I learned a little something new today and thought it would be good to share. Being our first winter with a pellet stove, we are still in our learning curve.
Every few days I give my stove a good cleaning, a thorough vacuum and scrape the burn pot clean. Underneath my free-standing Castile there is a knob that I pull to slide the bottom plate of the burn pot aside to allow any debris in the pot to fall into the ash tray. Well, whenever I clean my stove I always shut it off (thermostat) and allow it to cool for at least 3 hours. This way I can be sure that even though I use an ash-vac that there's no chance of any hot or even warm embers/ash being vacuumed out.
I cleaned my stove just yesterday and today I decided to empty the ash tray when the stove had been idle for a while, but never thought that it mattered when I emptied the ash tray because there no burning occuring in it - until now. If you look closely at the picture you'll see unburned pellets circled in yellow. When I clean my stove a few pellets fall into the burn pot from the vibration I cause, then I'll pull the knob and they drop into the ash-tray - clean and unburned. But as you can see, they are now discolored and scorched. In the blue circles are a few more pellets, but as you can see they are fully burned. Then I asked myself how they can get burned in the ash tray and realized that the intense heat from the bottom of the burn pot is what is burning these pellets in the ash tray. Even though they are about 2 inches below the bottom plate of the burn pot, there is obviously enough heat radiated to light pellets on fire.
You'll also notice the white circle (dashed-line) and this is the area directly below the burn pot. The pellets that are located directly underneath it are fully burned, yet those further away are merely scorched. My point is that at least with my stove there can be hot ash and burning pellets in the ash tray and it should only be emptied when the stove is cool. I always dump the ash from the tray into a galvanized metal bucket, but for those who may dump it in a flamable container it could be a danger. I know that many are going to say that you never empty your ash tray until the stove stops burning, but a pellet can smolder and remain a hot ember for some time in the ash tray.
My greatest fear is a house fire and I just wanted to share my findings with other members.
Happy heating!
Steve
Every few days I give my stove a good cleaning, a thorough vacuum and scrape the burn pot clean. Underneath my free-standing Castile there is a knob that I pull to slide the bottom plate of the burn pot aside to allow any debris in the pot to fall into the ash tray. Well, whenever I clean my stove I always shut it off (thermostat) and allow it to cool for at least 3 hours. This way I can be sure that even though I use an ash-vac that there's no chance of any hot or even warm embers/ash being vacuumed out.
I cleaned my stove just yesterday and today I decided to empty the ash tray when the stove had been idle for a while, but never thought that it mattered when I emptied the ash tray because there no burning occuring in it - until now. If you look closely at the picture you'll see unburned pellets circled in yellow. When I clean my stove a few pellets fall into the burn pot from the vibration I cause, then I'll pull the knob and they drop into the ash-tray - clean and unburned. But as you can see, they are now discolored and scorched. In the blue circles are a few more pellets, but as you can see they are fully burned. Then I asked myself how they can get burned in the ash tray and realized that the intense heat from the bottom of the burn pot is what is burning these pellets in the ash tray. Even though they are about 2 inches below the bottom plate of the burn pot, there is obviously enough heat radiated to light pellets on fire.
You'll also notice the white circle (dashed-line) and this is the area directly below the burn pot. The pellets that are located directly underneath it are fully burned, yet those further away are merely scorched. My point is that at least with my stove there can be hot ash and burning pellets in the ash tray and it should only be emptied when the stove is cool. I always dump the ash from the tray into a galvanized metal bucket, but for those who may dump it in a flamable container it could be a danger. I know that many are going to say that you never empty your ash tray until the stove stops burning, but a pellet can smolder and remain a hot ember for some time in the ash tray.
My greatest fear is a house fire and I just wanted to share my findings with other members.
Happy heating!
Steve
