Cleaning stove & chimney

[DiscoInferno]

Was raining today, so I took apart the Ultima for some cleaning. It's a pain to do - have to remove all the firebrick panels, burn tubes, and deflector plate, the latter two of which are attached with phillips-head screws that unsurprisingly don't turn all that well after years of flame exposure. Had to turn one of them into a slotted screw. Last shot is of the now-empty box; it was getting a little rusty, especially behind the firebrick, so I painted it with black stove paint. (After I took the pics, obviously.) The paint won't last long in the exposed areas, but behind the brick it will. Swept the chimney from the bottom, pics are looking up before and after and the pile it generated. That's a full two years worth with an air-cooled chimney; I may start going 3 or 4 years given the hassle factor.

 

[soupy1957]

My impressions of the amount of (or lack thereof) creosote that you had accumulated in two years, tells me you are doing something right, in the way you burn. That sure doesn't look like much of anything to clean out.

"Rust" comes from moisture, no? I'd not think that the rust came from the firing..........am I thinking right? Where's the moisture coming from? Wet Wood, burning off? That would seem to disagree with the minimum amount of creosote I see in your pic, before cleaning.

-Soupy1957

 

[Freeheat]

I have a Ulltima as well , How hot do you run it and where are you taking the temp from?? When I cleaned mine I had more soot in 1 year than you in two.

 

[DiscoInferno]

The rust was very light (but uniform), and seems to be primarily behind the refractory panels or above the baffle (you can see a hard line above the refractory level that has no rust. The moisture is probably from condensation in the (humid) summers that gets trapped behind the brick/baffle.

This stove burns quite hot even on the lowest air setting; the chimney is 24' and the draft gets going pretty good. A full load typically burns at 550-650 as measured on the pipe stub behind the top louver. It's very easy to get to 700 and beyond if not careful. The burn tubes and the V-shaped deflector plate both have some warping, although they remain perfectly serviceable. Even though the manual says that the unit should not be used for full-time heating, it seems to be a pretty solid stove.