Motor Wiring & Pellet Build Up

The just moving ash can be a problem, somewhere on here is a diagram of the air flow through a St. Croix stove and it points out the area that gives the most trouble. Once you get this area clean you can keep it clean with a very strong shop vacuum by using it instead of a leaf blower, a leaf blower will usually just suck what ever is in there out if you leave it running long enough and go poking in all of the clean out ports and thump on the walls.

Most of us will say to do a normal clean out before using the blower. Some stoves have a very simple air path and the blower alone will clean most of the ash in the system out (provided it isn't in big sticky clumps).

When I use it on my stove my ash traps are empty afterwards. Since I can see up into the heat exchanger area I always hit that with the scrapper, a vacuum nozzle, and a putty knife. I can go quite awhile before I feel I need to remove my ash trap covers and attack things from that side. If you watch the burn you can tell when it is getting to the time to clean a bit more.

You shouldn't have to use either of those to keep a stove running well.
Regular cleaning of the right places in the stove at the proper intervals works.
But the key lies in getting all of those places every time.

And to adjust the cleaning intervals to meet the ash output of the pellet you are burning.

Just talked to Mark; he's home. He had cleaned the blower (I didn't know that he had), and everything had been attached correctly. He still thinks the blower might going.

Then it had to be the pellets (I am guessing). We were doing daily vacs with the metal vacuum. We were shutting it down weekly. We were doing a major cleaning monthly. We were still getting the vacuum error. I am hoping that the change in pellets will make a difference. Already we have noticed a difference in ash output in the front of the stove.

How is the flame now??

How far opened is the draft?

I'm sure the Okanagans are going to give an entirely different experience.
With these Greene Team pellets I have, if I didn't do a major cleanout
twice a month I'd probably get that #2 error. They burn hot though
so I deal w it. Anyway I'm so glad you and the fam are warm again.
You're probably going to enjoy the stove much more than you ever have.
Hopefully you can find some decent pellets closer than 40 miles away.
That's too far to shlep all the time. The good people on the forum might be able
to offer up some places for you to check on.

Pay attention to the combustion blower every time you start the stove, you should be able to tell if it is hesitating in reaching speed. If the area where the combustion blower is is getting quite warm you may have to lube that blower a bit more due to increased evaporation. If the blower motor oil ports are facing down instead of up it might pay to change that situation.

You can always hedge your bets by having a spare on hand.

Having said that, the usual culprit is still ash in the works.

How did the flexible flue cleaning go?

No blower motor oil ports on these

Then they certainly aren't facing down ;-) .

Flame looks like a spread yellow fan with sharp pointy tips. Damper is open about a pencil width...Mark's pinky finger. Those Okies are hot, and there is no build up on the glass. Even on 2 or 3. Are we doing something right?

I don't think there are any ports. I think he just rubbed a bit of oil into it. And yeah, he really thinks it was the ask in the exchange tubes. He also ordered the fake bricks today. Why NOT block up those holes? What do we have to lose? And the bricks are not made out of that crumbly material anymore; they're metal, so they will last longer.

You would not BELIEVE the crap that came out of the chimney First, he went into it from below. He crawled into the back of the fireplace and ran the flexible pole up the vent as far as it would go. We didn't have enough to make it to the top, so a DJ friend who owns a bucket truck came over and lifted mark to the top of the cap where he was able to scrape the cap, see that it was crooked and cracked, and clean the rest of the venting. So much junk came out of there, but when we turned the stove back on, it still wouldn't run.

Then Mark attacked the exchange tubes with the air compressor, and I sucked the ash in the air with the flexible pipe hooked up to the LBT hooked up outside. After air compressing that stove one last time, it worked. What a day! And we have you all to thank! I really think we would have given up if we didn't have this place to log on to and check in for support. Seriously.

ETA: ASH - not ask. Sigh.

LOL!

Things can certainly get crud by the boatload in them.

Not quite as bad as opening up a combustion blower and finding nesting material along with animal parts.

It is also good to have these nice long threads so others get the information and aren't surprised when they have basically the same issue.

Enjoy the heat and once again a clean stove is a happy, safe, and warm stove.

Sounds exactly how mine is running right now also on
a bag of Okanagan. I can see the big smiles on your
kids faces from here. Good work Mom and Dad getting
that thing cleaned up!

Congratulations! St. Croix Video of Proper Flame

Now I bet you two can fix anything on the stove!

I take it this was your experience??? Yikes!

Stove is still running!! Yay You all ROCK

BIG MASSIVE SMILES :D

Yes, that is excatly what the flame looks like! We are SO psyched!

Nice job getting it going! and Good work gang steering them in the right direction! I agree they do ROCK! ;-)

No, that was the experience shared by several people that had issues getting their stoves going.

I am afraid I'm an ordained minister of the Church of the Clean Pellet Stove, some times we get told where to put our suggestion on cleaning, but that's alright. We just call'em as we see'em ;-).

Like others on here I sometimes get called a code cop, but really I don't want to see or hear of fried or gassed folks.

I took advantage of today's temperatures to shut down and practiced some of what I preach, next week it will likely be a major cleaning.

As for rocking a few of us do that, that's what a lot of us geezers do. I'm waiting for outside rocking weather.

Glad its still working good for ya. Keep on top of the cleaning (w/ Okies you will notice a reduction in Ash and possibly longer cleaning intervals as a result).

There are a bunch of fine folks here willing to help. Keep it clean and keep in touch.

Well I have expierenced my 3 and last cresol fire with this St. Croix. I'm done and I think I am going to go and see if I can get any satisfaction from the dealer and or the company. Does anyone know if the Pescott EXP has expeirenced any redesign updates?? If so when.

Thx
Mark