My Sante Fe

[Vinelife]

Ok, so here is the situation. Once a week i've been taking all the baffles off and shop vacing behind them and behind that hole on the right side baffle. Cleaning the tubes really good. And every few weeks I will go out side since I have a horizontal exhaust and take my shop vac and turn it on and run the hose all the way up a few times. Once I do that and start it up it burns like normal ... but it seems like every 10 or so bags the flame is getting higher and the pellets start filling up more. I mean not alot, but just below the first combustion hole. When I do my weekly cleaning it doesn't do that until like the 10th bag or so. And when the pellets get that high it makes like a small humming noise. So is there something i'm missing in my clean up ??

 

[ablejoy]

Have you used a pipe brush to clean the pipe.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Ok, so here is the situation. Once a week i've been taking all the baffles off and shop vacing behind them and behind that hole on the right side baffle. Cleaning the tubes really good. And every few weeks I will go out side since I have a horizontal exhaust and take my shop vac and turn it on and run the hose all the way up a few times. Once I do that and start it up it burns like normal ... but it seems like every 10 or so bags the flame is getting higher and the pellets start filling up more. I mean not alot, but just below the first combustion hole. When I do my weekly cleaning it doesn't do that until like the 10th bag or so. And when the pellets get that high it makes like a small humming noise. So is there something i'm missing in my clean up ??

Are you dropping the bottom of the burn pot once or more a day? This has to be done.
Is there an Outside air kit?
Try another brand of pellets and see what happens and not just a bag or two, 10 or so.

Eric

 

[tjnamtiw]

A couple of suggestions:

Have you adjusted the feed rate in HIGH so that you get an average flame height of 4" over the pot? On startup, the flame height will be more and often reach the angled cover plate. Adjusting the feed rate is NOT a set it and forget it adjustment. It's something that has to be done quite often to maintain a proper burn.

Have you cleaned out the 8 small holes around the bottom of the burn pot with a .32 caliber gun bore brush? You should do that every day or two. They are very important to getting a good, swirling flame. I've never had a build up of pellets in two years of burning.

Take out the ash pan and lay down and look at the bottom of the burn pot. Is the drop gate hanging down away from the pot on the right side? There should not be any more gap than the thickness of a dime between the gate and the pot. If there is, you will be sucking air through there rather than through the holes and, again, you won't have the swirling effect.

That hole on the right side behind the baffle is where the combustion fan is. If you can rig up a small piece of tubing to the end of your vacuum by using a reducer, stick the tubing into the hole (with the stove OFF!) and vacuum out the chamber. I got this from Home Depot and then also bought a foot or two of clear tubing to fit the end http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hard...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[gpcollen1]

I think you just need to drop the ash out of the burn pot more often. I don't even think you need to clean the holes in the burn pot often if everything else is attended to.

 

[Vinelife]

I clean my burn pot everyday and drop the ash out. Very good about scraping everything. However, I dont clean those holes probably as much as I should. I did clean the 4 I can "See" when I look in ... where are the others at ?? Are they in front of the burn pot where I can't see them?? I realize I need to clean those more. Seeing if those get clogged I guess pellets can heap up in time. I just dont know where the other 4 are. Right now Im using an alan rench end to clean and poke out the 4 small ones I can see. Seemed to make a difference and may have to add that to my daily cleaning duties.

Please let me know where the other 4 are...

 

[Vinelife]

And yes I have an OAK and i'm burning Somersets. Its not a pellet issue at this point ..

 

[tjnamtiw]

I clean my burn pot everyday and drop the ash out. Very good about scraping everything. However, I dont clean those holes probably as much as I should. I did clean the 4 I can "See" when I look in ... where are the others at ?? Are they in front of the burn pot where I can't see them?? I realize I need to clean those more. Seeing if those get clogged I guess pellets can heap up in time. I just dont know where the other 4 are. Right now Im using an alan rench end to clean and poke out the 4 small ones I can see. Seemed to make a difference and may have to add that to my daily cleaning duties.

Please let me know where the other 4 are...

The other four are down low along the front wall of the burn pot. Don't feel bad. A lot of people don't know they are there! Plus don't forget the slot for the igniter. Next time you're in Wally World (China World is better), get a .32 caliber brush and use it.

 

[www_godzilla]

Get a bright flashlight. Shine into the burnpot. Pull out the ash pan. You will see all 8 lower holes with the light shining through. It's a great way to see how well those holes are cleared too.

 

[www_godzilla]

They type of pellet plays a role in how dirty the stove runs. I find that pellets with more fines in it tend to make the stoves flames act less efficiantly.

 

[Vinelife]

Well, its not the pellets ... I've been using Somersets. Its seems when I do my normal weekly deep cleaning it runs great ... when I get to the 10th bag or 11th bag it seems like the pot after 24 hours is about 1/3 full. After the deep cleaning after 24 hours of burn there is almost nothing in their. Everyday I clean the burn pot, I clean out the holes and do all the normal cleaning stuff. I've only put through 2.5 tons through it since I bought it last feb. Is it normal after about 10 bags for it to burn alittle different and not as good after a deep cleaning ?? And when I say deep cleaning I mean taking all the baffles down and shop vacing everything, and behind the hole on the right side etc. My feed rate is about 90 down. Every couple weeks I go outside and shop vac out my horizonal out. I put the whole length of the shop vac all the way in atleast 3 times ...

Maybe its just me and after 11 bags it wont burn as good as the first bag after a deep cleaning ...I can be kinda obsessive and anal about things also, so take that into consideration ...