The ongoing saga of the Accentra:
I picked up the device Friday afternoon, wrestled it onto a two wheeler, cardboard sheets for protection, secured with a couple of winch straps.
Slid from top of stairs onto an ex-UHaul ramp straight into the back of a Ford Econoline, on it’s side.
Strapped the two wheeler / stove secure with more winch straps, side to side of the van, front to back.
Only had to move it a mile. Had to stop three times to reconfigure the straps, tighten up the straps where needed. Very happy I only had to go the short distance.
Was going to put it in the garage for the deep clean, but smartly reconsidered that and drove the van across the lawn up to the front entry steps. Harbor Freight ramps (purchased for this) employed to get the stove out.
Ramps had a slight incline to the steps. Me, bent over in the van, trying to get the two wheeler up and moving and up that incline was not going to happen. Took one of the straps, grabbed the front axle with the S hook, then tied the strap around my wife’s waist. Told her she was going to act as the mule…
That got her mad enough to get the stove up the slight incline with ease, up onto the front landing. (Sorry, no pic)
Wrapped it up in case of rain.
The next day (Saturday) I rounded up some tools, get the air compressor in place, spent some time in the forums for tips on cleaning.
Pulled off the back panels. Immediately some things looked odd. This is an older Accentra, has the chain drive for the auger. The chain appeared to be extremely tight, to the point of scoring a groove into the heavy plastic wheel. I pulled the wheel, found the bolt head had recessed and cut into the plastic. Looking at the schematics in the original manual it appears that this wheel does not actually need to roll, it just acts to keep the chain from jumping the sprockets? I flipped the wheel around, set it as I think it should be.
While doing that I found that the transfer case for the auger looked to be splitting apart? Pulled the unit, all 6 screws needed to be fully tightened (quite a bit, too). I’m betting that there’s bit of debris inside the case, most likely causing some wear and tear on those gears. I’m wondering if I should pull it apart, clean and re-grease, or just order another new and have it on hand?
Clean out door behind the auger motor pulled, not much in there. The gasket looks to be needing replacement. I’ll get one on order.
Got all that back together. Onto the front. Had a hell of a time getting the latches in the upper corners to release the cast iron firebox panels. Hit with some PB Blaster, let sit while I tended to some other things. Still no luck with easy movement. Employed a long bolt and hammer to get a bit of movement in place, then a decent pair of pliers. Within minutes had both moving freely. Pulled panels, looked to be pretty clean. Scraped all components and areas.
Pulled bottom exhaust fan cover…this too looked good. Cleaned everything here. Wiped down the ESP.
Then got the compressor charged up, started blowing out the fans, the firebox area, the heat exchangers, inside the front of the door, underneath the stove. Covered the entire area, possibly within a quarter mile radius, with a fine layer of ash, soot, dust, dirt. Holy crap. Glad I’m doing this outside.
Pulled the vacuum hose from the sensor in the back and compressed air cleaned back to front. Again, where is this crap coming from? Looked like Mt. St. Helena just erupted.
Compressed air into the window vents. More of the same.
Repeatedly went through the same routine until all looked to be blowing clear.
All looks good. Put everything back together. Wiped down all outside areas of the stove. Cleaned up the front porch with a broom and the compressor.
Took a breath, made sure all parts were accounted for (i.e. nothing laying on the front steps).
Opened a Guinness.
Checked the settings on the stove, checked the manual. Set all for “first fire”. Rechecked. OK…all looks good. This stove ran fine when I purchased it, tested nice. Not expecting any surprises.
Put a small handful of pellets in the firebox. Hopper is 1/4 full.
Plugged it in (using the extension I was using for the compressor).
Following the instructions on the control box itself, started it up.
KAPOW!
Bright flash of light from behind the control box panel, big noise. Unplugged quickly. Damn. With my luck it’s a $300.00 control board.
Took a harder look at the swing out panel. The bundle of wires looks like there are at least a couple with hard crimps, possibly cutting through the wire insulation. Pulled the two screws, looked at the board. Easy to see the fuse was toast, blackened inside the glass insulator. Reconfigured the hard plastic wrapper spiral on the bundle of wires, that looks better, will protect as it should. Not finding any wires bared, just crimped.
Off to the hardware store for a fuse. Only able to find time delay type in a 5A size rating. Picked up those.
Fuse in, everything back together. Rechecked everything connection-wise in the rear.
Crossed fingers.
Plugged in.
Follow starting instructions. Little bit of a flash in the back, I think it was some dust in the wrong place. No issue.
Control box lights are on.
Took about 5 minutes to get some smoke visible, but it eventually started up. Let it run in a low distribution fan setting for 30 minutes or so. Seemed to be working correctly. Cycling as it should, good looking fire.
I feel relieved. Money well spent.
Decide to set the distribution fan speed to high. While I’m kneeling in front of the stove.
I’m then covered in I don’t know what. Where does this stuff hide?
Overall, I consider this a success. And a steep learning curve. And a good reason for a hot bath.
