Carbon buildup question...

[Bigjim13]

Mainly my question is what causes it? I am getting ALOT of buildup this season and last season I got very little. Is this just a side effect of the different pellet that I am using? Or is there an issue with my stove that I need to address? It mainly builds up around the auger opening where the pellets come into the burn pot and around the sides of the burn pot. I have a ton more ash this year so I have been cleaning more frequently, thus I have notice a need to scrape down my burnpot more often.

I guess my quesiton really is this: Is carbon buildup mainly a side effect of the type of pellet or is there an adjustment to the stove i need to make? For what it's worth last season I burned Premiers from TSC and this season I am burning Maine Woods. Thanks All!

 

[jtakeman]

I would say it's from the different pellet brand. The Premiers were probably softwood made by energex in Canada. Very similar to the green bag energex.

Every brand of pellets just burns a little different and has different result. Try to find a few bags of the Premiers or green bag Energex and see if the issue goes away.

 

[schoondog]

Big jim,
It's hard to say. I have found that when I wasn't delivering proper air to the burn pot I would get more carbon in the burnpot. A few times I have found my cleanout doors open/not seated properly causing the improper air to the burnpot. Lazy flame was what I noticed first. I define carbon as the hard to remove crust on my burnpot. I never get it anywhere else. You may have an issue with the pellets also. Easiest thing to do is to try to get more combustion air or clean stove well and go back to a pellet you know worked well. Sorry but I don't know the Harmons very well. Good luck!

Schoondog

 

[Bigjim13]

I would say it's from the different pellet brand. The Premiers were probably softwood made by energex in Canada. Very similar to the green bag energex.

Every brand of pellets just burns a little different and has different result. Try to find a few bags of the Premiers or green bag Energex and see if the issue goes away.

I thought that was the case. The premiers were from Canada and had the purple lable, I think they were softwood but can't remember. Anyway I really liked those pellets but couldn't find them in my neck of the woods this year. Settled on the Maine Woods as they were about $50 less per ton than most other brands in my area. They burn well enough, create a bunch of ash and carbon buildup as mentioned. Having to clean the stove almost weekly now, maybe every other week- which I don't really mind. I mean it's winter it's not like I have anything else to do, LOL.

 

[Bigjim13]

Big jim,
It's hard to say. I have found that when I wasn't delivering proper air to the burn pot I would get more carbon in the burnpot. A few times I have found my cleanout doors open/not seated properly causing the improper air to the burnpot. Lazy flame was what I noticed first. I define carbon as the hard to remove crust on my burnpot. I never get it anywhere else. You may have an issue with the pellets also. Easiest thing to do is to try to get more combustion air or clean stove well and go back to a pellet you know worked well. Sorry but I don't know the Harmons very well. Good luck!

Schoondog

I don't think it's an air issue, although I don't think on my Harman I can adjust the airflow. At least not that I know of. I don't have an OAK on mine. The flame is good, higher when it calls for more heat and lower when it's at room temp. Maybe I can adjust the air, I'm just not sure how.

As for cleaning, I've cleaned this stove every other week since the season started. It's a side effect of SO MUCH ash from the pellets I'm burning. I could probably go longer between cleanings but I'm anal.

 

[slls]

I would say it's from the different pellet brand. The Premiers were probably softwood made by energex in Canada. Very similar to the green bag energex.

Every brand of pellets just burns a little different and has different result. Try to find a few bags of the Premiers or green bag Energex and see if the issue goes away.

I thought that was the case. The premiers were from Canada and had the purple lable, I think they were softwood but can't remember. Anyway I really liked those pellets but couldn't find them in my neck of the woods this year. Settled on the Maine Woods as they were about $50 less per ton than most other brands in my area. They burn well enough, create a bunch of ash and carbon buildup as mentioned. Having to clean the stove almost weekly now, maybe every other week- which I don't really mind. I mean it's winter it's not like I have anything else to do, LOL.

Maine Woods is a high ash pellet. Energex Canada is 50-50 hardwood softwood. You would really like a softwood like
Spruce Pointe, very little ash.

 

[Bigjim13]

I would say it's from the different pellet brand. The Premiers were probably softwood made by energex in Canada. Very similar to the green bag energex.

Every brand of pellets just burns a little different and has different result. Try to find a few bags of the Premiers or green bag Energex and see if the issue goes away.

I thought that was the case. The premiers were from Canada and had the purple lable, I think they were softwood but can't remember. Anyway I really liked those pellets but couldn't find them in my neck of the woods this year. Settled on the Maine Woods as they were about $50 less per ton than most other brands in my area. They burn well enough, create a bunch of ash and carbon buildup as mentioned. Having to clean the stove almost weekly now, maybe every other week- which I don't really mind. I mean it's winter it's not like I have anything else to do, LOL.

Maine Woods is a high ash pellet. Energex Canada is 50-50 hardwood softwood. You would really like a softwood like
Spruce Pointe, very little ash.

I wish I had access to more brands here in Central VT. I'm pretty limited to what I can get depending on what HD and TSC have on hand. We have a stove shop here that stocks or can get Lignetics and Turmans and I have been considering trying the Turmans. We also had a pellet plant open up here that sells softwood pellets, I think, made from pulpwoood? Whatever that means. I have heard good things about them as well.

 

[newf lover]

I have tried 5 different well known and well-liked brands of pellets. My favorite is the Turman. I would highly recommend you try a couple bags to see how they work in your stove.

 

[krooser]

Have you pulled the fans, cleaned them with compressed air, brushed out the vent and, finally used a leaf blower to suck out all the remaining ash? This sounds like so many other posts where the stove worked fine the first season but operates poorly afterwards...

 

[BDPVT]

Carbon scale forms when combustion temps are generally above 1100F. Because of Harmon's bottom feed fire pot design and blow torch flame, carbon buildup seems to be a fact of life with Harman stoves. I find a lot of carbon scale in my Accentra fire pot whenever I burn pellets that generate a lot of ash, especially some hardwood brands. I switched to softwood pellets and scrape the burn pot once a week. Try the Vermont Wood Pellets if you can. You will love them! On sale now for $239/ ton.

 

[Bigjim13]

Have you pulled the fans, cleaned them with compressed air, brushed out the vent and, finally used a leaf blower to suck out all the remaining ash? This sounds like so many other posts where the stove worked fine the first season but operates poorly afterwards...

I'm 99% sure it's not a cleaning issue. I clean my stove almost weekly and give it a full cleaning about once every 3-4 weeks maybe more often since the pellets I'm using create more ash than before. The only thing I don't do is the leafblower trick since my stove vents up and out a chimney, I would have to get on my roof in order to do so. Not that I'm opposed to that, just a little difficult in the winter.

It's not that the stove isn't burning properly either, it still cranks out the heat. It's just when I clean the burnpot I am noticing more carbon that I did last season.

 

[tinkabranc]

IMO blame it on the pellets. Some create more ash/carbon/clinkers than others.