Mis season insert & chimney clean out.

[Hogwildz]

As I stated in another post. I have performed a mid season cleaning today.
A tree went down do to some serious winds. (Not related). I lost power. Electric Co. came out, and found it wasn't the tree further down the drive that was the problem (no downed wires), it was the old porcelain switch at the transformer on the pole. It was poping like a shotgun, sparking & smoking just like one of those " Classic" smoke dragons . Turns out the old porcelain switched develop hairline cracks and water gets in, then it seeks the ground wire nearby, and caboom. LOL
They were out within a 1/2 hr to an hour. Service was awesome, guys were awesome, and even refused the $20.00 I offered them. I am fortunate to have a great electric co., rates are fairly good compared to others in the area. And service is usually top shelf. How rare is that?

Anyways, back to topic, sorry.
I got about a hand full of dust, thats it. The liner is all shiny s.s. inside and looks perfect.
At this point last year, my cap was nearly completely clogged shut. This year, not much at all. The solution, dry wood You can say your wood is dry all you want, but if your clogging cap & such in a month or two time, your wood is NOT dry.

2 cap before shots, 1 after shot

 

[Hogwildz]

Another reason I chose the PE Summit, was when I was researching heat output, size, etc., I also wanted something I could get the baffle out fairly easy so I could clean the liner without having to pull the heavy S.O.B. out every cleaning.
As you can see, 9-3' rods & chimney brush work well for me. You can see the brush at the stove outlet from inside.

The debris from cleaning were very fine gray powder. I consider it fly ash. No black just gray dust.
I am very happy with the results of this mid season cleaning.

shot of liner pre cleaned, and the ash at bottom after sweeping liner.

 

[RonB]

Hi Hog, Pretty impressive stove operation to only have that type of ash. Other than the dry wood, did you change any burning procedures? Such as burning hotter? No crime if you did, you are doing something right. Haven't cleaned my new setup yet, but if mine looked as good as yours I would be tempted to dampen down a little more to conserve wood.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hi Hog, Pretty impressive stove operation to only have that type of ash. Other than the dry wood, did you change any burning procedures? Such as burning hotter? No crime if you did, you are doing something right. Haven't cleaned my new setup yet, but if mine looked as good as yours I would be tempted to dampen down a little more to conserve wood.

I have changed or actually evolved and became "one" with the insert this year.
I am def burning dryer wood. Thats one big factor. As far as hotter, well in the beginning last season, I had door adjustment problems. So it burned HOT LOL.
I was also burning 3 or 4 splits every 3 or 4 hours or so. This year, I switched to 3-8 hr burns per day. Give or take an hour here and there. I burn a bit hotter. Peaks about 750 for a couple hours, settles down at about 650-600 for a few more hours, then slowly tapers down. I have been doing air down lowest setting both season. This year yes a lil hotter, but the dryer wood makes all the difference. I also put 3 large splits on bottom fill the rest with mediums and smalls if theres any room left. Let her blaze up & char, air down all the way, set it & forget it. I have to refrain from adding a couple splits here & there. I have this MUST SEE FIRE urge alot .
I messed with the air alot last year. Now its load, get it charred good, cut air back at about 400-500 degrees, she does the rest. No over fiddling with the air.
I watch the thermometer a lot less, for me, watching makes for fiddling with air. The biggest factor is good hot (nder control) fires, with good dry wood.
The wood alone is a deal maker or breaker. No simpler way to put it. I knew my wood was sheet last year, but it was all I had, I made it work, and at the end of season I had about maybe 3 or 4x this amount. So not the worst, but this is still much better for me. And its mostly the wood, I'd like to take all the credit and say what a great wood burner I am, but its just not the case. I am sure I got in sinc with the stove more, and the dryer wood just made it all easy & enjoyable.
I cut the air back all the way, at between 550 and 750, how much creosote is anyone going to get? At those temps its hard to get creosote even if your trying hard
So low air, long burns are both possible and welcome, without creating tons of goo.

 

[RonB]

Thanks for the run down. You do deserve some of the credit too. One of the reasons I enjoy this forum is that there is always more to learn.