Cleaning!!!

[Bigjim13]

So I had yesterday and today off. Since today was a nasty rainy day and so far has been in the upper 30's I figured it would be a great day to do a soup to nuts cleaning on the stove. For a little background we have a P61A that took the place of a propane stove that sat in an old brick fireplace. Out exhaust runs up the existing chimney and there is a cap on the top of the chimney. I normally scrape the burnpot daily and do a bit more thorough cleaning once a week with a GOOD cleaning monthly. This year though, I admit I have been slack. A number of reasons have contributed to that but mainly just time.

Started out cleaning brushing the exchangers and sides of the stove on the inside. Brushed down the fire brick and pulled them out to get behind and under them. Vacummed out and scraped really good the burnpot and auger tube. Pulled the ash pan out, vacummed out the ingiter. Got my vent brush and brushed and vacummed out the exhaust tube leading out the back. Pulled the side guards off, pulled and cleaned the ESP probe, dusted off and vacummed the combustion fan. Vacummed out the fine collection area.

Now for the surprising part. I pulled off the cleanout T where the vent pipe makes a 90* turn to go up the chimney and was SHOCKED at how much ash was in there. Vacummed it out, got the vent brush and brushed up as far as I could then stuck the Shop Vac hose up there to get any more I could. I knew I had been burning ashy pellets but was surprised to see the amount of ash in there that there was.

Havent cleaned the glass yet, needed a break after 1 1/2 hrs going strong on cleaning.

Sorry for the long post, this was all to say that I think I am done burning cheap ashy pellets. This was not much fun and for $30-$50 more per ton I could have Vermonts that were not to ashy at all.

PS-feel free to point out anything I missed!

 

[nailed_nailer]

If it were me I 'd also pull both blowers and clean them as well.
I use compressed air to knock off 90% of the crap.
Carburetor cleaner on steel parts with a toothbrush for scrubbing.
Electronic contact Cleaner on anything plastic with a different toothbrush.
Lube them with 20wt oil if needed
While Combustion blower is out scrape/vacuum exhaust path.

Also clean out air supply line (OAK) if installed.

Clean glass.

You should be good to go for another ton.

Love the Vermont's

---Nailer---

 

[bcb1]

I know that people say you can go for days (weeks?) on end without cleaning their Harman, but that's just not me. I'm a maintenance fanatic with all my stuff...heck I wax my cars once a week!

I always cleaned my Quadrafire stove every day - because I had to. It filled up with pellets in the burnpot otherwise, so I just got used to scraping the burnpot and vacuuming out the stove every day, it took a whopping 2 or 3 minutes and I never had a single problem with that stove. With my Harman stove, I might go 2 days max before cleaning it out - scraping and vacuuming the burnpot area. Every weekend I empty out the ashpan and vacuum the ignitor area and brush the heat exchangers. Takes maybe 10-15 minutes.

I guess it's just me and my compulsive behavior - but I'd rather clean my stove more often than not enough.

 

[MacP]

If it were me I 'd also pull both blowers and clean them as well.
I use compressed air to knock off 90% of the crap.
Carburetor cleaner on steel parts with a toothbrush for scrubbing.
Electronic contact Cleaner on anything plastic with a different toothbrush.
Lube them with 20wt oil if needed
While Combustion blower is out scrape/vacuum exhaust path.

Also clean out air supply line (OAK) if installed.

Clean glass.

You should be good to go for another ton.

Love the Vermont's

---Nailer---

Is it difficult to take out the blowers?

 

[MacP]

What kind of brush did you use inside your stove to clean the walls and fire brick?

 

[Bigjim13]

What kind of brush did you use inside your stove to clean the walls and fire brick?

I use a dry paintbrush to brush the side and exchangers.

 

[MacP]

What kind of brush did you use inside your stove to clean the walls and fire brick?

I use a dry paintbrush to brush the side and exchangers.

Oh okay.... That's what I use too.

 

[save$]

I was getting a lazy flame by day two. This went on all the time I was burning Energex. House wasn't keeping up to temp with cold. So I did the leaf blower cleaning, the brush,the vac, and both blowers. Then switched over to MWP. Haven't had to open the stove door since last Friday. It is rare for me to go longer than 3 days without doing at least the brush and the vac. best part is the furnace isn't running and my wife is leaving those little electric space heater alone

 

[smwilliamson]

So I had yesterday and today off. Since today was a nasty rainy day and so far has been in the upper 30's I figured it would be a great day to do a soup to nuts cleaning on the stove. For a little background we have a P61A that took the place of a propane stove that sat in an old brick fireplace. Out exhaust runs up the existing chimney and there is a cap on the top of the chimney. I normally scrape the burnpot daily and do a bit more thorough cleaning once a week with a GOOD cleaning monthly. This year though, I admit I have been slack. A number of reasons have contributed to that but mainly just time.

Started out cleaning brushing the exchangers and sides of the stove on the inside. Brushed down the fire brick and pulled them out to get behind and under them. Vacummed out and scraped really good the burnpot and auger tube. Pulled the ash pan out, vacummed out the ingiter. Got my vent brush and brushed and vacummed out the exhaust tube leading out the back. Pulled the side guards off, pulled and cleaned the ESP probe, dusted off and vacummed the combustion fan. Vacummed out the fine collection area.

Now for the surprising part. I pulled off the cleanout T where the vent pipe makes a 90* turn to go up the chimney and was SHOCKED at how much ash was in there. Vacummed it out, got the vent brush and brushed up as far as I could then stuck the Shop Vac hose up there to get any more I could. I knew I had been burning ashy pellets but was surprised to see the amount of ash in there that there was.

Havent cleaned the glass yet, needed a break after 1 1/2 hrs going strong on cleaning.

Sorry for the long post, this was all to say that I think I am done burning cheap ashy pellets. This was not much fun and for $30-$50 more per ton I could have Vermonts that were not to ashy at all.

PS-feel free to point out anything I missed!

Clean the glass FIRST. You can use the ash from the stove on a wet paper towel to get the glass like new again, THEN vac out the stove.