Mt. Vernon AE Cleaning Rails Question

[joescho]

I can't completely remember the whole thread, no do I remember who was talking about it but they were talking about putting graphite on the cleaning rails.

My self-cleaning mechanism works just fine, but it does scrape a little metal on metal so I figured next cleaning I would get some graphite and try it.

Well, I can't even figure out how to get in there nevermind how to put the graphite on.

Does anyone have any idea how to get under there? What do you have to disassemble to get at that?

Thanks

 

[john193]

You can access it from the ash pan. Pull the ash pan out and look, you will see the rails. It is also easy to feel around, that is what I do.

I disconnect the autoclean arm so I can manually move the pot floor by hand. I clean the rails with some wd40 on a paper towel or piece of cloth. Then I apply some powdered graphite on another paper towel and rub the rails. I will at this point manually move the pot floor left and right to get the mechanism lubricated. I'll then move the burn pot floor all the way to the right and apply the graphite on the rails it was covering. Slide it around a few more times and reconnect the arm. I do this about once every 6 to 8 weeks.

 

[Madcodger]

At another member's suggestion I use dielectric (spark plug) grease on mine. Just a tiny amount does it, every 6-8 weeks as with John's method. Works great.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

My MVAE autoclean mechanism was getting noisy. I sprayed it with moly dricoat. I seems to do the job.

 

[joescho]

You can access it from the ash pan. Pull the ash pan out and look, you will see the rails. It is also easy to feel around, that is what I do.

I disconnect the autoclean arm so I can manually move the pot floor by hand. I clean the rails with some wd40 on a paper towel or piece of cloth. Then I apply some powdered graphite on another paper towel and rub the rails. I will at this point manually move the pot floor left and right to get the mechanism lubricated. I'll then move the burn pot floor all the way to the right and apply the graphite on the rails it was covering. Slide it around a few more times and reconnect the arm. I do this about once every 6 to 8 weeks.

When I pull the ashpan out, I see some arm that seems to hold the pot floor. I've got this little tube of graphite which may be the problem because it would seem that I need to tip the tube upside down in order to sufficently get it to come out enough to do the job.

maybe I just don;t know what I'm looking at . I need to look at the parts diagram.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

 

[jimfrompa]

I have the same problem. I use either brake caliper grease (very high temp grease) or dialectic grease. Very little necessary. I do every month. I do not disconnect anything - just take out the ash pan and put a small amount on tip if my finger and rub on the rails. Quiets everything down for several weeks and then must be done again. Previous post mentioned WD-40. I wouldn't recommend because it is tremendously flammable. The powder graphite sounds like a winner - I will try that. This seems to be a common problem with Mt Vernon Autoclean function. Why doesn't Quadrafire do something about it?

 

[Harvey Schneider]

I disconnect the autoclean arm

Can you explain to us, how to disconnect the arm? Do you remove the screw that connects the bellcrank to the arm that pushes the firepot floor?

 

[john193]

Can you explain to us, how to disconnect the arm? Do you remove the screw that connects the bellcrank to the arm that pushes the firepot floor?

Yep. I disconnect the nut and release the screw. I believe a 10mm will do the trick.

 

[joescho]

Yep. I disconnect the nut and release the screw. I believe a 10mm will do the trick.

and I'm guessing that once that's free the burn pot bottom will slide freely so you can lubricate it??

I have a small tube of graphite I guess rather than puffing it from the tube I need to rub it on with my fingers given what all of you are saying.

 

[john193]

and I'm guessing that once that's free the burn pot bottom will slide freely so you can lubricate it??

I have a small tube of graphite I guess rather than puffing it from the tube I need to rub it on with my fingers given what all of you are saying.

That's correct. I also tired using a tube of powdered graphite by squeezing the bottle and trying to puff it on. It really didn't seem to work. Make sure you relighted the nut tight. Otherwise you could run the risk of the arm coming off during a cleaning cycle.

 

[joescho]

That's correct. I also tired using a tube of powdered graphite by squeezing the bottle and trying to puff it on. It really didn't seem to work. Make sure you relighted the nut tight. Otherwise you could run the risk of the arm coming off during a cleaning cycle.

Thanks... yeah the nut falling off wouldn't be pleasant...