Leaf Blower cleaning!

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Stihl029

Member
Jan 1, 2008
74
Upstate NY
I've been reading for years about hooking up a leaf blower to the outside exhaust pipe of the pellet stove, so this year I figured I'd try it. First I removed the combustion blower, cleaned it out thoroughly, new gasket, and reinstalled it. Then removed the room air blower and cleaned it and re-installed. I then did a thorough cleaning of the pipes to the stove with a brush and long rods. Did a through vacuum with the Ash vac of every nook and cranny. Figured this would be a real test of the leaf blower being everything was as clean as I could get it. I hooked up the leaf blower, and was AMAZED at how much soot and dust it still blew out of the stove. I left it running a few minutes, ran back inside and open and closed the door a few times, ran back out, and waited till nothing more blew out of the pipe. Wow, thinking my stove is going to run like new when I start her back up.

While I'm not looking forward to another upstate NY winter, its a nice feeling to know I have the Pellet Stove cleaned and ready to go, and 4 ton of Dry Creek pellets in the daughters old bedroom. (off to college for her and an apartment in town). Anyways, anyone contemplating the leaf blower idea, I can tell you it works!
 
Stihl said:
..... was AMAZED at how much soot and dust it still blew out of the stove. I left it running a few minutes, ran back inside and open and closed the door a few times, ran back out, and waited till nothing more blew out of the pipe.....

Yep, it works very well. Another thing you can you do IF YOU HAVE A STEEL STOVE like the Englander's, is while the leaf blower is running, use a small hammer and give the back steel wall a couple of good "bangs" to dislodge any clumped ash hidden in the cracks & crevices.

Anyone reading this (newbies) that has a CAST firebox (or if you are not sure), should NOT do this, as you can crack the cast iron.
 
Got mf leaf blower all set up this summer for this winter.. works great..
 
I try to do mine once a month or once a ton if you go much more than that the cloud is pretty big. The first time i used mine i was amazed at the amount of ash that came out. I only have about 5' of flue pipe.
 
After using the Leafblower, I will NEVER go back. Also for the Spring cleaning using the Leafblower and Compressed Air through a nozzle that has 18" of flexible plastic hose (Gets ALL the nooks and crannies). Its by far the cleaning my stove has been since buying. I have a Troy Bilt 450 CFM/240 MPH unit with a 4"-3" reducer. Liquid nails together.

Put Tape on the end where it meets the house and let it run the entire time I clean. open shut door and tap on the back of the Exchange system (As imacman stated... Be careful doing this/Only for plate steel and best to use a block of wood and light tapping)
 

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