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  1. ltlhawk Member

    joined: Nov 24, 2012
    111 posts
    Pelham, NH
    I do a quick cleaning every 3 days, meaning pulling burn pot, scrap if needed. I brush all the surfaces and empty the ash pan. Lube up the agitator and put it all together. Then clean the glass. This all takes about 15 minutes. Every other week I pull all the inside plates and give it a real good cleaning.
    #26

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  2. Hoot23 Minister of Fire

    joined: Mar 28, 2012
    506 posts
    Alfred, Me
    Deep cleaning once a month. About an hour and two beers.
    Harman Lover 007 likes this.
  3. Northwoodneil Feeling the Heat

    joined: Feb 10, 2012
    311 posts
    Land of Cheese
    I thought only Wisconson folks measured time in beers;hm
    Hoot23 likes this.
  4. rparker Member

    joined: Jul 17, 2011
    198 posts
    Vermont
    On Saturdays, normally about 20 min for the "quick" clean. Vacuum out burn chamber, scrap pot, empty ash pan. This weekend will be a "deep" clean , about 1 hr.
  5. rich2500 Member

    joined: Nov 19, 2005
    65 posts
    S E Pa.
    15 min. Quick clean daily.every 2 weeks I do a more thorough clean and every fall I take the stove out of the house and do a deep cleaning
  6. bbfarm Feeling the Heat

    joined: Jan 2, 2012
    330 posts
    wisconsin
    About 30 - 45 min once a week. I remov the baffle, brush & vacuum the heat exchanger tubes, remove the burn pot, the sise ash trays, the ash traps, clen those things , vacuum everything out, empty the ash pan and clean the glass. Put it all back together and fire it up.
  7. subsailor Minister of Fire

    joined: Dec 8, 2011
    1,315 posts
    Winthrop, Maine
    Nope. Up here, travel time is calculated in beers.
    SteveB and Northwoodneil like this.
  8. thedude110 Feeling the Heat

    joined: Aug 12, 2011
    269 posts
    Central Connecticut
    About 30 minutes each weekend to scrape the burnpot/heat exchangers, clean out by the igniter, and do a thorough vacuuming. Clean the venting, fine box, and the combustion blower once a ton, which is more of a PITA, obviously.
  9. DexterDay Minister of Fire

    joined: Dec 11, 2010
    9,055 posts
    NE Ohio
    Open the door once a month or every ton. Whichever comes first ;)
  10. Melissa220 Feeling the Heat

    joined: Aug 10, 2012
    306 posts
    central ME
    once a week. An hour for the stove to cool and shut off and about an hour to clean: vacuum and scrape the burn pot clean, brush the firebox walls, brush and scrape the exchangers, clean out the igniter area, remove the ash pan, brush the walls, remove the exhaust fan plate and brush the fan, vacuum the exhaust tube as far as I can go, lightly brush the ESP and put it all back together, The ash pan is emptied every couple of weeks.
    P38X2 likes this.
  11. P38X2 Minister of Fire

    joined: Mar 11, 2012
    784 posts
    Jaffrey, NH
    Nice. Very meticulous.

    STILL sitting on that 1/2 bag of MC huh? Lol
  12. mikesj Member

    joined: Feb 16, 2009
    70 posts
    Western MD
    I scrape the burnpot and wipe down the glass daily. Takes a minute or two.

    About once a week I do a quick cleaning of the interior. Less than five minutes.

    Every three to four weeks I do a complete cleaning where I vacuum the fines out, remove and wipe off the esp, clean the inside, dump the ash and brush put the pipe. Takes about 45 minutes if I'm taking my time or about two beers:)
  13. Harman Lover 007 Minister of Fire

    Same here...it's a Harman....
    SteveB likes this.
  14. CT Pellet Minister of Fire

    joined: Dec 1, 2012
    646 posts
    Torrington, CT
    Harman XXV.....
    Every night, when I pour in the pellets, I open the door (stove is running on high) and scrape off any ash build up that may have accumulated in the burn pot and that's it. It takes all of about four seconds. Then, once a month, I let her shut down, and I will vac out the front of the stove and dump the ash pan. Wipe the glass down and if it is handy (meaning if it is under the sink where it should be) I will take the windex and clean the glass. (Please, please, spare me the ...ooohhh you shouldnt use glass cleaner buiishit) If it is not there, I will say screw it and be done with the whole thing. This all entails about thirteen minutes of my precious time, unless the vac is full, then I need to take it out to the storm drain out by the street and dump it there...all the while listening to my neighbor yelling at me that I am not supposed to dump in there!!! (This folks, has been going on since 2008)That's it. Then once a year, (usually about a week after I turn her on in the fall) I will have my stove guy come out and pull her apart, give it a deep clean, and listen to him tell me that I need to remember to call him in the spring rather than wait until when it gets cold.
  15. boo boo Member

    joined: Dec 22, 2012
    120 posts
    So. NH
    I have had my stove for a little over a month now. I do a daily scrape of the burn pot and the window wipe. My weekly is a full cool down and a scrape brush vacuum empty ash 40 minutes. Last night I did my first monthly clean including running the brush in the flue and it was about an hour and a half. from reading here I guess i was slow
  16. Aquion New Member

    joined: Oct 7, 2012
    85 posts
    Portland, CT
    I usually shut my stove down on Sunday mornings and give it at least 2 hours to cool down while I run errands. I spend about 30 minutes cleaning the glass, scraping any carbon buildup off the burn pot, and vacuuming out the stove. Every other week I'll spend an extra 10 minutes or so to pull out the baffle plate and the plate below that in order to vacuum out that back area. I've just about burned a ton so far this heating season, so I have to figure out if I need to do any extra cleaning sometime soon. I've been burning pellets since mid-November.
  17. small_e_900 New Member

    joined: Dec 15, 2012
    7 posts
    Mudpuddle Maine
    Every morning I clean the glass, scrape the carbon out of the bottom auger tube and clean out the ash.

    Once a week, after a cool down, I remove the baffle plate and vacuum out the whole stove.

    Once a month, I take a brush to the flue.
    I don't use a leaf blower.
    I had one of those hanging around in the garage, unused for the last 15 years. Last spring I gave it away.

    My guess is that I'm suffering from first-year cleanie-bug-itis and that next year, I won't be so thorough.
  18. Melissa220 Feeling the Heat

    joined: Aug 10, 2012
    306 posts
    central ME
    I am! And the thing is, I'm not even sure where i put it!
  19. Melissa220 Feeling the Heat

    joined: Aug 10, 2012
    306 posts
    central ME
    Don't count on it. This is my first year too, but keeping the stove as clean as possible is what is helping me stave off too many visits from the oil man. If all it takes is a few seconds to scrape the burn pot everyday, twice a day, and an hour every weekend to keep the heat coming, you better believe I will do it every year.
  20. steamguy Member

    Every morning before startup, clean/knock out the burn pot liner, chip out any carbon as necessary; brush inside of chamber, including heat exchanger. Refill hopper. About 4 minutes.

    Roughly every 3-4 days (depending on quality of pellets), add: dump ashpan (it's only 1-1/2" deep). Add another couple minutes.

    About every ton-and-a-half (depending on quality of pellets in any given year), add: pull insides of fire chamber, clean firebrick and all with nylon brush and vacuum. Pull stove from opening and remove surround. Vacuum the guts with duster head and oil all motors. Pull T-trap from bottom of chimney liner and dump, then vacuum insides. About 2 hours overall if I'm taking my time (arthritis) and have the normal amount of interruption.

    Add this every 4-5 years: have chimney professionally swept. About 3-1/2 hours total.

    Thanks to heating with pellets, our power bill is just over a hundred bucks a month, instead of triple that.
  21. small_e_900 New Member

    joined: Dec 15, 2012
    7 posts
    Mudpuddle Maine
    This is the first time in my life that I'm looking forward to the oil man.
    I'm expecting to have used 200-250 less gallons of oil so far this year and zero gallons of kerosene.
  22. SteveB Member

    joined: Feb 9, 2012
    145 posts
    South Central PA.
    Lol, we do that here in Central PA too! My bro-in-law is retired and measures all of his chores in "how many beers" it takes ;lol

    I clean both of mine every weekend. The Harman doesn't really need it that often but I'm burning pretty ashy pellets and since I have to clean the 5510 I do the Harman while I'm at it. Fines box and a really good vacuuming about once a month. Dump the ash pan at almost two months. The 5510 needs the glass cleaned about every day, I guess I'm kinda OCD about clean glass, but I can do that without shutting it down. Leaf blower trick and clean blowers about twice a season.
  23. Melissa220 Feeling the Heat

    joined: Aug 10, 2012
    306 posts
    central ME
    Nice. I had an oil delivery October 24 for 73 gallons before heating season really started. 6 weeks later - Dec 5 - I got another delivery and only took 77 gallons. THey delivered two weeks later, which I can't understand as it wasn't that cold yet, and took 30 gallons. that was 3 weeks ago and I have only used a quarter tank. Still need it as it heats one room basement I can't set any lower than 55, and it heats the water.

    Keep us posted on how you do!
  24. Darryl New Member

    joined: Mar 19, 2012
    45 posts
    Bullville, NY
    Once a day I scrape the burn pot and clean the glass, takes all of 1- 2minutes.
    Once a week I shut her down and do my thorough cleaning; scrape the burn pot, knock off any creosote that accumulated on the end of the lower auger tube, paint brush off all of the ash from the ceiling and walls of the stove, remove the impingement plate, and vacuum everything, everywhere, every nook and cranny! Give the glass a spit shine, put everything back where it belongs, fill the hopper, give the outside of the stove a wipe-down with a damp towel and vacuum all around the stove, and then fire her back up. I think I covered it all, at least I hope so [IMG] [IMG] Sounds like a lot, but all of that takes only about 30 minutes tops. The cleaner they are, the better they run fo sho [IMG]
  25. Defiant Minister of Fire

    joined: Dec 5, 2007
    1,876 posts
    Old Lyme CT
    When ever I want a beer [IMG]
    DexterDay and smoke show like this.

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