closet door from the stove. Not sure that it could be the water filter.

 

[zeebox]

I don't see how it can be salt in the pellets causing that, it looks more like moisture in the air causing it. Are you running a humidifier? Or this located in a moist basement?

Hi Lordgrinz, No, I don't use a humidifier and the stove is located on the main floor of my house. Its an open concept floor plan. The water softening system is in the basement.

Its strange that the concentration of the spots in in the front under the glass. I have noticed some on the floor in front of the stove and even some on TOP of the stove near the front edge. It has to be related to the hot air being pushed out the front.

 

[zeebox]

Zeebox,

Just wanted to let you know that I have a salt based water filter in my home and I have no problems with the white spots on my XXV's. Water filter is 24' behind closet door from the stove. Not sure that it could be the water filter.

Thanks Porter. It does seem like a long shot that this is related to a softening system putting salt in the water, causing salt to enter the homes air by evaporation then condensing around the stove..but heck, I have terrible luck with most things so its plausible.

 

[curtthegreat]

Does anyone think that his door may not be sealing? I've never had a door seal issue so I don't know. Just a thought.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Does anyone think that his door may not be sealing? I've never had a door seal issue so I don't know. Just a thought.

If the door isn't completely sealing I'd expect a burn issue.

In any event that could account for a bit of creosote build up but not the white deposits.

There are tons of dissolved minerals in water (it all depends upon where you are and what filtering is being done if any) that could be the source of those deposits.

 

[zeebox]

Does anyone think that his door may not be sealing? I've never had a door seal issue so I don't know. Just a thought.

I was wondering the same thing. When i first noticed the residue, it was near the door seal where the rope connects. It look like it was starting to fray a little there. See the pic.

 

[lordgrinz]

Does anyone think that his door may not be sealing? I've never had a door seal issue so I don't know. Just a thought.

I was wondering the same thing. When i first noticed the residue, it was near the door seal where the rope connects. It look like it was starting to fray a little there. See the pic.

My Harman XXV has that same issue with the rope(same place), no problems running. I tried to get them to fix that, but the repair guy said thats just where the rope ends meet, and it wasn't affecting the stove, so they didn't replace it.

 

[chris288]

Yep, have had our stove 3 weeks now and have a creosote drip in the same place already. We have the Brown Enamel so I cant comment on the white spots, but in the second pic it looks like you have those white spots on the hearth pad so looks like something spilled or splattered.

 

[zeebox]

Yep, have had our stove 3 weeks now and have a creosote drip in the same place already. We have the Brown Enamel so I cant comment on the white spots, but in the second pic it looks like you have those white spots on the hearth pad so looks like something spilled or splattered.

It does look like someone spilled milk or something but I know for certain that nothing was spilled. The spots have been accumulating as we have used the stove

 

[zeebox]

Update -

It's been a month since the white residue first appeared, and I'm happy to say that it hasn't come back again. I still cannot say for certain what it was, but most likely it was due to the stove dehumidifying the air causing scale to collect. I'm now at the point where my house it too dry and I need to buy a humidifier, so this will be a good test once the humidity is back up in the house. If the spots come back, I might cry.

 

[lordgrinz]

Update -

It's been a month since the white residue first appeared, and I'm happy to say that it hasn't come back again. I still cannot say for certain what it was, but most likely it was due to the stove dehumidifying the air causing scale to collect. I'm now at the point where my house it too dry and I need to buy a humidifier, so this will be a good test once the humidity is back up in the house. If the spots come back, I might cry.

About to put my Humidifier in tonight, I bought a 14 gallon console unit from Sears, its 16% now and I want it back up around 30%. I'll let you know how I fair, but my house dried out the same as yours is doing.

 

[doublewide]

Just a thought. If you are using a vacuum to clean your stove could any residue (like drywall dust in the filter) be coming out of the the vac along with some moisture in the vac and sticking to the stove? You may not of noticed because when you are cleaning the door is open. You could also purposely put some pellet dust on the stove to see if the marks appear, but I doubt it. Also, I just put in a humidifier and it is a honeywell 14 gallon per day, its having a tough time keeping up with the stove running 15 feet away from it. Good luck.

 

[rickwa]

spots cannot be coming from the minerals or salt in the moisture in the air. once water evaporates it is pure, the minerals stay behind. When they make solar salt, they pump salt water into holding ponds and let the water evaporate in the sun and the salt is left behind. household humidty does not contain minerals

 

[save$]

Question, Did you do the installation? If you had it installed, is it possible that the installer sprayed something on the stove to clean it up after he installed it? Had it not been on the hearth, I would have guessed that whatever it was came with the stove. But since it is on the hearth, perhaps when you started running the stove that whatever substance it was dried out and left that residue behind. The fact that you no longer have them after the repeated cleaning sort of confirms that may have been there from the onset. Just my 2 cents (or less)!

 

[lordgrinz]

Update -

It's been a month since the white residue first appeared, and I'm happy to say that it hasn't come back again. I still cannot say for certain what it was, but most likely it was due to the stove dehumidifying the air causing scale to collect. I'm now at the point where my house it too dry and I need to buy a humidifier, so this will be a good test once the humidity is back up in the house. If the spots come back, I might cry.

About to put my Humidifier in tonight, I bought a 14 gallon console unit from Sears, its 16% now and I want it back up around 30%. I'll let you know how I fair, but my house dried out the same as yours is doing.

Zeebox, Just wanted to let you know I put the Humidifier in place, it seems to be doing well, I have it set at 35% and the rest of the house is about 30% Relative Humidity right now. Thats a lot better than 16% I was at before, and it doesn't appear that the Humidifier is running too often, so far so good.