First chimney cleanout

[Snowy Rivers]

Decided yesterday to have a look at the vent on the Advantage after a month of running.

Removed the outside vent cap and took a peek. OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH found about 1 inch of ash laying along the bottom of the pipe.

Took the shop vac out and sent the sucker hose all the way to the stove.
Just a few minutes and all clean and tidy again.

The nut shells produce a lot more ash so this is just the way its gonna be me thinks.

Took a look at the pipe on the Prodigy and it need a SUCK too.

As soon as the season finally ends ????????? I will remove the fire backs and clean the ash traps and blow the sucker out really good for the summer shut down time.


The Advantage has been up and running now for about a month. This has been a great shakedown time and all seems quite well.

Snowy

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I've got to do that shortly. It's been a bit longer than I like since that last good clean out.

The stove is still burning well and it isn't really getting much of a work out.

It has been off most of the last week or so.

Glad the newcomers are fitting right in.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

This summer I need to stock up on some spare parts such as feed motors and such.

Sadly the draft fan and the room air fan are different between the two stoves



Snowy

 

[forya]

Should the chimney be cleaned more than once a season? I have a liner all the way up my chimney, that I was hoping to clean only once a year.

 

[imacman]

Should the chimney be cleaned more than once a season? I have a liner all the way up my chimney, that I was hoping to clean only once a year.

In general, the exhaust pipe should be completely cleaned after each ton. In Snowy's case, I think he has straight out pipes.....perfect candidates for the leaf blower "suck".

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Forya

My situation is a bit different than most in that I burn Hazelnut shells for fuel rather than Pellets.

Then shells leave a fine gray ash when they burn and probably twice as much of it as the pellets.

A horizontal vent tends to see the fly ash precipitate out of the air stream and layer out along the bottom of the run.

This is the reason that most manufactures do not recommend more than a 4 foot horizontal run.

I could have made the run shorter,but wanted the stove far enough out away from the wall that I could crawl around behind it to get to anything in the mechanical cabinet without having to move the stove.

I have an earlier post about my entire install with the raised hearth and such.

Normally as was mentioned about a ton of pellets, then clean or at least check things.

I simply remove the angled exterior cap and run the hose from my shop vac down the pipe right up to the stove and a couple times wiggling the hose and the pipe is clean and good to go.

Another reason I did the horizontal vnt is that I can see in there with a flash light and can clean things without a big hastle.



During the "Off season" like now, I will allow the stove to cool before sucking the chimney out.

During the cold season I dont want to shut the fire off except to do a biweekly cleaning of the pot,ash pan and firebox.

Once a month or so is about where I need to clean things as far as the pipe goes.

Snowy

 

[MSmith66]

Snowy,
Where do you purchase hazelnut shells and what kind of stove are you burning them in? I know a guy that burned cheery pits and man that drove me nuts after an hour on crunching. Do they burn well?

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I live just south of Portland Oregon near Newberg
We are right in the heart of the Willamette valley Hazelnut growing area.

One of the larger processing plants is only 4 miles from my house.

I run the big truck (I am in the dump trucking business) over and have them full the sucker up or ???????/ depending on how much I need.

I store the stuff in barrels in the basement.

The shells burn real well with a lot of heat. Just have a little more ash to deal with is all.

The shells will cuase some "CRUNCHING" at times but really very little. The occasional snap, crunch.

I burn the shells in a couple older Whitfields.

Most any top feed stove can burn them. The Harman bottom feeder is supposed to work well too I am told.

Most stoves will need to have the grate modified some as the shells are much smaller pieces than the Pelletd.

My Whitfield Prodigy needed only the addtion of a little round "NUB" thatis bolted to the fire pot. This "NUB" scatters the shell pieces across the fire as they fall from the drop tube.

The Whitfield Advantage needed the addition of a piece of stainless steel sheet metal (1/8th thick) with rows of 1/8th diameter holes. This little plate lays in the fire pot over the grate.


Stuff works great. The only thing is that its only available in Large quantity and you must have a way to haul it and to store it.

Costs me $30 a ton to buy it.

The fact that we have the large truck to haul the stuff makes it all possible.

If this stuff was bagged and such it would be far more expensive.

Stove needs more routine cleaning due to the greater amount of fly ash produced too.

The material is not uniform and varies in size from the size of a finger nail to very small granules.

The shells come off the cracking machines then through a "Trash fan" and into a huge hopper.

There is never a guarantee as to the size.

The small stuff will "Flash burn" when it hits the fire and it then goes off as lots of little sparks.

(Fly ash ) the larger stuff lands in the grate and burns.

The Cherry pits are something I have not explored. We have some fairly large processing plant here for cherries but with the shells available so close I am not real eager to switch.


Snowy