If you clean it, it will heat....

[travlnusa]

Picked up a used Big E and installed it in my newly finished basement. All was well, but the airflow out of the stove was poor at best. After letting it run for a bit to make sure all else was good, I shut it down and took off the side panels.

I almost fell over. There was over 1/2" of built up dust, etc on the cage fan. You COULD NOT see the fan.

After about 15 mins, finally had it back together and now running like new.

Dont recall who, but there is a member here who has a sig line that 80% of problems are cleaning related. Never have I seen such proof.

 

[Wi Thundercat]

That sig belongs to Krooser! And he hit it right on the head ;-)

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Yeah Buddy

I bought a Whitfield Advantage II last winter to install in the family room (replace older Earthstove pellet)

This old Whitfield was a spitting image of the "Never been cleaned stove"

The mechanical cabinet was covered in pellet dust, house dust, the ocasional creepy critter and other crap.
The ash traps deep inside wer full to the top with ashes, so much so that the stove would not even start a fire let alone hold one.

The room air fan was coated with crud just as you described. At least a half inch of crap in the squirrel cage fins.

Had this one outside and after digging out the worst of the crap and then vacuuming, I hit it with the 120 PSI air from my shop compressor and blew the rest of the crud out.

Stove worked marvelously.

Cleaning and care or the lack of is the biggest part of the "Stove heats/fires poorly" syndrome.

Glad you are all up and going.

Snowy

 

[jtakeman]

That sig belongs to Krooser! And he hit it right on the head ;-)

No no no, He was hit on the head. We just don't know what hit him. Hehe! Just kidding-funning with krooser. He is also the one that brought the leaf blower method of cleaning to the forum.

I have also heard he was the inventor of dirt somewhere! ;-P

 

[Wi Thundercat]

That sig belongs to Krooser! And he hit it right on the head ;-)

No no no, He was hit on the head. We just don't know what hit him. Hehe! Just kidding-funning with krooser. He is also the one that brought the leaf blower method of cleaning to the forum.

I have also heard he was the inventor of dirt somewhere! ;-P

Maybe it was a flying pellet pig

 

[krooser]

"No no no, He was hit on the head."

I resemble that remark...

 

[geek]

That sig belongs to Krooser! And he hit it right on the head ;-)

No no no, He was hit on the head. We just don't know what hit him. Hehe! Just kidding-funning with krooser. He is also the one that brought the leaf blower method of cleaning to the forum.

I have also heard he was the inventor of dirt somewhere! ;-P

 

[Corny]

Good post. Thanks for sharing.

In reciprocity, here are the 3 golden rules of solid-fuel burning, as posted on iburncorn:

- Keep your stove clean
- Keep your vent clean
- Keep your fuel clean.

Happy burning!