Air Inlet on Pacific Energy Insert

[OIdIndyHouse]

My fire completely chokes when I close the door on my insert. The damper is all the way open. The unit has ran great the past five years, but is causing me a headache this fall. Smoke is coming out of the chimney, so I am assuming the flue is clear. I believe the air inlet is on the bottom or rear of this insert. Does anyone have any good ideas on how it could be blocked or what to do about it without pulling the insert out of the fireplace?

The model is "Super Insert".

 

[KpR]

My fire completely chokes when I close the door on my insert. The damper is all the way open. The unit has ran great the past five years, but is causing me a headache this fall. Smoke is coming out of the chimney, so I am assuming the flue is clear. I believe the air inlet is on the bottom or rear of this insert. Does anyone have any good ideas on how it could be blocked or what to do about it without pulling the insert out of the fireplace?

The model is "Super Insert".

Hey OldIndy,
The secondary air intake is indeed on the rear of this insert. The secondary air travels up the steel tube that runs up the back wall of the firebox, and comes out of the holes in the baffle that is seated on the rails at the top of the firebox.
The primary air inlet is in the front, just under the front bottom ledge. It comes up and in through a hole right on the inside of the fire box, and is distributed across the front of the box by way of a metal bracket (called the 'boost manifold') with little holes in it. That manifold is seated between a couple of metal pins on the bottom of the box, and is removable. You'll most likely find a fair amount of ash in there if it's never been removed before. Tough to say, but the ash may be blocking the primary intake, leading to a choked off fire, or the manifold could be in wrong. The holes should point to the back of the firebox. Let us know if that helps.

 

[Hogwildz]

Are you covering the rear manifold channel outlet before cleaning the stack? If not, you may have soot & ash clogging the baffle supply channel.